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Fraternity Under Fire; Where Is Vladimir Putin?; Ferguson Investigation

Aired March 13, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Meantime, let me take you to this new and revealing video that appears to show these three British schoolgirls who ran away from home, suspected of heading to Syria to join ISIS. So, now I can tell you that these two men can be heard in this background of the video that we will show you.

It's shaky, it's amateurish, but you will understand here. As these girls get out of the cab, they are, you see here, removing their luggage, and checking their phones, and according to Reuters, they're getting ready to cross into Syria from Turkey. This video was shot February 29 in Turkey.

CNN cannot independently confirm its authenticity. But the video is also said to have been filmed by a alleged Syrian spy working for a country that is a member of the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition and has since been detained by Turkish officials.

I have Ryan Crocker, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. And he is now the dean at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.

Mr. Ambassador it's a pleasure to have you on. Welcome, sir.

RYAN CROCKER, FORMER UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO AFGHANISTAN: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Beginning with and not just these young woman, I am sure that you saw the video here of these young British women, but multiple other Westerners, there's this sort of odd fascination, it seems, among certain Westerners, young Westerners, to be drawn into this militia, this movement, terrorism. What could possibly, Ambassador Crocker, be the draw?

CROCKER: Brooke, I think that it varies from place to place, even from individual to individual.

In many parts of Europe, Muslim immigrant communities, even second generation, are not terribly well-integrated and not very economically successful. They're, if you will, almost ghettoized. And so for young people that feel that they're treated as second-class citizen, plus the fact of being a young person, this can be a dangerously alluring proposition.

BALDWIN: Dangerous indeed when you see what is happening on the ground. We know that ISIS has blown up an Iraqi army headquarters in Ramadi, killing more than 40 there and still Iraq forces say that they're actually close from taking Tikrit back from ISIS. Is that encouraging for you that Iraq forces at least so far appear to holding their own against these terrorists?

CROCKER: Obviously, anything that stops or sets back ISIS would appear to be good, but I think that it's very important that we take a close look at the nature of this force that's carrying out the offensive in Tikrit.

BALDWIN: How do you mean?

CROCKER: Two-thirds of that force, according to General Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are not regular Iraqi forces. They're Shia militias.

And some of them have a whole lot of blood on their hands, including ours, as well that of Sunni civilians. The fact that irregulars of one of Iraq's sects are leading an offensive in an area that's controlled by Iraq Sunnis is problematic at least.

So how they comport themselves if they're successful in Tikrit is going to be very important. It's a way of saying what happens after the battle may be more important than the battle itself.

BALDWIN: With regard to the battle, we have to talk about Iran. I wanted to ask you -- specifically, we brought you on because you're familiar with this Iranian general, Qassem Suleimani, referred to as the shadow commander and the dark knight. These are all nicknames I have read today.

I know General Petraeus once called him a truly evil figure and he's been photographed on the front lines. You dealt with him, I understand, Ambassador Crocker, indirectly. Can you tell me a little bit more of who this man is?

CROCKER: Qassem Suleimani has commanded the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force since the late 1990s, so a long time in the job.

And the Quds Force is Iran's external operation forces. They control, arm, train and provide operational direction to groups like Hezbollah, to Hamas, and to those Iraqi Shia militias, so a very capable, very, very dangerous man.

BALDWIN: And I am going back to your point about some of these Iraqis with blood on their hands. There are now photos that have surfaced, Ambassador, that appear to show these Iraqi forces now, not ISIS, but these Iraqis are holding up severed heads and they're dangling ISIS members by cords. It's incredibly gruesome.

What is the message do you think these images are sending, not only to this coalition, but to the world?

CROCKER: They're sending a very, very negative message everywhere. The audience I am most concerned about is inside Iraq. And it's the

Iraqi Sunni Arab community that I mentioned earlier. To the extent that these Shia militias are seen not as liberators of a city occupied by a truly terrible group, Islamic State, but as bloodthirsty members of one sect out to kill members of another, it will not be good.

BALDWIN: Boko Haram. Final question, Boko Haram in the last week or so has now pledged allegiance to ISIS, whatever this allegiance really means. Now apparently ISIS has accepted this allegiance.

What to you -- how do you read that and what is most concerning to you about this alliance?

CROCKER: Boko Haram is a pretty horrible group. What they have done to young girls is just awful.

Whether their claim of allegiance to the Islamic State is going to change that much, I don't know. That's a pretty far reach for the Islamic State. This is a non-Arab region. We will just have to see. But in a sense, Boko Haram has already established itself before this as violent, extremely brutal, with absolutely no principles whatsoever. Obviously, this pledge of allegiance isn't going to change that one way or the other.

BALDWIN: Ambassador Ryan Crocker, thank you so much for the time. I truly appreciate it.

CROCKER: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: You got it.

Now to Ferguson, Missouri, and a calm night there, thank goodness, last night, but it's really been a striking distance in the message of protesters after more than 200 days now of calling for police reform , this time many, many people there praying, singing for police, for those two officers who were shot the previous night.

And as protesters are expanding their message, investigators appeared to have narrowed their search for the gunman. Law enforcement officials say investigators have identified now not one, but two people they would like to question, including one who may be the shooter. The 911 call from the attack has just been released.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got officer down, officer down, shots fired at their station.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All cars en route to the officer down, officer in need of aid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officer down, 222 South Florissant.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The shooter appears to have had excellent aim. The red circle here on the left side of your screen actually respects where he or she was likely standing, seated when they pulled the trigger.

Authorities say that the two officers were hit from about 125 yards away there. You see the red line.

Let me turn to CNN's law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes. He is actually standing for us there near the hill where the shooter police believe was likely positioned.

And, Tom, just can you help me understand exactly how far? We're talking, what, a football field and a quarter.

TOM FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Right.

Brooke, we're basing that on what the police say that they believe that the distance was. We're at the top of the hill, and I am working my way down the street now toward where the shooting occurred. And one of the things that we learned today analyzing this is that the crowd was actually not in front of the police.

This was one of the things that we believed early in the case, that the shooter required elevation and required it having to be at the top of the hill, where you see the car coming now. And now we learned that the shooter would not have had to have been that high, because the people had already been moved by the police into two parking lots, one on my left side here, one across the street here on the right side.

And there were actually no protesters, according to the media and according Susan Weich, "Saint Louis Post-Dispatch" reporter who was actually on the scene just a few feet from the police officers when they were shot. She told us this morning that the police had cleared the street and the shooter from the top of the hill up there or somewhere up that hill would have had a straight shot down.

Now, we're going cross the main street here, and try to live to tell about it. When we cross this other side of the street, this is the location where the police officers were when they were shot. They were in a line in this grassy area here near the fire hydrants straight across, and the shot would have come from up the street and all of the witnesses are convinced that the muzzle blast and the location of the shooting was up the street directly down, striking the officers here.

Now, Susan Weich, the reporter, was just a few, 10 or 20 feet away from the officers when the shoots were fired, where you see some of the other media people. She got behind that brick wall once the shots started and she also observed the police officers and the fire department personnel who came out to rescue the wounded officers and take them to safety and take them to treatment.

Having analyzed the shots this morning, we can see that it's pretty convincing that they would have not have been on the roof of either of these two stores on each side of the street, that they could easily have been in the street and that nobody would have been blocking a clear shot from the street up above down to the police officers here. BALDWIN: It's incredible just to see the perspective as you walked it

from the hill there to where the officers were standing. Again, as we are reporting, we now know police are looking for two individuals, perhaps one of them even the shooter.

Tom Fuentes, thank you so much for walking us through that in Ferguson, Missouri.

Next, an American admiral is sounding the alarm bells over Russia and he says it actually may be quite difficult to defend the United States. Is Russian stepping up its military activity? Hear what the Kremlin is trying to do, this as a lot of people lately have been asking, where has Vladimir Putin been? The rumors, they are a flying about his recent absence. We have more on that.

Also, just a heart-wrenching video here of the man that was carjacked by those alleged Boston bombers two years ago, his story and his story here inside the gas station, how he managed to escape -- coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Let's talk about Russia, because as you well know, the economy there near collapse, but the Russian military, that is a whole different story. Russia is increasing the capabilities of its weapons systems, so much so now that this U.S. admiral who leads NORAD -- that's the North American Aerospace Defense Command -- is warning U.S. lawmakers about this, specifically mentioning Russia's long-range missiles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. WILLIAM GORTNEY, NORAD COMMANDER: The element of the cruise missiles that they have that have a very long range that from the Russian -- from Eastern Russia, they can range critical infrastructure in Alaska and in Canada that we rely on for our homeland defense mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: With me now, a familiar face to us here at CNN, Jill Dougherty, an expert on Russia, now at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

And, Jill, you heard the reporting from this admiral at NORAD. And we know what has been going on with Ukraine and Russia, but what would be the motivation here for these longer-range missiles?

JILL DOUGHERTY, WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS: Well, Russia is showing what it has.

If you ask the Russians, they would say, look, the United States and some other countries, but especially the U.S., do this all of the time, a kind of show of force. They fly around the world, and we're just doing the same thing, except that we could not afford it before and now we have enough money, and we're going to show the power that we have.

And what they're talking about, what the commander was talking about is those heavy bombers that have been flying, he says, more patrols outside of Russia since the end of the Cold War. And there of course have over -- flights around countries in Europe as well.

So the concern I think is not only those, but what Russia is doing in terms of building up, as this commander says, working on long-range, conventionally armed cruise missiles. But he points out that you do not always know when those missiles are, let's say in a silo, whether they're conventional or nuclear.

It's all part of the nervousness right now, which is actually quite dangerous, that talking about the potential of some type of nuclear conflict because of Ukraine. Nobody I think on either side wants anything like that, but there's a lot of brinksmanship going on right now.

BALDWIN: Right. So there's the nervousness, but then there's also the questions over Vladimir Putin, because the man has been oddly MIA. We have video of him, Jill, that just came out of him today, but the caveat here is this was actually recorded earlier in the month. And people have been wondering where he has been and all kinds of speculation. What are you hearing?

DOUGHERTY: All you have to do is go on Twitter or on the Web in general and just Google Putin, and you're going to find a lot of insane things.

It's true that the last time he was seen, at least up until a few hours ago, was a meeting with the Italian prime minister, which was about a week ago. Then he had several meetings that were scheduled. He was supposed to meet with the FSB, which is the former KGB. He was supposed to have talks with the presidents of Belarus and Kazakstan, et cetera, and he did not show up.

So now in that -- the situation right now, it always -- Moscow always has been a center for rumors and speculation, et cetera. And it's in high dudgeon at this point. As soon as the president does not show up, which is really kind of rare for him, people begin to question.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Where could he be?

DOUGHERTY: Well, he could be -- well, just look on the Web. He could be all over. He could be in a yoga retreat.

But, seriously, there are some explanations. He could be sick. The flu is going around Moscow. That might be the more normal thing. Or it could be his schedule. The Kremlin continues to say that he feels fine, his handshake could crush a man's hand, et cetera, he's just fine

There's even a rumor that -- there has been a rumor that he has a girlfriend,that the girlfriend is having a baby in Switzerland. Now, the Kremlin denies that too. So, all I am trying is say is that you have to look at this in terms of why all of this insanity? And one of the problems is, people are very nervous, legitimately. Where is Putin? Is he in charge? Could there be, as one commentator said, a palace coup?

It's -- the situation is serious, even if these rumors sound pretty bizarre.

BALDWIN: You had me at Vladimir Putin yoga retreat and the mental image I had was kind of priceless.

Jill Dougherty, thank you so much for coming on. As always, I appreciate it.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Speaking of Vladimir Putin here, our Cristina Alesci actually spoke with the man who spins, spins the Russian president's tunes. Putin's unofficial deejay has actually played the Kremlin and here is Cristina Alesci's conversation with D.J. Fenix.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you think of the world's music capitals, Moscow probably does not come to mind.

But D.J. Fenix has grabbed international attention, thanks to some seriously high-profile gigs, like Russian President Vladimir Putin's second inauguration and private shows for guys like Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

(on camera): You have gotten a lot of attention lately because you have played in the Kremlin.

D.J. FENIX, DEEJAY: Kremlin special place. Of course, it's history place.

ALESCI (voice-over): He is the first deejay ever to spin in Moscow's president residence.

D.J. FENIX: Of course, I am a little bit nervous. Somebody say, no, D.J. Fenix, and everybody say, who? Deejay? Now?

ALESCI (on camera): They're not raving.

(CROSSTALK)

D.J. FENIX: They do not have dance floor in Kremlin.

ALESCI: EDM has such international appeal. It grew out of Europe really. Now it's around the world. Was it always popular in Russia?

D.J. FENIX: It's a fresh thing, fresh thing in music industry in Russia. I'm Yuri Gagarin, guy who go first in space, in my genre of music. ALESCI (voice-over): He may be breaking new ground on the music scene

in Russia, but critics say freedom of speech is stifled in the country and political dissent has been met with severe consequences.

(on camera): The American impression of Russia is that there's a lot of censorship of artists. Is that true?

D.J. FENIX: I don't want to put political message in my music. In dance music, you want to feel only good emotions, only good feelings. It's not a problem for me to write my lyrics. I'm not stressed with the government.

ALESCI: Spotify has decided not to enter Russia with its service.

D.J. FENIX: Yes.

ALESCI: Do you feel like that limits opportunities for artists in Russia?

D.J. FENIX: Of course, because it's a big instrument to promote music. It's not good for musicians, for artists.

ALESCI: What is it about the Russian market that makes it difficult?

D.J. FENIX: Now in Russia, black market is very big problem for all artists and musicians. It's difficult to control music. If I can help to change something in this situation in Russia, I am ready.

ALESCI: So, how do you make money then, if you can't sell your music?

D.J. FENIX: For us, final goal, it's gigs, our shows.

ALESCI: There are tensions now between the U.S. and Russia. Have you had any reaction from your American fan base?

D.J. FENIX: Young people want to find something good. It's not important American or Russia or Chinese. Everybody wants to find something positive. And I do everything for these people, for young people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALESCI: Cristina Alesci, thank you very much.

Want to go quickly now to lawyer Stephen Jones. He is respecting that fraternity, that now infamous fraternity, SAE, the fraternity that has been shuttered now at the University of Oklahoma because of the racist chants caught on video. Let's take a listen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

STEPHEN JONES, ATTORNEY FOR SAE FRATERNITY: I have a prepared statement which I will read. I have copies of it for you, although there may of course be some interlineations, and I will try to take a few questions, time permitting. Anyone has to leave, that's certainly fine. I understand that. So, thank you for coming, and I will address why I am here.

First, let me tell you that the board of directors of the SAE chapter of Oklahoma University retained me yesterday afternoon to assist them in evaluating certain legal issues and other matters that may impact the local chapter of SAE and its members as a result of a recent incident and action by the University of Oklahoma on that incident.

Let me begin by telling you that we're not here because we're interested in a legal solution. We hope, and I hope my statement will make it clear, that we seek to have some other resolution of this matter.

There have been -- or I have been retained to respect the chapter and its members where they wish for me to do in any matters that may relate to the due process of the students. But our first concern is for their physical safety.

Unfortunately, there have been some incidents involving current members of SAE where death threats have been placed, where there have been physical assaults or alterations on the University of Oklahoma campus, and where some of the students who are members have frankly been afraid to go to class and their parents have expressed their own concern about the well-being of their children.

And the SAE corporation locally shares in that and we take this opportunity to make those concerns known to the University of Oklahoma, and I am sure they will respond in an appropriate manner.

Secondly, all of us agree that the actions which led to this matter at the University of Oklahoma are inexcusable. Let me be clear. There's no justification for what occurred, zero. The incident, however, occurred on one of five buses. Each bus had 55 seats. There are over 100 local members of the SAE chapter, and they were going to the founders day banquet at the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club.

Must of the buses had somewhere between 25 to 27 members and their dates. So, we're talking of one incident with nine seconds of video on one of five buses.

Above all else, the board of the local chapter that I represent is concerned about the physical safety. That's our first concern and paramount concern. Secondly, we are interested, where needed, to act to protect the due process rights, the First Amendment rights and the 14th Amendment rights of the members.

These include those rights for due process and disciplinary hearings, due process before the national SAE chapter, which I might parenthetically say I talked to the general counsel of SAE today and was assured by reviewing with him the provisions of the SAE national chapter and bylaws that they do afford due process to members of the SAE fraternity who are suspended.

We hope that the university will do the same thing. And we extend to them our initial belief that they will do the right thing. But we stand ready to protect the rights of the student members. Finally, as I said at the beginning, this matter is not one that seeks

a legal solution. We seek to invite the university and its leadership, President Boren, and his designated representatives, and, where appropriate, we consider it a good idea to invite representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union in Oklahoma and the state and perhaps Oklahoma City chapters of the NAACP.

We believe that, working together in a positive manner, we can find a solution that is acceptable to everyone to make this a teachable moment and an educational moment for what is seriously a flawed incident. And we will seek to accomplish that.