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Letter from GOP Senators Ignites Debate; The Battle for Tikrit; ISIS Wipes Out Revered Ancient Sites; Girls' Families Addressing U.K. Lawmakers
Aired March 10, 2015 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
An open letter and a new chapter of partisan rancor unfolds in Washington -- the White House lashing out at an open letter that Republican senators sent to Iran. It pretty much tells Tehran that any nuclear deal struck with President Obama will be killed once he leaves office. The Vice President Joe Biden who spent nearly four decades in the senate said it was a political stunt quote, beneath the dignity of an institution I revere.
And the New York Daily echoes the criticism -- the "New York Daily News", I should say. It called lawmakers traitors out to sabotage any deal.
But this morning on CNN, the author of that letter defends it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TOM COTTON (R), ARKANSAS: This letter is about stopping Iran from getting a nuclear deal. Iran's leaders need to understand that under our constitution congress plays as critical role in approving international agreements. If congress doesn't approve an agreement, the agreement will not necessarily have lasting effect. Future congresses or for that matter future president can change them.
And the deal that is emerging would allow Iran to develop a path toward a nuclear weapon and that's not acceptable because it's too dangerous to the United States and too dangerous to the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Of course that letter has real world implications. Critics say it could start a war with Iran. Others, namely Senator John McCain, say the Obama administration's reaction is quote, hysterical.
Which is it? Let's head to Iran and CNN's Frederik Pleitgen. Frederik -- how is Iran reacting?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, needless to say, the Iranians took great offense to this letter. The one thing that they found very condescending, they said, was a passage where these GOP senators said that perhaps the Iranian government was not familiar with the U.S. constitutional process.
Now, one of the things that the Iranian foreign minister said in his reply was that the government here is very well aware of the constitutional process and that they believe that if the President of the United States signs an agreement, that that would be a legally binding even for administrations that would follow. They also said that, of course, these are negotiations that are taking place not just between the United States and Iran but between Iran and various other countries including the United States.
Now, we have been saying that they did also say that they thought all of this was a propaganda ploy, in their words. I want to read you a little part of the statement that the foreign ministry sent to us. They said, While negotiations have not yet born fruit and there's no agreement yet, pressure groups in the U.S. are so worried that they are using extraordinary measures to prove that they, just like Netanyahu, oppose any kind of agreement.
Of course one of the things, Carol, that we also have to keep in mind is that the Iranian government is also facing a lot of pressure here at home from hard line groups who oppose any sort of agreement. There are even some who say they believe that Iran is thriving under the sanctions. They think sanctions don't necessarily have to go away.
However, if you speak to the majority of Iranians, they tell you they certainly want a nuclear deal and they certainly want the sanctions to go away as fast as possible -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Frederik Pleitgen reporting from Iran. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the push to retake Tikrit from ISIS next.
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COSTELLO: The top U.S. military officer has a message for the Islamic state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Daesh will be defeated. And it will be defeated because of the coalition that has organized together to face this common threat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Joint Chiefs chair General Martin Dempsey delivered the decree on Monday alongside Iraq's minister of defense. Dempsey says he's happy to see the people of Iraq rising up. The mission comes as Iraqi troops backed by Iran battle to reclaim the city of Tikrit.
More from Barbara Starr.
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BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Iraqi troops and Shia militia near Tikrit taking down ISIS flags inching closer to liberating the city from ISIS control. The optics, an Iraqi victory against ISIS backed up by help from Iran. Senior U.S. officials watching across Iraq and Syria as indications sporadically grow that ISIS could be in trouble. After nearly 3,000 coalition air strikes, the days of freely moving around in large formations flying black flags and taking territory may be over for the group.
ARMY GEN. LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: They can no longer do that. And it's principally because of the effects that we've had. It's not about just kinetic effects alone.
STARR: Signs that ISIS may be fracturing in some local areas over the strain of attempting to function as a state.
JAMES CLAPPER, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: We are seeing anecdotal evidence of resentment and even resistance in those areas that controlled by ISIL.
STARR: ISIS having trouble providing basic municipal services.
CLAPPER: Electricity outages, shortages of food and commodities. Air strikes against the refining capability has forced them to go to a lot of individual mom and pop refining stills.
STARR: But don't count ISIS out yet. The group has resorted to some conscriptions (ph) but fresh recruits including some from the west are still flocking by the hundreds to Syria and Iraq, even though their losses are mounting and some even being killed if they try to leave.
SETH JONES, RAND CORPORATION: I don't see evidence right now that ISIS is falling apart. I do see evidence that ISIS is having some trouble in governing some territory that there is internal squabbling among some of the foreign fighters and some of the local Iraqi and Syrian fighters. That's pretty standard from a range of these groups.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Barbara Starr reporting.
ISIS as you know is wiping out history, though. I want you to take a look at these rooms. This is in Nimrud, Iraq. Few people have ever traveled to this ancient site to see history up close. How about (inaudible)? Once the picturesque back drop for this family's city's photo-op; the city stood the test of time for 2,000 years but both historic sites have been reduced to rubble by ISIS.
This video was taken inside Iraq's Mosul museum. The sites are among the latest in a growing list of attacks.
To talk about the significance of the destruction, I'm joined by Dr. Clemens Reichel, he's the assistant professor for Mesopotamian Archeology at the University of Toronto and a curator for the ancient Near East at the Royal Ontario Museum.
Welcome, sir.
DR. CLEMENS REICHEL, UNIVERISTY OF TORONTO: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Tell us about the importance of these sites.
REICHEL: Well, I mean, imagine that the Acropolis and Athens or the Coliseum in Rome or the pyramids in Egypt had been flattened by bulldozers. That's the way it feels to us. Nimrud was the first important capital of the Syrian empire. The Syrian empire was political formation that started at its heyday all the way from Egypt to western Iran.
And in this palace, in this capital, you have these magnificent palaces, notably one by one of the great kings of Assyria, Ashurnasirpal which was decorated with very intricate reliefs with that official battle scenes that showed daily life at court and many of them are at the British Museum nowadays and the Iraq museum but a lot of them, of course, were left onsite in kind of an outdoor museum.
Now, Fatwa (ph) which reportedly destroyed on Saturday is probably a site that no one's ever heard of before but it actually was the one big UNESCO world heritage site in Iraq. It was the capital of an independent kingdom actually during the time of Jesus basically. It fought the Romans. It's a very unique mix between eastern architecture and classical architecture. When you walk around, you're kind reminded of looking at say, Greek architecture, but it had very unique oriental flare to it.
And it's very vulnerable because it's all stone architecture. It has lots of columns. It has statues so it's very easy to destroy, of course.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: The United Nations -- could I -- I just want to ask you, the United Nations says that destroying these ancient ruins is a war crime. Do you agree?
REICHEL: Well, it should be called a war crime quite frankly. It upsets me that so many other things are called war crimes but the destruction of cultural heritage somehow still isn't really treated as one. Once you destroy a site or museum or artifact, it's gone. It's gone forever.
And this is not a matter of value of financial value. It's not a commodity to us. It's our history. It's something that is really irreplaceable. So unless there's some enforcement, I don't think anyone will pay respect to that and certainly ISIS will not.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Iraq's tourism and antiquities minister says he asked for aerial support to stop ISIS from doing this. Is that what you want too? Is that prudent?
REICHEL: Well, it would be nice if there were some enforcement. I know that that the modalities of how to stop looters or stop ISIS is difficult to explain. General Martin Dempsey ruled out possible air strikes against ISIS to protect archaeological sites. I can understand it. There are priorities.
But unless we do something and unless we show some teeth in this, I think it will just go on.
COSTELLO: I also wondered because there's word that ISIS sells these priceless historical objects on the black market. Who buys these things?
REICHEL: It's probably not dealers in the west that much. It's too hot quite frankly. Most of the artifacts are too well known. Suspicion is that a lot of it goes into Gulf states and to private collections and east Asia is also mentioned as a market.
We don't really control any part of that because obviously this is outside of our region. It's not traveling through Europe or through the United States at this point. And these are mostly smaller objects and those are not the objects that are being destroyed on camera.
COSTELLO: Right. Dr. Clemens Reichel, thank you for your insight. I appreciate it.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the families of three teenage girls from London who are feared to have joined ISIS are addressing lawmakers in London. We'll take you there next.
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COSTELLO: Sources tell CNN the three runaway British girls have joined an ISIS training camp in Syria. The news comes as their families are members are set to address lawmakers this hour in London, just days after demanding an apology from London's metropolitan police over the force's handling of the case.
CNN's Atika Shubert joins me now with the latest. Good morning -- Atika.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, we are expecting to hear from the families first thing probably starting in just a few minutes when the session starts. But it's interesting that we're getting a sort of blame game between the police and the parents.
Basically what's happened is that police came to the school because another student a few months ago left to go to Syria and they questioned these three girls about it at the time. Now, they were supposed to inform the parents of this. What they did was handed a letter to the girls and, of course, as you can imagine, the girls hid the letters and never showed it to their parents so the parents had no idea what was happening in school to their daughters.
So what's happened now is they've asked for an apology from the police for failing to notify them of this saying that they can't stop radicalization if they don't know exactly what's happening.
On the other hand, the police said the parents need to be more mindful of what their children are doing especially online. So we're going to have a continuation of this discussion in parliament very soon.
COSTELLO: Ok. So you say especially online. Does that mean the girls planned their ISIS trip for a long time?
SHUBERT: It does look like this. In fact, the Guardian has been reporting that there is a laundry list of items that they would need to travel including tickets, of course, costing upwards of $1,000. But if you looked at their online accounts, you can see that one of them followed more than 70 Islamist accounts and at the very end actually reached out to another ISIS female recruiter already in Syria asking for help. It does look like the signs were there all along. It's just that parents and police were looking in the wrong place.
COSTELLO: What will the families tell lawmakers today?
SHUBERT: What the families are likely to say is what the experience was like for them. They had no idea that their daughters were even interested in politics in Syria much less planning to go and join ISIS. But they may not have any awareness because they're daughters were trying to hide this from them. It's very clear.
And I understand that we are now we're getting live pictures from inside that Home Affairs Committee. You can see some of the family members there sitting down and getting ready to testify.
They've spoken to the press before. They are very emotional. For them this was a complete shock to see their sisters, their daughters actually leaving London and heading into Syria.
COSTELLO: All right. Atika Shubert -- thanks so much. I appreciate it.
Checking some other top stories for you at 51 minutes past.
In Washington, a bipartisan team of senators is uniting for one cause -- ending the ban on marijuana, the federal ban on marijuana. Details of the bill sponsored by Senators Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand and Rand Paul are not known but he's expected to be introduced today.
Delta crew members say they did not sense the brakes were working when the plane they landed skidded across a snowy New York runway last week. According to an NTSB report, the crew says the runway appeared all white in the moments before landing.
Chuck-e-Cheese says it's the place where some awesome parents go but that certainly was not the case near Cleveland, Ohio where a brawl broke out after one parent got angry that a photo booth wasn't working. After she was told to wait a member of her group then followed manager into the kitchen and attacked him. Five men are accused of assaulting employees. Police are asking the public to call a tip line with information.
Trips to Burger King just got a little healthier for kids in your family. The chain, dropping softdrinks from its kids' meals, telling "U.S.A. Today" it is part of a continued effort to quote, "match lifestyle needs for customers. Fat-Free milk, Apple juice and low fat chocolate milk will replace soda.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it can open the garage door and even pay your bills. When fans can finally get their hands on the new Apple Watch next.
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COSTELLO: We're just days away from the Apple watch finally landing in stores on April 24th. But it will cost you as much as $17,000 for one model. For some it's worth every penny to their inner child with all the tricks and the gadgets it will perform.
CNN's Jeanne Moos has more for you.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With watches writhing and ripping and clasping, it felt a little like 50 shades of Apple.
TIM COOK, APPLE CEO: It's not just with you, it's on you.
MOOS: The cheapest will cost $350.
The most expensive? Eighteen-karat gold --
COOK: It is priced from $10,000 --
MOOS: And for that, you can finally talk into your wrist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Dick Tracy calling Hemlock Holmes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is 86 reporting into control.
COOK: You can receive calls on your watch. I have been wanting to do this since I was five years old. The day is finally here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's here at last. The new Dick Tracy two-way wrist radio --
MOOS: OK, the Apple watch can do things Dick Tracy never imagined.
COOK: I can see the current stock market, and it brings up my credit card. And then I just put my watch near the merchant terminal and it even reminds you if you've been sitting too long.
MOOS: Remember when clocks used to tick? Well, this watch checks your ticker.
COOK: You can even check your heart rate.
MOOS: Some sent tweets poking fun at Apple with iPhones taped to wrists. Apple's Kevin Lynch showed a message from his daughter saying she was locked out, then used an app to open his garage door from his wristwatch.
Of course, there's the pesky problem of battery life.
COOK: You can expect 18 hours.
MOOS: Responded someone -- tired of replacing your wristwatch battery once every three years? Get Apple Watch and enjoy charging it every 18 hours.
Yes, but look how cool the magnetic charger is.
COOK: It will automatically click into place.
MOOS: It was as if time stood still during the Apple Watch event.
Actually, it did stand still at 10:09. That is the time to which almost all watches are set in ads from Gucci to Coach to Timex. It's thought to look symmetrical and optimistic like a smiley face. So even digital watches are set to 10:09. Heck, even this bird clock was advertised at 9:00 black-capped chickadees, past the tufted titmouse, the only mouse Apple offers is Mickey.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Jeanne Moos. It's a brutal day on Wall Street. The Dow has dropped more than 200 points. It's fallen so much it's wiped out any gains from this year. The strong dollar is expected to hurt U.S. corporate earnings. Some saying the dollar may trade one to one with the euro soon but if history is any indication, the markets just may go right back up.
Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.
"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.
