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Top Terrorist Killed in U.S. Drone Strike; New Approach to Treating PTSD. Aired 9:30-10:00a ET.
Aired July 22, 2015 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A major win for the war on terror. The Pentagon says a top terrorist who knew about 9/11 before it happened was killed during a targeted U.S. drone strike. Officials say, the Kuwaiti born Jihadi was in charge of an Al Qaeda offshoot known as the Khorasan group. He was apparently hit while driving in a vehicle near the Syrian border. Amazing, right?
Joining me to talk about this is CNN Contributor and co-author of ISIS Inside the Army of Terror. Michael Weiss. Welcome, Michael.
MICHAEL WEISS, CO-AUTHOR, ISIS: INSIDE THE ARMY OF TERROR: Thank you for having me.
COSTELLO: So this guy's death a big blow?
WEISS: It is. He was the guy that was sent by Al Qaeda Corp command to infiltrate Syria and basically be the one who's plotting external operations. So counter terrorism officials, the CIA said he was looking to create a sort of t-shirt bomb that could detonate on a commercial airliner and perpetrate another inflight terrorist attack. It's actually interesting about this guy up until 2013 he was in Iran.
The Iranians say under house arrest. Whatever that means. So how did he get from Iran into northern Syria? The other interesting thing is actually, CNN reported at the time when we heard about the Khorasan group his body guard apparently had been arrested by the Assad regime's recover up services and he was the one that sang about the plot to do these spectacular attacks aboard an airline jet. Very, very dodgy and interesting.
You know, I mean, so, is the Assad regime feeding information or intelligence to the west and hopes that hey look at this we're your partners in count counter terrorism. But this is going back decades.
[09:35:00] COSTELLO: Last week the army chief of staff warned it could take 10 to 20 years to defeat ISIS but among the many challenges he cites and this was written up in the New York times ISIS is putting in place the measures associated with governing. Identification cards for residents. Promulgated fishing guidelines to reserve stocks. Requiring that cars carry tool kits for emergencies.
That transition may demand the west rethink its military first approach to combating the group. OK. So what is it, what does that mean that the west should rethink its military first approach? WEISS: I'm going to give the gentleman the benefit of the doubt.
Not that he says that ISIS should be recognized as a senior state but it's about time that they recognize this is not just a terrorist organization. These aren't a bunch of guerrillas in the country side. This is not new. They have been doing it the last several years. The U.S. now gathered intelligence namely through the raid that killed the oil minister of ISIS that explains the full sophistication and apparatus that goes into their state.
They collect taxes. They run social services. They keep bakeries running. They have just now actually taken a monopoly on the Internet in their headquarters. What I think he is referring to is look there has to be a sociological approach to ISIS to combating ISIS. Why do they find popular support among the communities? Particularly the Sunni tribal areas of eastern Syria and western and central Iraq?
COSTELLO: They'll be headed if they don't. First degree they don't?
WEISS: When they quote unquote liberate a town either kicking out those that were there, they present themselves as the model of good governance and transparency. Your women will not be raped. The trash will be collected off the streets. The trains will run on time. Now to us this sounds ludicrous given what we have known and seen but put yourself in the mind of someone that's lived through four years of attritional warfare. The way I put it is a malice re-education camp can look like the wilder under the right conditions, right?
COSTELLO: Michael Weiss, thank you for your insight. I appreciate it.
WEISS: Sure, no problem.
COSTELLO: Still to come, despite a deal with Iran this U.S. journalist still sits in jail. What his family has to say on the one year anniversary of his arrest, next.
[09:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: The brother of an American reporter on trial in Iran talking right now. You see him there. Exactly, one year ago Iranian authorities took Jason Racione into custody later charging him on several counts including spying. It comes a major debate of America's recent deal with Iran. A deal that did not include the release of Jason and three other American detainees.
Last night President Obama showing a crowd at a new event that he's still fighting for the hostages to come home. Athena Jones is in Washington with more. Good morning.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol, we know that Arazian's older brother Ali is speaking right now at this event of a national press club. We also expect to hear from Washington Post Senator, his colleagues, his family and officials of the U.S. government from the White House on down have been calling for the immediate release of him and other Americans held in detention in Iran.
This is the longest detention of a journalist in Iran since 1979. This is since the revolution in 1979 according to the Washington Post. We know that he was held for five months before he was even charged with espionage and propaganda. He had medical issue and lost 50 pounds. This is something U.S. officials were clamoring for. They come under criticism for not including that Iran release him and other prisoners as part of the nuclear deal but it has come up over and over again.
Of course the president saying we will not rest. We will not relent until he and others are released. That includes several other American citizens. I believe you have a picture of them up on the screen, Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Athena Jones, reporting live from Washington. Thank you.
Still to come, is PTSD a mental illness? I'll tell you about a radical new approach to treating that disorder without drugs.
[09:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: PTSD is not a mental illness but a normal reaction to trauma. I guess it is an experiment from a radical rehabilitation program for veterans called Operation Tohidu.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go sir, good work. Good work.
COSTELLO: It looks like summer camper, one of those team building retreats corporate America like to host.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Perfect.
COSTELLO: This exercise is a part of Operation Tohidu. An experimental some might call radical program to help veterans with PTSD.
It's run by Doctor Mary Vieten, it's a weeklong retreat of the nonprofit Mel Wood center in Southern Maryland. For army specialist Scott Barber. It saved his life.
COSTELLO: You came to that realization that you're not crazy. You're just a normal guy. How did you feel?
SCOTT BARBER, SPECIALIST, U.S. ARMY: Relieved. Like a thousand pounds were lifted off my chest.
COSTELLO: That realization that he isn't crazy is key because he insists that PTSD is not a mental illness but normal.
MARY VIETEN, FOUNDER OPERATION TOHIDU: You don't go into the theater of operations as a highly skilled professional with God-like powers and then suddenly one day have a screw loose. It doesn't make sense. They know it doesn't make sense. COSTELLO: According to the diagnostic and statistical manual of
disorders PTSD is a mental illness. And how do you treat mental illness? Usually with drugs, Scott Barber is no exception.
BARBER: Basically they give you a goody bag filled with - well, Go to...
COSTELLO: You said, I'm depressed, having trouble sleeping.
BARBER: Right.
COSTELLO: Don't know what's wrong. They give you a bag of drugs?
BARBER: Basically that's what it was like.
[09:50:00] COSTELLO: Did you take the drugs?
BARBER: Yes, I took them.
COSTELLO: How many different drugs did they give you?
BARBER: I believe I was on four different kinds.
COSTELLO: Eventually something terrible happened to you.
BARBER: Eventually it did, yes. In 2013, Christmas eve, I was taking the said drugs they had prescribed. My family was in, we have a Christmas tradition that we sit around and play Pictionary. And I got up and started to draw. And I felt something in my ears. And my ears started to bleed. And I was like, what? And then all of a sudden, they freaked out and I hit the ground. That's the last thing I remember. I woke up in the back of an ambulance - I didn't wake up. I should rephrase that. But I was drifting in and out. This is what it felt like to me. And the paddles were on me. And I remember hearing the voices...
COSTELLO: So you died?
BARBER: I flatlined. Yes. They were pumping me. That's all I can remember hearing them say is, come on, buddy, come on back. And it was a really horrible experience. And when we got to the hospital, I remember I was in there for four days. They run every sort f of test on me. And the doctor at the time said, who is prescribing him this medication? He says, what is this? He said, stop everything. He says, this is a recipe for death.
COSTELLO: It's that kind of story that infuriates Dr. Vieten. So what percentage of patients don't need drugs?
VIETEN: 100 percent.
COSTELLO: All of them?
VIETEN: There's no reason to medicate someone whose problem is they're traumatized by their war experiences. COSTELLO: Really?
VIETEN: There's no reason to do that. None.
COSTELLO: Even if they're suffering from hallucinations or something like that?
VIETEN: No.
COSTELLO: Why do you say that?
VIETEN: First of all, the medications are delivered to the warrior as if they treat something. And they don't treat anything. All psychiatric medications either stimulate or sedate.
COSTELLO: Experts including those at the BIA and Department of Defense disagree with Dr. Vieten.
DR. HAROLD KUDLER, CHIEF MENTAL CONSULTANT: I've learned in PTSD, there are people who can't do talk therapy until you give them a medicine that gives them a longer fuse. They can't sit with these questions unless you can control their anxiety and their depression.
COSTELLO: Start a circle at "F" but talk is what dr. Vieten's warriors say they need. All of the mentors at Operation Tohidu are veterans who have suffered from PTSD. The only medicine is helping vets understand context.
VIETEN: The person who's the most obsessive compulsive and the most vigilant and the most on the ball and hyperaware is the person who comes back alive and intact.
COSTELLO: So behaviors in the military that are normal for that setting are not so normal, for lack of a better term, when people come back home?
VIETEN: Yes. It's a context problem. We just moved the warrior. If we put them back into that original setting, they'd be fine.
For Scott Barber, Operation Tohido, Dr. Vieten saved his life.
BARBER: It wasn't just me. I'm not crazy.
COSTELLO: He says he's a pretty normal guy actually. It all sounds so logical. But PTSD is very difficult to treat. While Vieten's program has hosted five groups of veterans so far with groups ranging in size from 15 to 25 vets per group, there are so far no long-term studies into the effectiveness of her program. To read more about it, check out my Op-Ed at cnn.com/opinion.
[09:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Imagine being carjacked but there's no gun, no ski mask and not even a carjacker anywhere in sight. Instead, it's a hacker seizing control everything from your car's radio to the brakes. Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans is here with a look
at this - really, this can happen?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is a troubling report from wired magazine. This is a wireless carjacking. And look what happens when two hackers are 10 miles away and they start sending commands through the car's entertainment system to this driver. Watch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's blasting. The music is blasting. And I can't see anything because of the windshield wiper fluid.
ROMANS: And ultimately the hackers are able to turn the car off. It's a fascinating story. What it shows you is that cars are basically one big computer system. This is what the hacker can do. It can shut off the engine, disable the brakes, disable the accelerator, control the horn, control the stereo, control the air conditioning and actually steer the car. These are the hackable Chrysler models. They all are equipped with the U-Connect system. It's connected to the sprint cell phone network. Go to a dealer and request the upgrade. It's a flaw in the - and these guys pointed it out. Now they're fixing it. But it reminds you, we have no privacy and we are surrounded by computers that can be accessed and hacked at any given moment.
COSTELLO: Evil. I know. Thanks Christine. I appreciate it. Next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
