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Kurds Liberate Key Iraqi City from ISIS; U.S. Strike Targets Jihadi John in Syria; Report: GOP Nervous, Want to Draft Romney: U.S. Strikes Targets "Jihadi John" in Syria. Aired 9:00-9:30a ET

Aired November 13, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:02] PEREIRA: That was great. It was awesome. I'll take that.

CUOMO: Great question.

PEREIRA: Good Veterans week. Thank you so much for that.

All right. Time for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello on this Friday. Hi, darling.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much. Happy, happy Friday. Have a great weekend.

PEREIRA: Amen. You too.

COSTELLO: NEWSROOM starts now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

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

We begin with two breaking news stories in the war on terror. First a major victory against ISIS. Kurdish troops with the help from the U.S. military have now chased out terrorists and liberated the key Iraqi city of Sinjar.

This video shot by our CNN crew on the ground shows just how fierce that battle was. That victory marked by the racing of the Kurdish flag over a city torn apart by terrorists. Earlier today hundreds of Kurdish troops poured into Sinjar on foot. Take a look at that. They faced heavy gunfire before going into this battle with ISIS. The mission moving faster than many expect and Kurdish troops successfully taking aim at ISIS fighting positions, command and control facilities, and weapons storage sites.

Also breaking, Jihadi John, the masked man who became the face of ISIS may now be dead. The Pentagon now confirming it pounced on a moment of opportunity. U.S. Special Forces taking aim at the terrorist with a drone strike.

We're covering all of this like only CNN can with our full team of experts. But I want to start with CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. He's embedded with Kurdish troops in Iraq. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani may have declared Sinjar behind me as liberated but it isn't the full picture. There are still pockets of ISIS resistance, one of them visible potentially from that little bit of black smoke you may see on the horizon behind me. That, I saw an explosion in the last 10 minutes. But also to -- we've come back from being done on the ground there with the Peshmerga. When we were going between the house, a bullet went over our heads. The Peshmerga responded with a lot of fire power.

They said there was an ISIS sniper inside one of those buildings. And in fact after the intensity of their gunfire in response they still hadn't seemed caught that individual but one of their number they said about one of the two or three they had injured, that injured person was carried out to a nearby vehicle.

So still volatile in there. A Swedish volunteer we spoke to, Tony, by his name, fighting alongside the Peshmerga out of choice. He said in fact there were tunnels under some of the roads and in one point barrels and explosives laid as a booby trap. Every road you look at seems to be mined to some description. Every building you look at has been severely damaged by the airstrikes. Reduced to rubble, some of them rebuilding isn't much of a choice. You've got to start from scratch in so many of these houses.

Once in fact you've managed to clear out the remaining pocket of their resistance here. But the optimistic side of this is true. This in barely over 24 hours has been retaken. By large numbers of Peshmerga. Perhaps because ISIS simply didn't have the numbers to fight for it or didn't want the fight or preferred booby traps to do the fighting for them. And because also of the coalition in the skies who quite clearly thanked by Mr. Masoud Barzani for their support have changed the dynamic of this fight making it possible for Sinjar now to be back in the hands of those who are not ISIS. The Kurds and potentially soon the Yazidi families who once lived there and suffered terrible persecution at the hands of ISIS.

A swift victory. Many are hoping it heralds further swift victories particularly Mosul way further down that road here or even the potentially ISIS' self-declared capital of the caliphate, Raqqa, down there.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, just outside Sinjar.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Amazing report from Nick Paton Walsh.

Also breaking this morning. Jihadi John, the masked man who terrorized the world with a series of brutal videos, showing the murders of Americans like James Foley and Stephen Sotloff, may now be dead.

Here's what we know. According to the Pentagon U.S. Special Forces targeted Jihadi John during an airstrike in Raqqa, Syria. Officials are still trying to determine whether the mission actually worked but a senior U.S. official tells CNN authorities are confident -- confident -- Jihadi John was taken out.

In an exclusive interview with ABC before that drone strike, President Obama talked about the challenges facing allied forces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think they're gaining strength. What is true is, is that from the start our goal has been first to contain. And we have contained them. They have not gained ground in Iraq. And in Syria it -- they will come in, they will leave. But you don't see the systematic march by ISIL across the terrain.

What we have not yet been able to do is to completely decapitate their command and control structures. We've made some progress in trying to reduce the flow of foreign fighters and part of our goal has to be to recruit more effective Sunni partners in Iraq to really go on offense rather than simply engage in defense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:05:03] COSTELLO: All right. Let's bring in CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. She has more on Jihadi John.

Good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. CNN has learned that the U.S. military had been tracking Jihadi John across Raqqa, Syria since Wednesday. And yesterday when they saw him step out of a building and get into a vehicle they took the shot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): Breaking overnight, the Pentagon confirming U.S. Special Operations forces launched a drone strike targeting the masked ISIS executioner known as Jihadi John. A U.S. official says after tracking him for days, authorities are confident the drone strike killed the Kuwaiti-born British citizen identified as Mohammed Emwazi. But still, they are awaiting final confirmation.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It certainly is a symbolic victory for the United States, the coalition and our partners. And it does bring closure to those families.

STARR: The U.S. official says authorities knew it was Emwazi when they took the shot. Another U.S. official tells CNN Emwazi was in a vehicle at the time of the strike near Raqqa, ISIS' de facto capital in Syria.

Emwazi appeared in a series of horrific ISIS beheading videos, documenting the murder of several American, Britain and Japanese hostages. He was often seen wielding a knife, only his eyes and hands exposed, taunting U.S. and British leaders. MOHAMMED "JIHADI JOHN" EMWAZI, ISIS SPOKESMAN: We'll continue to

strike the necks of your people.

STARR: This morning, the U.K. government saying Britain was working hand in glove with America over the Jihadi John drone strike.

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This was an act of self- defense. It was the right thing to do.

STARR: Emwazi, who is in his mid-20s, grew up in London and graduated with a degree in computer programming before becoming radicalized.

CAMERON: Is this strike was successful, and we still await confirmation of that, it will be a strike at the heart of ISIL.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: The drone strike was carried out by the U.S. military's Joint Special Operations Command out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the very same organization that helped plan the mission that killed Obama bin Laden -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Barbara Starr, reporting live from the Pentagon. Thanks so much.

With me now to talk about all of this, CNN senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward. I'm also joined by CNN military analyst, Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling.

Welcome to both of you.

General, good morning. I want to start with you, General, because you know Iraq, you know this region well. Explain to us why Sinjar is so important.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's important for a couple of reasons, Carol. First of all it lies along Highway 47. And Nick has been doing a tremendous job reporting from there. This will cut the supply lines between Raqqa. I mean, you can draw a straight line from Raqqa, through Sinjar though Talafar into Mosul. So this is a critically important line of communication to support the ISIS fighters in Mosul. Once you cut this line they are going to have problems getting supplies and reinforcing fighters there, which will set the conditions for an eventual attack into the that city to free it.

So it's important from that standpoint. But it's also a critically important psychologically victory for the Kurdish forces. This town of Sinjar is in the Kurdish regional governmental area. To retake this town, to get the Yazidis back, they've asking -- the Yazidis have been asking the Kurdish region to do this for several months, Masoud Barzani is getting great credit for doing it, and it's an important psychological victory to regain this for the Yazidis, the Kurds and countering ISIS.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about the psychological effects with Clarissa Ward. The fact that Sinjar fell so fast, how do people feel on the ground there?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we're here in Lebanon, where ISIS is trying to distract the world from the defeat that it's facing at the hands of Kurdish and coalition solders in Sinjar by launching a vicious suicide attack on this largely Shiite Muslim neighborhood of Burj al-Barajneh. 43 people were killed in the attack. More than 200 were wounded and this is really the first instance we've seen of ISIS claiming responsibility for such a major attack.

I don't know if you can see behind me there is yellow flags fluttering. Those yellow flags are the Hezbollah yellow flags. And Hezbollah of course is fighting alongside the Syrian regime inside Syria. So ISIS now vowing to keep up the keep up the pressure by launching more of these types of sectarian attacks. Really going, Carol, for softer targets that make a big splash and that capitalize on sectarian divisions that already exist within the region because their main goal right now is to try to exploit those sectarian divisions and try to create an element of chaos throughout the region that they can then step in and try to fill that vacuum.

[09:10:04] COSTELLO: All right. Interesting. Now on the subject of Jihadi John.

General Hertling, Jihadi John was supposedly killed by this drone strike. But wouldn't his body have been incinerated. Is there any DNA left to prove that he was actually killed?

HERTLING: Yes, likely not, Carol, but that's not necessarily critically important. There's other ways to determine whether or not he was in the vehicle that was struck. And they had a constant presence and an overhead watch on him. I think they've got some pretty good certainty from everything that's been reported and they will probably get some other what are known as atmospherics in terms of reporting back from the individuals who probably gave intelligence on where he was in the first place. They will be able to gain from them whether or not he was in fact killed.

Can we go back to Sinjar for a second, though? Because the question you asked Clarissa is a very important one. It was -- it appears to be a very quick victory and I'm hoping that it stands but truthfully, Carol, my experience in these similar situations where towns have been liberated and I think Nick is probably seeing some of this, there's a quiet after the siege is complete. But that preludes some additional fighting. And you are seeing some underground tunnels. A whole lot of IEDs.

And in fact at one time Diyallah Province was in a house after we liberated a town that we found out a few minutes later was actually mined with several artillery rounds as IEDs. So these things are going to be a myth all over the town of Sinjar. It's going to take a whole lot more fighting to clear this town of snipers, of underground tunnels and of house-born IEDs so the fight is not finished yet even though there does appear to be a calm.

COSTELLO: All right. Thanks so much, General Mark Hertling and Clarissa Ward.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a political rally like none you've ever seen before. Donald Trump taking on Ben Carson, mocking his story about stabbing a friend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:13] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump is on the warpath. For 95 minutes he said what no politician has ever said on the campaign trail. And according to "The Washington Post", the Republican establishment is so concerned about a Trump candidacy, they may draft this guy, Mitt Romney. Not kidding.

And here's why, listen to Trump as he argues that he knows that solution to taking out ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me. I would bomb the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of them.

(APPLAUSE)

I would just bomb those suckers. And, that's right, I'd blow up the pipe, I'd blow up the re -- I'd blow up every single inch. There would be nothing left. And do you know what? You will get Exxon to come in there and in two months, you haven't seen these guys how good they are, the great oil companies. They will we rebuild that sucker brand new, it will be beautiful. And I'd rig it and I take the oil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Foreign policy was just part of Trump's rambling appearance at a rally in Iowa last night. He also set his sights on his political rival Ben Carson, devoting nearly ten minutes to ranting about the former brain surgeon, slamming him over claims in his book, calling him damaged, and comparing his temper to being a child molester.

(BEGIN VIDEOI CLIP)

TRUMP: Carson's an enigma. He wrote a book and in the book he said terrible things about himself. He said that he's pathological and that he's got basically pathological disease.

If you are a child molester, there is no cure. They can't stop you. Pathological, there is no cure. He said he went after his mother with a hammer. He wanted to hit her on the head. Or he hit her on the head or he wanted to hit her on the head.

And I said wow. That's tough. So, he went after his mother. This is in his book. This isn't me. I'm just trying to save you the cost of a book.

So, he's a pathological, damaged, temper -- a problem. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: No matter what Trump says he never seems to take a hit in the polls and that has some in the GOP establishment wondering if now is the time to panic.

In "The Washington Post" this morning, Robert Costa writes, quote, "Party leaders and donors fear that nominating Trump or Carson would have negative ramifications for the GOP ticket up and down the ballot, virtually ensuring a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidency and increasing the odds that the Senate falls into Democratic hands."

I'm joined on the phone by Robert Costa of "The Washington Post", and "Daily Beast" editor in chief and CNN political commentator John Avlon.

Robert, I want to start with you. Are they really serious about drafting Mitt Romney?

ROBERT COSTA, THE WASHINGTON POST (via telephone): Well, remember, earlier in the year, Romney teased a possible presidential run, a repeat run when he said he was thinking about it again and then bowed out of consideration after a couple of weeks. Romney's friends say he is not moving towards a run but they are so panicked about the durability of Trump and Carson that privately, they are e-mailing each other and actually gaming out a possible campaign should Romney ever need to get in or be drafted in.

COSTELLO: So, also in your article you talk about how everyone is loathe to attack Trump. Might that change now?

COSTA: This is changing. You are seeing a lot of candidates start to critique Trump, say he's not experienced enough to be president, not ready on foreign policy.

[09:20:07] But because Trump is such a counterpuncher, Trump relishes the attack, you go at Trump, he'll come at you, campaigns like Jeb Bush and Rubio are reluctant to get into a fire fight with Trump.

COSTELLO: So let's say Mitt Romney is brought into the picture. He's not exactly an attack dog. He's a reasonable guy. What he says -- I mean, what might that mean?

COSTA: To be clear, Romney isn't moving towards Iran. So I think what the Romney chatter is reflective of is this angst within the Republican establishment. But you're right, if Romney got in, he would not with an attack dog. He would be in a sense the last best hope for many of these Republican elites, the Republican establishment who don't think Rubio has it, are concerned that Bush isn't going to be able to survive the race. So that's why the discussion is heating up about Romney.

COSTELLO: OK. I know, Robert, you have to catch a plane and I know you are talking to us from LaGuardia. So, I let you go and I'm going to check in now with John Avlon.

So, John, why aren't the other candidates resonating with Republican primary voters?

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, we've got a surreal situation in their own making. Whether do you expect happens if you systematically purge the center? What do you think happens if you systematically impose sort of a conservative populist litmus test? You drain the base of the party, so, it's really about pandering to the extremes. You get a base of electorate that's compounded by caucuses and primaries that is susceptible to people who have no experience because they have been trained to hate Washington. They've been trained to hate government.

So, this is really -- this is -- about reaping whether you sow for the Republican Party as they play to the base and purge the center, you get candidates who aren't electable. And the fact that the establishment is becoming synonymous for responsible, or i.e., non crazy, is itself a problem.

But this is dynamic. Trump has been in the top tier for longer than everybody right now. And when people attack him, they have gone down. So this is a larger dynamic. And this is really a problem for Republicans that they need to look in the mirror at.

COSTELLO: So you have worked on presidential campaigns. Whether do you do if you are a candidate and your opponent is Donald Trump?

AVLON: Well, first of all, you need to stand up for who you are and who you believe and draw a clear contrast that's rooted in principles. The problem is all the candidates end up contorting to try to play to certain segments of the base.

And they need to understand that Trump's appeal is a lot bigger than rational politics. He's a celebrity demagogue. He's pumped up my high name idea and he's an ultimately an entertainer. He's entertaining to watch.

And right now, when he's no longer trying to presidential but he goes on a 95 minute rant, which is basically an extended sort of (INAUDIBLE) he gets a lot of press. And he can be witheringly accurate in his attacks even if they are essentially unscripted.

So, I think what you need to do is president an argument based on who you are, drawing a clear contrast. But that has not worked for candidates to date because you are dealing with someone who is essentially a celebrity, not a political leader.

COSTELLO: All right. John Avlon, thanks for your insight.

And, by the way, Carson camp did respond to the Trump comments, comparing the brain surgeon's temper to a child molester, saying the analogy doesn't get a rise out of Carson, calling it immature and embarrassing. And they add, "We all should pray for Donald Trump."

Still to come in THE NEWSROOM, the face of is potentially taken out by a U.S. air strike. We'll have more on the attack targeting Jihadi John. Plus, what this could mean for U.S. strategy moving forward, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:53] COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Jihadi John, the chilling voice of ISIS, the man suspected of beheading American hostages James Foley and Steven Sotloff, may be dead, killed by a U.S. drone on the ground, in a car near Raqqa, Syria. If that drone hit its target, Jihadi John was incinerated.

As you know, Raqqa is ISIS's de facto capital city. It has total control. British Prime Minister David Cameron called the strike an act of self defense and a strike to the heart of ISIS. President Barack Obama talked with ABC News before the drone strike and criticized Republicans like Ben Carson for their strategy in fighting ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INTERVIEWER: So, what do you think when you hear someone like Ben Carson get up at a debate and said, hey, this would be easy? We can take ISIL out just by bombing their oil fields, (INAUDIBLE) that's what's general told him.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, what I think is that he doesn't know much about it. And look, George, I think it is fair to say that over the last several years I've had access to all of the best military minds in the country and all the best foreign policy minds in the country. And I'm not running for office. And so, my only interest is in success.

And if I'm down in the Situation Room talking with people who have worked in these regions and have run major military operations from the chairman of my joint chiefs of staff, Joe Dunford, to individuals like General Allen who was involved in Iraqi operations back in 2007/2008, and they don't think it's easy. Then it's probably not easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Fareed Zakaria joins me now with more.

So, Fareed, how big a success would it be if the United States really did take out Jihadi John?

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: Not really much of a success, honestly. It's emotionally satisfying. It's symbolically has some significance. But he was just one guy who just happened to have a clean British accent, and so they used him on videos. We don't have any indication that he was particularly important in the command structure. And one of the things we've learned about these organizations is particularly at this level, and I would call this mid-level, you kill them, they recruit as fast as they can.