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France: Syria Largest Terrorism Factory in World; Trump Questions Obama Sanity, States Say No to Syrian Refugees; Unruly Passenger Forces British Airways Flight Landing; Obama Defends Plan to Brig Syrian Refugees to U.S.; Netherlands Soccer Game Cancelled over Security Concerns. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired November 17, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] BOBBY GHOSH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: So I do, you know, you have to acknowledge that for President Obama, it is a very complicated landscape, but that is what all of the more reason that people need to see a strategy and plan for them to wrap their heads around. I don't think nobody realistically expects the United States to the charge in there willy-nilly, or France, come to that, with ground troops, but the sense of knowing what they are doing, and that have a plan, that is important, and right now, nobody in the region is seeing that from the U.S.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And what about the Russians, Bobby? Are they the going to be responding with a ferocious strike against ISIS? Clearly, the threat delivered by President Putin today?

GHOSH: Yes, and we are seeing that, they have doubled the number of strikes they have ordered, and apparently it would appear that they are serious about attacking ISIS, and previously, a lot of the attacks were in other parts of the country against non-is rebels. So there is going to be a number of aerial attacks. And Putin has the same problem, they have more boots on the ground, but they are not confronting is. They are in the military bases and directing the operations of the Syrian forces. Nobody, apart from the Syrian forces and the Syrian rebels, and nobody is directly -- none of the Western forces, or Russia, have directly confronted ISIS on the ground. Which is not to say a bombing campaign is not important. We have seen the bombing works to some degree, but not enough. ISIS has territory and they still control cities. They have in their minds, they have a country. That is a problem.

BLITZER: Bobby Ghosh, Nick Paton Walsh, we'll stay in touch with both of you.

There are developments unfolding right now. We'll take a quick break. Much more of the breaking news when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:36:10] BLITZER: More than two dozen states here in the United States are refusing to accept Syrian refugees, which is part of the backlash of the terrorist attacks in Paris. Critics say that terrorists could be among the refugees and you can't vet them in advance. Republican president candidate, Donald Trump, blasted President

Obama's plan to take in new Syrian refugees and even questioned President Obama's sanity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Refugees are pouring into our great country from Syria. We don't even know who they are. They could be ISIS or anybody. What is our president doing? Is he insane?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Wow.

Democratic Governor Jack Markell, of Delaware, is here with us in our Washington studios.

And Donald Trump raises the question about the president of the United States, "Is he insane, he says. You're willing to take in refugees in your state of Delaware, so I suppose Donald Trump would ask you, are you insane?

JACK MARKELL, (D), DELAWARE GOVERNOR: The refugees from Syria are the most carefully vetted people of anybody that comes into the country. They are vetted before they come into the Atlantic. And for somebody to only say, for example, we should let in the Christian, will we rewrite what is on the Statue of Liberty, "Give us your poor and your tired and your huddled masses," so long as they're Christians? Is that what we are?

There's no question keeping our people safe is the top priority. But we also know they are the most carefully reviewed people of all that come to our country.

BLITZER: And there are some members of the House Homeland Security Committee, and in the Senate, who disagree. They say that they cannot properly vet these people. Peter King, who is on the Homeland Security Committee and the Armed forces Committee, he says he's been briefed by top officials there, saying there is no way the do it in a perfect way, by any means, and if anybody says they are a refugee and is really a terrorist, they're not sure that person could get into the country.

MARKELL: When you look at those coming, the great major of them are vulnerable, a lot of children. So there are presidential candidates who are saying they would allow in a 5-year-old orphan. Is that who we are as a people? So a lot are women, people who are malnourished. There's no question we have to do the best job of vetting the people from the security standpoint.

BLITZER: Because ISIS, itself -- and the experts say that you have to believe them when they make the threats -- ISIS, themselves, they said that they would plant terrorist ms terrorists in these groups of refugees to go into the United States and Europe and elsewhere and kill the infidels. MARKELL: At any point in this process when the people who are doing

the review, and certainly starting with the president, who I know that his number-one concern is keeping the people of this country safe, if they determine that they can't be sure who they are letting them in, they will stop letting the people in. But the idea to carte blanche, reject people from Syria -- so far, I think most of the folks involved in Paris are French and Belgian, and so do we reject the people from France or Belgian?

BLITZER: At least one or two of them was not necessarily a French national or Belgian national --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: -- that had come in. That is raising all of the concerns right now. How many Syrian refugees have you accepted so far into Delaware?

MARKELL: None directly. I think there are three families who have come in from other states in more than a year.

BLITZER: And the people of Delaware there, and if you say a few hundred, and I don't know how many you are willing to take, but a few hundred, would they be happy with you?

MARKELL: I can say the feedback is mixed. A lot of people who are against it, but the more we can explain the security process, the vetting process -- and again, what this is going the say about us as a people if we are going to be saying carte blanche that we are not going to be taking anybody from a particular region. But there's no question, the number-one priority is to keep our people safe.

[13:39:58] BLITZER: Governor, thank you for coming in.

Governor Jack Markell, of Delaware, good luck to you, and the people of Delaware as well.

MARKELL: Thank you.

BLITZER: We have breaking news we're following right now. Listen to this.

Actually, we are going to go to Rene Marsh, our aviation correspondent, working the story for us.

Rene, what is going on? I understand some Boston-bound plane has problems?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION & GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Exactly right. We are working to get all of the details. But this is what we know so far. We know that a passenger had to be restrained while the flight was in the air. It was a Boston-bound British Airways flight, and minutes ago, the plane touched down from British Airways, and we have learned that they have asked for the police to meet the plane on the tarmac there, because they have some concerns about an unruly passenger. Now Massachusetts police telling CNN and tweeting out that this

individual tried to rush the cockpit door. However, again, because this is so early, as far as the information coming in, we are getting some conflicting I information, because the FAA saying it is not the cockpit door but the exit door, and any way you put it, unruly passenger who is doing something that they should haven't been doing. This person had to be restrained. And you are looking at images right now, and I believe they are live, there in Boston, and I believe that police -- you should see them momentarily, but they have been called to the aircraft to deal with the passenger. That is all we know at this point, Wolf?

You know with the climate of things occurring now, especially with the aviation world, everybody is on edge. We have seen a number of cases over the last couple of days in which crews have called and asked for police assistance when they think that thing are not looking quite right. We don't know what the situation was many this instance. Of course, we know that police will then they remove this individual, that will have a lot of questions for the person to get to the bottom of what their intention was, but in this climate, needless to say, everybody is on edge, especially when it comes to aviation -- Wolf?

BLITZER: And this British Airways flight -- and we are showing the viewers the pictures of the plane -- where did it originate?

MARSH: The information we have is from London's Heathrow Airport, and originated from Europe, bound for Boston, a British Airways flight. And the airline is confirming to us that the crew was concerned about an unruly passenger, and they have asked for the police to meet this aircraft on the ground.

So, you know, if these are, indeed, live pictures in real time here, we should start to see the police presence at some point as they get this unruly passenger off of the aircraft and make sure that everybody is OK on board.

BLITZER: All right. You will get more information, Rene, and we will check in with you.

Thank you very much.

We will take to a quick break and much more news after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:28] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: Getting more information now on the disturbing story out of Boston's Logan International Airport where a British Airways flight has just landed from London.

Rene Marsh, our aviation correspondent, is joining us.

Rene, we're told a passenger that was causing some considerable concern. MARSH: Yes, that is information that we have so far, Wolf, that there

was an unruly passenger, and that is the exact wording from the airliner British Airways. We are learning from the authorities here, aviation aw authorities that it was the exit door, and despite what Massachusetts police is putting out, we are hearing that it was the exit door that this individual was trying to get out of. This is all while the plane was mid-air, and that is problematic. We do know that the individual was detained, and because the crew was uneasy with this person's actions, they have asked for police to meet this aircraft on the tarmac. We are looking at the live images there. So, you know, it is a little bit far with the news chopper, but if they have not arrived yet, they should be arriving soon, and the process would be to remove this person from the aircraft, and then police would essentially want to question this person, and what is their intention.

We want to point out that the producers here have been listening to the air traffic control sound which is the pilots communicating with the air traffic control tower, and at first listen, there is no indication that the pilot called for the emergency landing. And no discussion about diverting the plane. It was a normal landing, which happened roughly about 30 minutes ago. So it was a normal landing as far as the air traffic control tapes suggest. So that is what we know.

Now, what was this person trying to do? We don't know, but we know, in the current climate that we are in, an unruly passenger mid-air is a recipe for concern. And that is why we are seeing the reaction that we are seeing.

And you know wash, even if we weren't in the climate that we are in, anybody trying to rush a cockpit door or the exit door is a problem mid flight, and so the authorities will want to get to bottom of what is going on here -- Wolf?

BLITZER: As you say, Rene, especially in this current climate right now. They don't want to take any chances.

Thank you, Rene.

[13:50:05] Up next, President Obama did not hold back when he defended the plan to accept thousands of Syrian refugees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I hear folks say that maybe with we should just admit the Christians but not the Muslims, when I hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test, that's shameful. That's not American. It's not who we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I'll ask the Ohio Governor John Kasich, a Republican presidential candidate, for his reaction, and if he believes President Obama is wrong. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:54:56] BLITZER: We're getting more breaking news into CNN. Today's Germany and Netherlands soccer game has been cancelled at Hanover Stadium. It's being evacuated. Police say all the people, the fans at the stadium, have been asked to leave calmly. They are citing security concerns. This follows what happened in Paris. A soccer game between France and German. There were terrorists outside launching a strike there. As a result that stadium was evacuated. The French President Holland was in the stadium at the time. We're going to get more information in Hanover, Germany. Clearly, underscoring the heightened security concerns in Europe.

Let's discuss what's going on with the Governor of Ohio John Kasich, a Republican presidential candidate.

Governor Kasich, when you hear these reports of what's going on in Europe right now, you have to assume, god forbid, this could happen in the United States as well.

JOHN KASICH, (R), OHIO GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Wolf, I made a comprehensive speech today on foreign policy. One of the things that's clear is that the West, our friends in NATO, along with our friends in the Middle East who share our values, whether it's the Jordanians, Egyptians, Gulf States, we need to go together in a coalition and we need to destroy ISIS where they exist. If that means boots on the ground, which it certainly will, we need to do it.

When I hear reports like this, it brings to mind two critical areas. One, the need to act quickly to destroy ISIS. Two, to continue to share intelligence and beef up intelligence cooperation, particularly with the Western powers. In addition to that, we could move even more quickly to institute a no-fly zone to provide a sanctuary for people in Syria, project U.S. power into the region, these are the things we need to do. And the West has to understand, delay, negotiation not moving quickly is -- you're either going to pay me now or pay me a lot later if we don't beef up intelligence and promote our ideas and values worldwide.

BLITZER: Governor, the president yesterday said deploying thousands of troops to Syria, for example, would be a mistake. What do you do after wards? It would only antagonize people in Syria as the deployment of U.S. troops in Iraq did. What do you say to the president?

KASICH: I fundamentally disagree with the fact that we can just wait this out and things are going well. Wolf, we should not just go alone. We should be there with our NATO allies, with the Turks, with the Saudis, with the Jordanians, and form a coalition to destroy ISIS, wherever they exist, particularly in Iraq and Syria. We have to move and we have to move quickly. We wouldn't be there alone. Frankly, the whole world is understanding the threat to those who believe in the rights of human beings, in free speech, the right to gather, freedom of religion. Even our friends in the Middle East understand that they are under attack. Our friends in NATO also understand that we are absolutely under attack. We can't deal with this just with intelligence alone. We have to go to the heart of the problem, which is ISIS itself. Once that is done, or as it's being done, Wolf -- look, the values of the Western ethic, which has served us for centuries, needs to be put out there. I'm calling for an agency to begin to communicate what we're all about, what the West believes in so people who are confused don't seek radicalism to try to figure out the meaning in life, because the Western ethic advances life, that every life if worth living, that we all are supposed to live a life greater than ourselves. It needs to be taken not just in the Middle East but around the world.

BLITZER: We're just getting word, Governor that the office of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has now confirmed she was due to attend that game at Hanover Germany. Also due to attend, the deputy chancellor, justice minister, all high-level visitors as well. That stadium has been evacuated. Other news organizations, Governor, are reporting, out of security concerns. This follows what happened at that soccer game in Paris the other night.

Unfortunately, Governor, because of the breaking news we have to leave it on that note. We'll continue these conversations down the road.

Governor Kasich, of Ohio, thank you for joining us.

That's it for me. Our special coverage of the war against ISIS will continue. Right now, we're following all of these developments, what's going on in Germany, at the stadium in Hanover, what's going on in Paris. Lots of news unfolding now.

Stay with us. CNN is all over all of the breaking news.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[14:00:12]