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Defense Secretary Visits Afghanistan; U.S. Military Announces Possible Iraqi Forces Led Offensive Against ISIS In Mosul, Iraq; U.S. Troop Drawdown From Afghanistan May be Delayed; Suspect in Law Vegas Shooting Arrested; Officer Shot in Minneapolis in Possible Ambush; White House Wraps Up Summit on Violent Extremism; Bill O'Reilly Criticized for Reporting on Falkland Islands War; Young Girls Speak about Stabbing Classmate

Aired February 21, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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


CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: On the job for one week and he's already on the move. Defense Secretary Ash Carter stops in Afghanistan. Why he says this had to be his first trip.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: New details into a shooting of a Las Vegas mother and a text message sent by the suspected gunman not long after the road rage incident turned violent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: And so I have to deal with this garbage tonight. I'm sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Bill O'Reilly on the attack as he defends himself from a report over allegations that he exaggerated his account of a war in the Falkland Islands. He said strong words for the author now.

Good morning to you. So glad you're with us. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 10:00 here on the east coast, 7:00 out west. You're in the CNN Newsroom. And we're starting with a strong statement from Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

PAUL: He says the Obama administration still questions its plan to pull out almost all remaining 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016 as scheduled. Carter arrived in the Afghan capital Kabul this morning.

BLACKWELL: It's his first overseas trip since he was sworn in just a few days ago. In a news conference with the Afghan president, Carter said he will assess the security situation against the Taliban.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHTON CARTER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: As President Obama and I discussed in my first meeting in the Oval Office earlier this week, just a few days ago, our priority now is to make sure this progress sticks. That is why President Obama is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for President Ghani's security strategy, including possible changes to the timeline for our drawdown of U.S. troops. That could mean taking another look at the timing and sequencing of base closures to ensure we have the right array of coalition capabilities to support our Afghan partners, the right array to ensure that hard won progress lasts, and, of course, the right force protection footprint for our remaining personnel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now the defense secretary is getting a chance to talk face to face with the American soldiers there in Afghanistan. He's heading to Bagram Airbase north of Kabul tomorrow.

BLACKWELL: Secretary Carter also said the success is more important than timing in grabbing back Iraq's second largest city from ISIS. We've got this new ISIS video this morning of the militants making off with scores of American-made weapons, assault rifles, AK-47s. It appears they got them when they attacked an Iraqi military post in Anbar province, brutally killing and burning Iraqi soldiers there. CNN has not been able to confirm when this video was shot. They also seized U.S. armored vehicles, Humvees as well. It's now a common tactic by ISIS to overrun Iraqi military posts and seize big quantities of U.S. weapons from them.

PAUL: Iraq and the U.S. are planning a big spring offensive to take back Iraq's second largest city from ISIS. This was last June when Iraqi forces dropped their weapons and ran from their posts as ISIS militants arrived in Mosul. CNN's Erin McPike is live at the White House for us. So, Erin, wondering what the Pentagon is saying about where they stand in anticipation of this military campaign. And good morning.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Christi. Let me first point out that U.S. officials say by and large they believe they are ahead of where they thought they would be in the overall military campaign against ISIS. Now specifically, when it comes to Mosul, they're saying that this April or May tentative date is just that, it's tentative, for when they are going to launch this mission to take back Mosul. And that is important because the new secretary of defense, Ash Carter, traveling overseas this weekend kicks that decision largely to the Iraqis. I want you to listen here to that comment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: That is one that will be Iraqi led and the U.S. supported. And it's important that it be launched at a time when it can succeed, as I think the important thing is that it will -- it will get done when it can be done successfully. And I -- even if I knew exactly when that was going to be, I wouldn't tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: Now, that last comment that he made is important because we also heard from a senior defense official yesterday saying that they didn't know that U.S. Central Command was going to divulge so much detail about this April/May beginning to take back Mosul. But yesterday there was an official from U.S. Central Command who briefed reporters on some of the details of what they would be doing broadly speaking and that they are trying to train Iraqi forces in five brigades to go into battle in April and May. But still the president has to sign off on all of this.

But I do want to point out that, also broadly speaking, some of what we're hearing from the Pentagon about the success that they have had to date, even though we're getting so much ambiguity right now, and what they're saying about the military campaign against ISIS is that ISIS losses in eight months are equivalent to U.S. losses in 14 years in Iraq and Afghanistan. They also say that three quarters of ISIS equipment, their infrastructure, their forces on the battlefield, has been depleted and it would be hard for any organization to sustain itself with those kinds of losses.

They also say there are an estimation of 1,000 to 2,000 ISIS forces in Mosul, and that is compared to the 20,000 to 25,000 forces of Iraqi security forces that they plan to send in, in April and May, should that timeframe hold, Christi and Victor. So by and large, there's still some planning going on, but they think they're having some success.

PAUL: Yes. In fact, they just announced a little while ago that there had been air strikes this morning or in the last 24 hours over Syria and Iraq. But I'm wondering if they're talking at all about how much confidence they do or do not have in the Iraqi military there, because obviously they're saying that Iraqi military is going to take front and center and going to take the lead.

MCPIKE: Well, that's right. And what we have heard from Pentagon officials over time is they have come a long way since June, since that video that you played there at the top, when ISIS took Mosul, that there has been so much training and that there has been a lot of success. They say that 2,000 Iraqi security forces have gone through U.S. training and are prepared. They say another 3,200 Iraqi troops will be going through this training in the coming six to eight weeks. But they feel good about where that is. Of course there has been a lot of skepticism about whether Iraqi security forces are really up to this task.

PAUL: All right, Erin McPike, good to see you this morning. Thanks for the info.

MCPIKE: Of course.

BLACKWELL: Well, as the U.S. plans this massive operation to reclaim Mosul from ISIS, the big question here, is the Iraqi army ready to fight, a part of the conversation that Christi and Erin were just having. Let's bring in CNN military analyst Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona. Colonel, good to have you this morning.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Secretary Carter has just taken office and he's already in Afghanistan. He said the operation to take Mosul would be, and this is a quote, "Iraq led and U.S. supported." Do you think that support will likely include combat troops? Are the Iraqi forces strong enough to do it?

FRANCONA: Well, I think Erin hit the key right there -- skepticism. There is a lot of skepticism in the U.S. military about the Iraqis' ability in this short period of time to be ready to send five brigades into Mosul. Now, the numbers sound good, it looks good on paper, but when you talk to the people that are actually involved in this, they don't feel that the Iraqis have grasped what they need to do, and there isn't that real desire to get into an urban warfare situation in Mosul.

And the people in Mosul, of course, need to be supportive of this. And what we're hearing is that they don't want a Shia army coming back into Mosul. The Iraqi army is largely made up of Shia. In fact, the most effective units in the Iraqi force, not so much in the army, but the Iraqi forces writ large are these Shia militias that are outside of the army structure. So they're going to be part of the mix. It's going to be U.S. supported, that means U.S. air power, U.S. intelligence.

But at some point, we may want to consider putting U.S. special forces in to control the close air support. This is one of the most difficult things you can have militaries do is bring aircraft dropping bombs in proximity to your own troops. We're very good at this. Training people to do that is very difficult. So I think I'll go back to Erin's word, skepticism in the U.S. military.

BLACKWELL: You mentioned that U.S. special forces likely being used for air support. Ohio Governor John Kasich went a step further with CNN's Gloria Borger. More of the interview will air tomorrow, but let's listen to a bit of it now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH, (R) OHIO: I'm just suggesting to you that at some point in dealing with ISIS, you mark my words, whether John Kasich, you ever hear from him again, at some point it will require boots on the ground from the world to be able to deal with this problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: What do you think boots on the ground from the world, maybe not to retake Mosul, but to hold it at some point?

FRANCONA: Of course you've got to retake it. I think the governor's got a good point. At some point it's going to take more than just the Iraqis to defeat ISIS. If you look at what's going on in Iraq, if they're successful at retaking Mosul, that's a big step. This is a city of 2 million people. It's widespread and, of course, it's a built-up area. Five brigades may not be enough to do this because they're going to have to fight this street by street, house by house, block by block. It's going to be very, very difficult. I'm not sure the Iraqis are up to that. So if you augment these forces with American special forces, what I

would call the Afghan model, embed them with the Afghan units to control the American air power, because American air power can be a force multiplier, it's going to be required. But make no mistake, this is going to be a very difficult operation. And I was a little surprised to hear that general that was giving part of this briefing saying that he expects this to be wrapped up in six weeks. I don't think you will be able to clear Mosul in six weeks.

BLACKWELL: We've heard estimates of how long certain operations will take. And they've taken exponentially more time than often forecast. Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, thank you so much.

FRANCONA: Sure thing.

PAUL: Still to come, police are really digging deep this morning into this road rage attack that ended with a murder of a Las Vegas mother.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Ana Cabrera has more for us.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The 19-year-old suspect, Erich Nowsch, allegedly confided in a couple friends after this shooting. And this morning we're starting to get a better idea of how the events unfolded and why the suspect may have opened fire. I'll have those details straight ahead.

PAUL: Looking forward to it, Ana. Also freezing cold temperatures, even snow, I'm sorry to say. The groundhog was right, it's turning into a winter that won't quit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: It's 14 minutes after the hour now. And the manhunt is continuing for another suspect in this so-called road rage killing of a Las Vegas mother. There are new details coming to us a about the 19-year-old suspect who is already in custody.

PAUL: Police are now saying Erich Nowsch actually confided in friends about that deadly shoot-out. CNN's Ana Cabrera is live in Las Vegas for us. Did he tell these friends specifically, Ana, that he shot somebody, and what's the verbiage used, do we know?

CABRERA: That's according to the arrest report, and in that report he allegedly showed these friends the murder weapon, a .45 caliber handgun, which apparently matches some of the shell casings found at one of the shooting scenes.

He told these friends, according to the arrest report, that he believed that people in a green car were after him. He says he saw someone in that car point a gun at him and that's why he opened fire.

We're getting a better sense, too, of how events unfolded. There were apparently two shooting scenes according to the arrest report. First, shots were fired on the street during an encounter between those two vehicles. And then apparently one of those vehicles, the Meyers' family, tried to leaves the scene, ended up back at their house, and that's where there was a second exchange of gunfire at that time and ultimately Tammy Meyers ended up dead. And a reminder that their house, where the victim lives, is just one block away from where the suspect was arrested.

Now he told his friends, again, that he felt that he was being pursued by these people, and in a quote within the arrest report he said, "Got those kids. They were after me. I got them." Victor, Christi?

PAUL: And there's a growing list of charges against him now, right? He's in court on Monday?

CABRERA: Right. He's being held here at the Clark County Detention Center. He's facing all kinds of charges from murder, attempted murder, deadly assault with a weapon, also firing a gun in a vehicle in a prohibited area. Now his hearing on Monday is supposed to be an arraignment, which means that's when he'll officially be read those formal charges, Victor and Christi.

PAUL: Ana Cabrera, appreciate the update. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Ana, thanks so much.

Still to come, countering violent extremism, the White House invites leaders from across the country and around the world to take part in this special summit. But the question many people are asking is, was there enough substance here?

PAUL: Oh, talk about substance. How about subzero wind-chills, freezing rain, more snow. How much longer do we have to put up with this? You may not want to know the answer, I'm sorry to tell you, but we will clue you in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

BLACKWELL: The breaking news coming to us out of Minneapolis. Police are now searching for the person or persons who ambushed and shot a police officer in his patrol car in that city. The officer is in stable condition at a hospital in the area.

Now, officials say the officer was responding to a burglary call before 5:00 a.m. when he was shot. The police department has released this statement. Let me read it for you. "There is little doubt that an officer was the intended target of this shooting and that this officer just happened to be the one who was there." Of course we'll continue to follow this, but again an officer in Minneapolis shot, in stable condition at a hospital in that area. We'll bring you more when we know more.

PAUL: Meanwhile, check this out -- deep freeze sweeping the nation. All kinds of problems it's causing, and not just on land, obviously. That's a freighter stuck in the middle of Lake Erie. Right now U.S. and Canadian coast guards are working together to try to break it free. It's been there several days battling ice, eight to 10 feet of ice, eight to 10 feet. BLACKWELL: No wonder it's stuck.

PAUL: You think.

BLACKWELL: Across the country more new video to show you of the winter blast that's closing down this Massachusetts school. Look at this. Heavy snow forced the roof to collapse and now crews are working around the clock to remove all that snow.

PAUL: Speaking of removal, snow removal in one New Jersey town, didn't quite happen the way it was supposed to. Massive sinkhole swallowed up a plow truck. The driver, thankfully, is OK, which is the most important thing.

BLACKWELL: And look at this. An ice cave formed on Lake Michigan. It's a pretty big winter attraction in that area, although I do not know that I would go out on the lake to see this cave.

PAUL: With eight to 10 feet of ice, if that were the case in that area, yes. Still with about 125 under -- 125 million, I should say, under a wind-chill warning or advisory, more than 300 flights canceled today, I know you're wondering -- just give me a break.

BLACKWELL: When is it coming?

PAUL: CNN's Ivan Cabrera, just give us a break. This picture you have is really something.

IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: There it is. And here's the area. That's why we have a problem here. Can you see the blue? There is no blue there.

PAUL: No.

CABRERA: It is blue, but it's about eight to 10 feet under ice, and that's the problem here. You get them when you get 20 to 30 degree temperatures below zero, which is what we've had. And 85 percent of the Great Lakes are now frozen here. I do not recommend you ice skate on those, but nevertheless that's what we have going here.

I'm going to start big picture this time around. More rounds of arctic air. This is through the first week of March. We have one after another after another after another, and we'll take you into the early part of March. The first time I've seen an actual pattern change. This comes into the second week of March. I know, that's a long time to wait. Second week of March we actually get a trough in the west and a ridge in the east. And what that means for you and me in the east is warmer temperatures. But not right now. Right now what we have is a mess on the roads. We have reports of an inch of ice in parts of northeastern Tennessee, specifically to the border north of -- into Kentucky. So be careful out there as we wait for the temperatures to warm up. They will later this afternoon as some warmer air begin begins to push in. So winter storm warnings posted for a good chunk of the mid-south.

This storm will continue headed off to the northeast where we have temperatures that are below freezing at the surface. So I think what will happen is we're going to go from snow. It will accumulate anywhere from two to as much as four inches, and then we'll switch over by the time we get into late Saturday and into Sunday as that push of warm air comes in from the Atlantic into an all rain situation. This is very unlike what we've had over the last several storms. This is not a coastal low. So that's certainly good news.

So I'll leave you with that and then we'll get ready for the next blast of arctic air which will take this below zero.

PAUL: Well thank you for that.

BLACKWELL: Thanks, Ivan.

CABRERA: But there is mid-March coming.

PAUL: We look forward to mid-March.

BLACKWELL: Here's an important question -- can teachers and police, can they keep ISIS from luring young Americans? That's the goal of a new pilot program launched in three major U.S. cities. I'll talk with the top police official from one of those cities. And that's coming up just ahead.

PAUL: But first, this week's "Ones to Watch" series examines the world of commercial dance.

BLACKWELL: Beyonce's chief choreographer, I know when I said Beyonce a lot of people turned around. Now that I have your attention, Frank Gatson, he selected Lil Buck, a performer that took a little known street dance from the ghettos of Memphis and brought it to the concert stages of the world. This week we discover how a meeting with a ballet teacher helped change his life forever.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Buck's path took him from the streets to the studio. Here amongst the tights and tutus at the new ballet an innovative teacher instigated a cultural clash that could make his style of jookin unique.

KATIE SMYTHE, NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE: The first day I saw Charles in the studio, I saw this man that was more fluid than anything I've ever seen a ballerina do. And I guess that's anarchy that I said that, that they didn't have the same fluidity in their arms as Charles, but literally they didn't. It was uncanny what I saw. He improvised to his own music that he brought in. Let me show you this. I thought he was brilliant. And then I changed the music and put classical music on. It changed him. It changed the fluidity of his movement. It slowed him down. It gave him longer balances, the aspiration to add an extra turn, to point his foot, to extend his line.

LIL BUCK, DANCER: I didn't want to wear tights because I wasn't going for that stuff and ballet. It was the majority girls. You rarely see guys on point. And I was like, that's interesting, because in jookin we always move. SMYTHE: When we started this and I started explaining it to potential

donors, literally someone called my father and said, doesn't she know that hip-hop is the downfall of civilization as we know it? I don't know that because they're wrong.

(LAUGHTER)

SMYTHE: So my idea was how do I change this generation, this mindset so they can see the beauty? This is folk dance. I think Charles is removing the fear.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: You can check out the full show at CNN.com/OnesToWatch. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

PAUL: Breaking news out of Minneapolis this hour. Police are on the hunt for a suspect who ambushed an officer in his patrol car. That officer we know is in stable condition at a nearby hospital. Officials say the officer was responding to a burglary call just before 5:00 a.m. when he was shot. Let's talk to Scott Seroka. He's the PIO for the Minneapolis police department. Mr. Seroka, thank you for being with us. What, first of all, do you know about the suspect that might help to try to apprehend him? What can you tell us?

SCOTT SEROKA, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: I don't have too many details to release on the suspect at this time. We are conducting an active search in the area and I have not released any information about the person at this point.

PAUL: OK. We know that in a statement earlier, the police department said there's little doubt an officer was the intended target of the shooting and that this officer happened to be the one that was there. So the indication is, this particular officer was not targeted, just any police officer would have been the target you believe?

SEROKA: That's what we believe right now at this point in the investigation. The two officers have responded to a burglary call and they were getting back into their car when one of those officers was shot. The other officer immediately drove his partner to the hospital, and right now that officer is in stable condition.

PAUL: Is this a neighborhood that is a normal call for police that may have some problems there?

SEROKA: Well, this was a burglary call they were responding to. I would probably be willing to say that we respond to burglary calls throughout the city.

PAUL: We understand that the officer is in stable condition. Can you give us any other information about him? SEROKA: Not at this point. The chief has met with this officer. His

family is with him as well. And he's doing OK. Folks at the Minneapolis police department would like to thank a lot of folks who have sent well wishes, thoughts and prayers.

PAUL: Sure. I know we don't want to compromise the situation, but when you don't want to give out any more information on the suspect. Does that indicate that you have in mind who or where this person is, or you just don't have that information on hand right now?

SEROKA: It's just not information that we're willing to release at this point in the investigation for that exact reason that you mentioned.

PAUL: I got you. Scott Seroka, the PIO for the Minneapolis police department, thank you for the update on what's happening there in your city, and best of luck to you and the officers.

SEROKA: Thank you. We'll keep you posted.

PAUL: Thank you so much. We appreciate it. Victor?

BLACKWELL: All right, President Obama, he's calling for a united global effort to take on ISIS. He's also urging a grassroots effort involving everyone from teachers to counselors, police officers, local religious and community leaders. A three-day White House summit on countering violent extremism wrapped up in Washington this week. Let's talk about this. We have on the phone with us Michael Downing. He's the deputy chief with the counterterrorism and special operations bureau at the LAPD. Also joining us Harris Zafar. He's the national spokesman for the spokesman for the Amadia Muslim Community USA, also the author of "Demystifying Islam, Tackling the Tough Questions." Thank you for joining us. Michael, I want to start with you, you attended the summit. Some critics say this was a lot of talk, question the substance. What do you believe? Are there actionable items that came out of this that will be measurable over time?

MICHAEL DOWNING, DEPUTY CHIEF, COUNTERTERRORISM AND SPECIAL OPERATIONS BUREAU, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: Definitely so. I think there was a tremendous value and it really raised this really sensitive subject to a national level. We've been doing this work since 2008, and I think the federal government recognizes that, you know, law enforcement is only one little piece to this and that we really need to create more partnerships, more whole of community. And it's not just the Muslim communities. It's Jewish communities, Christian communities. This is something that affects everybody. It really affects humanity, and we need to step up and get more government involved and develop more strategies, including mental health.

BLACKWELL: One thing we talked about this morning is it's not just extremism, or some would call it Islamic extremism, that there are sovereign citizens that are mentioned and many other types of violent extremism. Harris, let me come to you. The president says that Muslim communities have to take action in helping counter violent extremism. Let's play a bit of what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Muslim communities, including scholars and clerics, therefore, have a responsibility to push back, not just on twisted interpretations of Islam, but also on the lie that we are somehow engaged in a clash of civilizations, that America and the west are somehow at war with Islam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So how should Muslim leaders do that, and do you think they're doing it enough?

HARRIS ZAFAR, AHMADIYYA MUSLIM COMMUNITY USA: Well, at the outset, we in the Muslim community were very happy to be active participants in this week's summit. For almost a century we've been extremely civically engaged including from our work back in President Hoover's days, because we have in our DNA this concept of fighting extremism, having paid the ultimate price with our lives, being butchered at the hands of violent extremists.

And the summit was a very healthy discussion about these operational changes to fight extremist. The president, as you said, spoke about the role Muslim leadership plays in countering this violent extremism. But he also fairly said you cannot typecast Muslims with this broad stroke, that ISIS is Islamic and thus integrated within Islam.

It was refreshing for the president to echo the message of the Khalifa of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, his holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad. As the leader of the largest organized international Muslim community in the world, his holiness has not only condemned ISIS as entirely un- Islamic, he's completely dismantled their ideology, and has spoken both about the role that Muslims have to play, leaders especially, in reaching out to the youth to counter the extremism, but also the role that governmental leaders have to play in identifying, for example, the source and -- of the funding and cutting off the funding of groups of ISIS that's truly their fuel.

So that's why we were really happy to see was president had to say, and we are fully there with him, having done for several things for the past several years to counter the acts of extremism. I'm happy to explain more about what's being done in that regard.

BLACKWELL: Let me get to Michael. Los Angeles, the police department, and as I've said, Michael, you're with the LAPD, L.A. is one of the three cities, or one of three cities in a pilot program to counter violent extremists, and some critics question their surveillance and if this opens the door to increased surveillance of Muslim-Americans. How do you counter that and tempers those concerns?

DOWNING: So there will always be a need for intelligence, for surveillance operations, and to diminish operational capability of the terrorists. That will always be there.

However, the countering violent extremism initiative, that is not an intelligence exploitation platform. In fact, if you make it part of your initiative on countering violent extremism you're going to fail because you're going to lose your legitimacy.

This is about outreaching and engaging to all faiths, all people, to -- especially those on the fringe that have grievances that feel discontent or may be oppressed, and actually educate them about access to government, integrate them into societies, give these communities and individuals a voice so they can participate, and then encourage civic engagement where law enforcement could step back from a securitized relationship and let the community, whole of community take hold, putting on domestic violence workshops, putting on youth development workshops, outreaching to inner city youth, doing all those type of things that really inspire communities and make them feel like they're part of the community. There's a sense of belonging.

BLACKWELL: It will take more than the LAPD and community leaders. It also takes family leadership and schools at well. Michael Downing --

DOWNING: Absolutely.

BLACKWELL: Harris Zafar, thank you so much.

DOWNING: Thank you very much. Talk to you soon. Bye-bye.

BLACKWELL: Still ahead, Bill O'Reilly, pulling no punches as he defends his reporting record on the Falklands War. Brian Stelter has been following these developments. Good morning, Brian.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Bill O'Reilly one of the best at challenging politicians in the press, but now he's being challenged. I'll tell you what he said right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: All right, conservative FOX News pundit Bill O'Reilly is on the defensive over his reporting career. He devoted almost 10 minutes of the top of his program last night defending his record as a journalist. O'Reilly fired back after left leaning "Mother Jones" magazine claimed the host exaggerated stories about his time as a CBS reporter covering the Falklands War in Argentina.

Now for more on this, let's bring in our senior media correspondent Brian Stelter. He's been digging into this one, and he joins us from New York. Tell us, there are obvious differences, and I think it would be too simple to say this is the same as Brian Williams' situation. There are some important differences here?

STELTER: That's right, there are important differences. One of the reasons why it's being compared is Brian Williams was and may someday again be the number one nightly news anchor in the United States, the highest rated. Bill O'Reilly is the highest rated on cable. So they are in some ways equal, though Brian Williams obviously a lot bigger.

The difference is that these stories are also important. We're also talking about a situation that occurred 30 some odd years ago in Argentina where Bill O'Reilly was a reporter for CBS. But in the past, on his FOX News show and in books and elsewhere, he's described being in a, quote, "warzone" and being in a, quote, "combat situation" while covering the Falkland Islands war. The issue, of course, is that you cooperate get to the Falkland Islands, no reporters could. O'Reilly says he was actually covering a riot after the end of that war in Argentina and that what he's referring to. But some independent observers as well as "Mother Jones" are looking at this and saying actually that's not a warzone, Bill. Here's what he said on his program last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Here's the truth. Everything I've said about my reportorial car career, everything, is true. And 33 years ago in June, Argentina surrendered to Great Britain, ending the Falkland war. I was covering the conflict from Argentina and Uruguay for CBS News. After learning of the surrender, angry mobs in Buenos Aires stormed the presidential palace at Casa Rosada, trying to overthrow the government of General Leopoldo Galtieri. I was there on the street with my camera crews. The violence was horrific. Argentine soldiers fired into the crowd who were responding with violent acts of their own. My video of the combat led the CBS evening news with Dan Rather that evening. Later on I filed a report that ran nationwide. That's what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: Well you can hear O'Reilly defending his record, talking about this apparently very harrowing situation he was in. The question is whether that was combat, whether or not it should be called a warzone or whether he should have called it a protest or a riot. That's the kind of sematic debate that's happening here, Victor.

There's also a conversation about whether people actually died in the riot as O'Reilly once said, or whether there were only injuries. There are those sorts of issues that are being debated.

Meanwhile, O'Reilly is saying this is simply political. "Mother Jones," he says, is out to get them. He says I'm out to get them as well. He said this is all a political issue and that he's the victim of it. Frankly, I think it's more complicated than that. There are some journalistic issues here that go to credibility. But is this like Brian Williams? Is it a Brian Williams' situation? I don't think it is, because O'Reilly is a different kind of person. He's a point of view anchor on FOX News as opposed to a nightly news anchor on NBC News. Nonetheless, it is the kind of thing that makes Bill O'Reilly's critics seem even more critical and Bill O'Reilly's fans even more loyal.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and no question a different approach by Bill O'Reilly. NBC has approached this saying very little, and we hear so much from Bill O'Reilly at the top.

STELTER: I think I lost your IFB. I'm sorry.

BLACKWELL: Well, Brian, thank you very much. We'll have to move on to Christi. Brian, thank you. Christi, to you.

PAUL: All right, still ahead, there are these disturbing interrogation tapes. Why two teenage girls they say they stabbed their classmate 19 times.

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BLACKWELL: Two girls, now both 13 years old, allegedly stabbed their classmate, Peyton Lautner, 19 times and then left her in the woods. Now for the first time we are hearing their own account of the attack from police interrogation that our affiliate WISN exclusively obtained.

PAUL: Yes. Just hours after this attack last May Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier gave disturbing details to authorities. They say they stabbed Peyton to impress an online fictional character, this guy, named Slender Man. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was weird. I felt no remorse. I thought I would.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So then how did you get the knife from Anissa?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She sort of shoved it into my hand. There it was. I didn't know what I did. It sort of just happened. It didn't feel like anything. It was like air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think should happen to somebody who stabs somebody else?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I expect to get put in some sort of a weird place, or I expect I would get put in prison or an insane asylum. I didn't know which to expect. I don't think I'm insane, though.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: My goodness. Let's bring in legal an analyst Danny Cevallos and educator and mentor Dr. Steve Perry. Gentlemen, thank you for being with us. Steve, I want to go to you first. What's your reaction to that?

DR. STEVE PERRY, PRINCIPAL AND FOUNDER, CAPITAL PREPARATORY MAGNET SCHOOL: It's disturbing but not surprising. We have so many children who are fractured. They've seen too much for them to completely understand and make sense of what it is that they see. And this child, both these children in particular, showed so many signs that they were troubled, and they were missed.

PAUL: They were troubled, but to think this character was real, I think that's what is so hard for people to wrap their heads around. I want to play another clip for you, Danny. Listen as both of the girls describe their interactions with Slender Man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you guys were walking you thought you saw Slender?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was after Morgan had stabbed her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he has tendrils that are very sharp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you see him in your dreams or where do you see him at?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see him in my dreams.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: I see him in my dreams. Danny, can insanity be part of this defense for these girls or no?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It could be. Believe or not Wisconsin was one of the first states to even have a juvenile insanity defense. But this case is not yet in juvenile court. That's the first order of business for defense, which is drag this case, if you can, back to juvenile court where jurisdiction ends at age 25. As it is now, this case because it's attempted murder is automatically in adult court. So it is -- the burden is on the juveniles to get it back.

Wisconsin has a very permissive insanity defense. Either they lack substantial capacity to conform their conduct to the law, or they weren't aware that what they were doing was wrong. That is considered among the states a very permissive insanity defense as compared to states like Texas. So if they do remain in adult court, if they can demonstrate those prongs, one of those two prongs, then they may avoid liability with an effective insanity defense.

PAUL: But Dr. Perry, I know you help rehabilitate troubled kids in your experience as an educator. You hear the voices, they're still little girls. You can hear it in their voice. Why would they believe this character to be real?

PERRY: Well, it seems that at least one of the children was dealing with serious psychosis. And so for them to have a cognitive dissonance, something that they created a world unto themselves. And to they're defense, you know, they're children. And it's easy for children to believe in things whether it be Santa Claus or something else. So these children believed in Slender Man.

But the issue for me is not Slender Man. The issue for me is that these are children who through their play with their Barbie dolls and the mutilation of a Barbie doll, and in some of her writings, some 60 different images talking about what she wanted to do and how she wanted to harm, we have to say parents, we need you to go through your children's rooms and have a better understanding of what's going on in your child's lives.

And finally, your intuition has to kick in at some point. There's too much evidence for this child to present to her family that there was something definitely deeply troubling this child or these two children.

PAUL: Your intuition will kick in if you're paying attention to it, yes, Danny? And talk to use real quickly, we only have about 30 seconds, but some of the other disturbing evidence that's coming out?

CEVALLOS: Some of the other disturbing evidence is the Barbies that have been marked up with Slender Man's marks, some of the scribblings, some of these notes. Juveniles, children, they scribble in class, they do art. Sometimes it can be a little weird. But this is particularly disturbing, and it will be used by the defense as evidence not only that this case should be in juvenile court, but maybe down the road that they are legally insane under Wisconsin's test.

PAUL: All right, Danny Saval has and Dr. Steve Perry, we appreciate your voices in this. Thank you so much.

PERRY: Thank you.

PAUL: And thank you so much for watching us and spending some time with us today.

BLACKWELL: Yes. There's so much more ahead in the next hour of the CNN Newsroom. Fredricka Whitfield is up after the break.

PAUL: Make good memories today.

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