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United States, France, Russia, Bombing ISIS Targets; President Obama Responds to Report that Intelligence Is Being Changed to Make the Fight Against the Terror Group Appear More Positive. Aired 3:30- 4p ET
Aired November 23, 2015 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[15:31:37] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: The United States, France, Russia, they are all bombing ISIS targets and the terror groups headquarters in Raqqa, Syria. So too are the Kurdish fighters. And CNN got exclusive access, rare access might I add, from the Kurdish front line in Syria. It's only about 20 miles from the capital of ISIS' self-declared caliphate and our senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh has more in this exclusive report.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After Paris, the Sinai in the cross hairs is here, Raqqa. Lost in the haze, yet they can hear it. Loud thoughts. Heaviest at dusk.
Three days ago, says (INAUDIBLE), we saw 40 airstrikes suddenly hit just nearby. And in the French said they started bombing. We will do our best to avenge Paris.
He, like the other young Kurdish fighters here, have lost friends but say fighting ISIS is a duty for humanity rather than vengeance as they manage a series of trenches and outpost about 20 miles from the city.
We have just heard the distant sounds of what could be two airstrikes. But from where we are standing, here is the Kurdish front line and a trench dug as far as we can see. And then on this direction, flat open land until you reach the outskirts of Raqqa, the capital of ISIS' self-declared caliphate.
Four Russian missiles hit Raqqa this day after they said, but otherwise it's the silence of stalemate in the desert. Weapons here are scant. This man carries the AK-47 of his friend who died eight months ago.
Out here in the flat open ground with ISIS in the next village, they still scorn ISIS' leaders and welcome help.
If French, Russian or American fighters, this commander says, come here to fight, we will cooperate with them as we are all fighting to clear the area of ISIS humanity. ISIS left their mark on nearby (INAUDIBLE). Even the mosque littered with mines. The silence here is
breathtaking. This is directly the road down to Raqqa. And you can just hear the complete absence of human life. There is little in victory left to fight for.
On the way out, we meet these guys that have look much like white nights, but that's what the Pentagon hopes they are. The Syrian democratic forces getting American aid who explain they have secured the major defection of Sunni tribes inside Raqqa to fight ISIS.
We weren't expecting this large number to join, but there are 4,000 tribesman, he says. When we want to moving, all of them are ready and we have already managed to sneak weapons to them. We are moving forward.
Western leaders call this a global fight but here alone do you feel the dust, death and determination.
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BALDWIN: And Nick is back from the danger zone there in Syria. He joins me just across the border in Iraq.
And Nick, I mean, you were in country. You know this part of the world quite well. What was -- what surprised you most about what you saw there?
WALSH: I think just how close to Raqqa the Kurdish forces have got. I mean, not unnoticed, but not in the spotlight. They have moved west across the whole Turkish border with Syria. Pretty much cutting ISIS off from it, from most of the caliphate they have declared. And they pushed south towards Raqqa too, taking a lot of land. And that is a substantial change in territorial hands.
And from that report you saw there, 20 miles between them and the outskirts of a town which is the real ideological symbolic heart of what ISIS is trying to do here. And their self-declared capital. I think that is what is most remarkable and the slow feeling that despite their numbers being slight, their weapons not being what they want, the American assistance not coming in fast enough, they feel optimistic to move on the ground towards their city some point soon, prophets you might say, but something they are thinking about -- Brooke.
[15:35:52] BALDWIN: Incredible access, phenomenal reporting. Thank you to you and your crew, Nick Paton Walsh in Iraq.
Next, was the White House misled on the threat of ISIS? President Obama is now responding to this troubling report that intelligence is being changed to make the fight against the terror group appear more positive. We will talk to one of the authors of a piece, coming up next.
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[15:34:40] BALDWIN: Here is an incredibly significant question. Did U.S. intelligence officials mislead the president of the United States in the state of the military effort against ISIS?
President Obama is now vowing essentially to get to the bottom of reports suggesting that the Pentagon may have altered intelligence assessments to paint a rosier picture of the fight against the terrorist organization. Here's the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My expectation, which is the highest fidelity to facts, data, the truth. And if there are disagreements in terms of how folks are interpreting the facts, then that should be reflected in the reports that we receive that some folks think this is going on. Other folks thinks that's going on and that's away I weigh in terms of making decisions.
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BALDWIN: Now this investigation coming amid-criticism that the president underestimated the strength of ISIS. Many Republicans have blasted the president for saying ISIS was, his word, remember, contained the day before the terror attacks here in Paris.
Michael Schmidt is joining me now. He is a national security reporter for "The New York Times" who helped break this huge story.
So Michael, thank you so much for joining me here. Here's my first question. What exactly is President Obama saying was altered?
MICHAEL SCHMIDT, REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Well, what we are looking at here are some analysts at central command in Florida that is basically in charge of the operations in Iraq and Syria. And what was going on there and were these analysts producing reports that said certain things about, you know, how this state of the war was going and the strength of ISIS and were they being changed by their superiors and was different intelligence moving up the chain.
BALDWIN: Was there anything specific that happened that led the president to question this it intelligence or had it been building?
SCHMIDT: No, no, no. This is something that started when analysts went to the inspector general and for the intelligence community and basically said, hey, we are not really comfortable with what happened here. And they started an investigation. The inspector generals started looking into it. The president is now reacting to it and saying, hey, look, you know, I didn't get the assessments that I got about what was going on there were not very rosy. That he thinks they were pretty, you know, transparent and full. But at the same time Republicans wonder why the administration was so far behind on knowing about the strength of ISIS and knowing about the success of the bombing campaigns and whether it was truly contained.
BALDWIN: Got it. As I pointed out a second ago, the president specially recently has really been criticized on his tone on the war and he's defended it. And I'm wondering from you is his, you know, now asking folks to really look into this. Is this an admission that perhaps he is doubting his tone when it comes to the war in Syria? SCHMIDT: No, I don't think so. He seems pretty resolute in where he
is on this. I think that he is known for a long time that this was a problem, but I think that he doesn't really know how to solve it. It's not that he doesn't understand I don't think what's going on there. I just think that he's not really sure what to do. He is not sure what countries he can get to help them. And he is not even sure what domestically, you know, people in it this country did. Do we want to put troops on the ground? I certainly don't think he wants to even though Republicans do. So I think the problems that he has are more with the solutions than what's actually going on there.
BALDWIN: So quickly, I mean, logistically, getting to the bottom of this, how?
SCHMIDT: Well, that is a difficult thing here. Because what is going on now is investigators are looking at the reports that the analysts were creating. They are then looking at were things changed? Did their superiors take things out? I mean, what was taken out and what were the other intelligence agencies saying at the time. What was the CIA saying? How does the military say match up with that? So it is a painstaking thing. And on top of it a lot of this is classified, which makes it more difficult to handle and which means we may not see a lot of it in the public.
BALDWIN: A lot of puzzle pieces need to come together.
Michael Schmidt with "the New York Times," thank you so much.
Coming up next, here I stand in Paris. The city, it's a beautiful, beautiful place. The tone has changed for now. A lot of people here touched by the attacks from two Friday nights ago. People I met People still feeling guilty that they couldn't do more. I visited the sites of the different attacks. I'll share some of these stories with you, next here on CNN.
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[15:49:50] BALDWIN: And we're back here live in Paris. Now for a little bit more on the tone of this city. Like you I watched all of this unfold the wake of these horrendous terrorist attacks from home in the states on television on CNN. And to be here just over the last 24 hours I really kind of chance to visit the attack sites and the concert hall and see the memorials just grow and grow. I've really never quite seen anything like it.
And I just wanted to share some of the stories from Parisians about this beautiful city that definitely feels not quite the same.
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[15:50:22] BALDWIN (voice-over): Paris, beautiful Paris, in its second week since the horrific attacks definitely feels different. Tell me when you heard, where were you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was in the cafe inside. Inside in a cafe.
BALDWIN: Antonia like so many other Parisians still can't swallow the pain and guilt of survival.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can do nothing and we say that's not possible. Stay -- I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You know, I feel guilty, you know.
BALDWIN: Why do you feel guilty?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel guilty because we can do nothing.
BALDWIN: Antonia was enjoying tea at a nearby cafe when she heard the Kalashnikovs ringing out. That night her daughter's best friend murdered.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter lost her best friend. Yes. And she's completely disaster. She's making (INAUDIBLE). She can't see her, you know. It is terrible. It's difficult, you know, to forget it. We will never forget it.
BALDWIN: So young. Even the youngest seem to understand something wrong happened here.
And you're 11?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BALDWIN: And I saw you just light a candle. Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For peace.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When she woke up on the day she saw us on TV crying. We had to explain her what was happening.
BALDWIN: Parents across Paris fighting for the right words to articulate to their children, like 9-year-old Louise here, how so suddenly mommy lost a friend from work. Seems like almost everyone did.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We realize that everybody knows somebody.
BALDWIN: Does the city, does your home, does it feel different?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Now we realize that we can be touched by this --
BALDWIN: Evil.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Evil, yes.
BALDWIN: Tell me why you're here today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I -- I'm so sad it happened. In memory for all these people who were young and happy to live. That's all. And my daughter lives just around here. And she heard the Kalashnikov.
BALDWIN: Monique's daughter lives in this neighborhood where a number of young people were killed, out enjoying an unseasonably warm Friday night in Paris. Her mother knows it could have been her. It could have been anybody.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They came with a car and they shot with a Kalashnikov everybody.
BALDWIN: Does it change Paris for you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It change a bit, of course. We're more -- we're a bit afraid.
BALDWIN: Don't be mistaken, the city of lights enlightenments in revolution feels a tad tenuous at this time. But as Roger will remind you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a city of love. When we come here we don't see a Muslim, or catholic, or Jewish or just something like that. We just see a human being.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please come back. And we can talk about this.
BALDWIN: Come to Paris.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Come to Paris.
BALDWIN: Come back. Because now more than ever Paris needs you.
Here we are on a Sunday in beautiful Paris, and we're surrounded by people.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BALDWIN: That's a beautiful thing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. That's beautiful. Yes. I like it. It makes something warm in your heart.
BALDWIN: Thank you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
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[15:53:24] BALDWIN: Breaking news in a cruel crime caught on video. A gunman apparently in the midst of robbing and kidnapping a woman in New Orleans is interrupted by a good Samaritan, a medical student from Tulane University tried to stop him. That hero ended up being shot in the stomach, and the gunman tried to shoot him in the face but the gun jammed. Now police say they have just found and arrested that suspect.
CNN's Alina Machado joins me now.
And Alina, so police say the gunman confessed?
ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brooke. That's what they're saying. Authorities just wrapping up a news conference announcing the arrest of 21-year-old Euric Cain. They say Cain is the man seen in that chilling video shooting doctor Peter Gold. Cain is facing a number of charges including a charge for attempted first- degree murder. Police say he had been hiding in his 17-year-old girlfriend's home before he was arrested. And now she too has been arrested accused of being an accessory to the crime.
Now, this all happened early Friday morning. Police say Gold saw a woman was being dragged down the street. And when he intervened they say that the man in the hooded sweatshirt turned the gun on this doctor. The video shows Gold getting shot then falling to the ground. And then the gunman trying to shoot Gold in the head twice. Thankfully the gun jammed. We do know that Gold remains in the hospital this afternoon and that he is recovering and is listed in guarded condition, Brooke.
BALDWIN: All right. Alina Machado, thank you so much.
Incredible that gun jammed. Thank goodness not just once but twice.
And thank you so much for being with me here in Paris. We'll be back at it the same time tomorrow. In the meantime let's go to Washington. John Berman in "the LEAD" starts right now.
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