Return to Transcripts main page

Wolf

iVideo Released By ISIS; Video of ISIS Beheading Accused Russian Spy; Breedlove States Need Of Additional Capacity Over Syria; Support For ISIS In The United States Increases; Germany Considering Activating 1,200 Troops In Support Role; Announcement Of U.S. Troops To Kill ISIS leaders To Gain Intelligence; NATO Formally Invites Montenegro To Join Alliance; ISIS Beheads Accused Russian Spy. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 02, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: "THIS IS LIFE WITH LISA LING" tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. And I'm done. Thanks for being with me but Wolf starts right now.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London, 9:00 p.m. in Baghdad. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

The breaking news coming into CNN just now, ISIS has released an eight-minute video showing the execution of a man said to be what ISIS describes as a Russian spy. The video shows a confession from the victim supposedly admitting he was working for the Russian intelligence service. Before killing the man, the executioner gives a message to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Russian.

CNN's Ian Lee is joining us from Istanbul in Turkey. Ian, so what's the message to president Putin?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, after this roughly eight-minute video, we hear that confession from the man, talking detailing about how he was picked up by Russian intelligence. How they blamed him, and accused him, of being a drug smuggler. And how they, what the man said in the video, blackmailed him into going into Syria, spying on ISIS. How he was going to look for men who were planning on returning to Russia to carry out attacks, also people that would be of interest to the Russian intelligence. And he said that he was then captured by ISIS security, internal security.

But after, once he admits to all of this -- and this is a man who knows what is coming. After this, you hear this jihadi behind him. And the one thing that is very noticeable in this video, unlike past ones, unlike Jihadi John and others, he is not wearing a mask. He is showing his face. He says that they were looking, ISIS was looking, for ways to strike at Russia. That they said that these recent airstrikes, Russia's involvement against ISIS and Iraq and Syria, has opened up an opportunity for them to fight them. And they said -- and they gave a very personal message here, Wolf. They said that they will not let the Russian people be at peace. That they will destroy their homes and kill their sons. A very firm and a very -- a very forceful and as well as scary message there -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And in a direct threat to the president, Vladimir Putin, in that message as well. Any reaction yet from Moscow, Ian?

LEE: Oh, we haven't heard from Russia yet and it is unlikely to deter them. They are very much in this war in Syria defending their interests there. We are going to hear what the Russians had to say. But this is another direct threat, another direct action also against Russia. We had that downing of the Russian plane that was carried out by ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula. Now, this execution of what ISIS says is a Russian spy.

BLITZER: Two hundred twenty-four people killed in that Russian airliner that -- just as it took off, 20 minutes or so, from Sharm El Sheikh, going back to Russia, St. Petersburg. Now, another Russian is killed. Two Russians killed in connection of the downing of that Russian plane near the border with Turkey as well. We'll see what Putin does in response to all of this. Ian will have much more on the breaking news coming up. Thanks very much.

Meanwhile, there's other important developments, France could soon learn if two of its closest allies are willing to actually go all-in in this fight against ISIS. In the U.K., lawmakers right now, they're in the middle of a marathon, 10 and a half-hour session on whether the British planes should be used to bomb ISIS targets in Syria. The fiery debate revealing a divided parliament.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, PRIME MINISTER, BRITAIN: And they want to attack us again and again. And the question for us, do we answer the call of our allies, some of our closest friends in the world, the French and the Americans who want us to join with them and Arab partners in the work or do we ignore that call?

JEREMY CORBYN, PARTY LEADER, BRITAIN: The public opinion is moving increasingly against what I believe to be an ill-thought out rush to war. And he wants to hold this vote before the opinion grows even further against it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Germany also considering a plan that would activate 1,200 troops but in a support role not a direct combat role.

Meantime, here in the United States, a new and troubling study out of George Washington University here in Washington, D.C. finds that support for ISIS in the United States has reached an unprecedented level. At least 56 arrests for ISIS-related activity so far this year alone. That's up from 15 arrests in 2014.

[13:05:01] Let's bring in our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr as well as Max Foster who's outside Westminster. Max, two years ago, M.P.'s rejected strikes, British strikes against Syrian government forces. So, what's the difference this time? MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paris. The Paris

attacks, that's what's changed. Since the Paris attacks, I think Brits have felt more vulnerable to attack themselves. And the poll have showing that more than 50 percent of Brits are now in support of airstrikes against ISIS in Syria. David Cameron has long wanted to take a vote to parliament. He now feels the time is right. A 10 and a half hour debate has been set up for him to convince parliament of that.

To be fair, he probably knows he's going to get this vote through otherwise he wouldn't have taken it to parliament in the first place. His teams have been working very hard behind the scenes. They've done the math. They think the vote will go through. But he wants to take parliament with him and he doesn't want to suffer from what Tony Blair suffered from with the Iraq invasion where he's been vilified to making the wrong decision. He didn't go with parliament. David Cameron wants the parliamentary support.

And you heard there from Jeremy Corbyn. He's the main voice against this, although he's allowing his party to vote with their conscience. And many Labour Party members will go with the government on this. And he's saying perhaps war isn't the right solution. Perhaps politics and economic sanctions are a better solution here. And are Brits making themselves vulnerable to more attacks if they attack ISIS in Syria? And will young people be targets of radicalization? So, there are the debates they are having there. It's probably going to go through.

BLITZER: All right, Max, we'll stand by for that.

Barbara over at the Pentagon, what's the latest on this decision by the Pentagon? It announced yesterday to go ahead and send a few hundred so-called expeditionary Special Operations' forces not only into Iraq but also into Syria to hunt down and kill ISIS commanders there.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: You know, Wolf, what we're learning today is a lot of details not yet decided, not yet sorted out. Defense secretary, Ash Carter, announced all of this yesterday, as you say, U.S. troops going in to hunt down, capture, kill ISIS leaders to gain intelligence. But there's almost no firm detail about how this will work.

What we do know is these will be members of the Joint Special Operations Command, JSOC. That's the secretive unit that does this type of work. Army Delta Force, Navy SEAL Team Six, they will be based out of northern Iraq. They will go into Syria when needed. They will work with Iraqi forces.

But consider just this. One of the tasks they have is to capture top ISIS leaders if they can. So, if they capture someone in Syria, even Abu Backer Al Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, what exactly are they going to do with him? Where will they hold him? Where will they interrogate and question him? They have the job but they don't yet have the decisions about the details on how to carry it out. In fact, Pentagon officials are telling us, the day after the big announcement from Carter, it could be weeks before these troops are actually on the ground -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Barbara, thanks very much. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

Let's get some perspective on what's going on from the former NATO supreme allied commander, retired General Wesley Clark who's joining us from New York right now. First, give us your reaction to the breaking news, this latest eight-minute ISIS video beheading someone they say is a Russian spy. How is Putin likely to respond to this?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET), FORMER SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER, NATO: Well, first of all, you know, I'm sure that Russia has spies in there and this confirms that there is at least one. There's probably more because the Russians have worked very hard to get on all sides of the conflict. How Putin will respond to this is really unknown at this point. He has given a lot of rhetorical support to saying, yes, he's going to go against all terrorists including ISIS. But, actually, most of these strikes have been directed against the free Syrian army and the other jihadis who were in there that have western support rather than the -- than ISIS, itself.

And we think that this has been part of Putin's strategy as to eliminate the non-ISIS resistance to Bashar Al Assad and pose the world with a choice, take As Assad or take ISIS. And so, the whole thrust of western strategy is to try to unify people against ISIS. So, we're at loggerheads with Putin. I don't think the assassination or the beheading of this Russian spy is going to really change that.

BLITZER: What do you think about the decisions, apparently imminent decisions, of the U.K. and Germany to go ahead and bolster their involvement in this war against ISIS in Syria? How much of a difference will that make?

CLARK: I think it's useful to have more allies in this fight. I think it's useful to strike at ISIS when we can find the appropriate targets, and they make a difference on the battlefield. So, I think that's good.

[13:10:02] I don't think it's decisive. But the stronger the coalition, the more people who pitch in and help, the greater the likelihood that these countries will do the other things that they have to do, like cutting off reinforcement supplies or travel by people affiliated or wanting to affiliate with ISIS.

BLITZER: Listen to General Philip Breedlove. He's the NATO supreme allied commander, so the job you once -- you once held, speaking about what's going on right now. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. PHILIP BREEDLOVE, SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER, NATO: As you know, the campaign is focused on a discrete set of targets. And the more that we can generate targets -- and as you have heard, some of these aircraft that are -- that are being provided or possibly provided, are reconnaissance aircraft. Those coupled with what you've heard about some of the changes in our special operation forces should be able to bring more good and discrete targets to the table for our bombers to hit. And so, yes, we will need additional capacity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. So, he's talking about what the U.S. is doing. What's NATO doing to fight ISIS in Syria?

CLARK: Well, you know, NATO is composed of its member countries, so NATO is relying on intelligence from the United States and other NATO members. And then, it's, you know, standing behind the scenes. So, NATO is concerned about air defense umbrella throughout NATO, including the air defense umbrella over Turkey. But NATO doesn't have any independent forces, so Phil Breedlove is actually expressing the frustration that of all of us have in air campaigns. You run out of targets. It's very hard to get the targets. When we were striking Kosovo and Serbia in 1999, the biggest problem was, actually, what are we go going to strike? You can't just drop bombs on an empty forest or something. So, you have to have intelligence on the ground. And that's one of the things that this additional increment of forces from the Pentagon should be able to help with.

BLITZER: A NATO ally, France, was just attacked by ISIS, these terror attacks in Paris. Shouldn't NATO respond and go -- and as an organization as it did after the U.S. was attacked on 911 and go -- and NATO went into Afghanistan, went after the Taliban, went after Al Qaeda. Shouldn't NATO be doing the same thing now as opposed to simply being MIA, missing in action?

CLARK: Well, NATO might do that but this requires the United States as the major power in NATO to call on NATO. And right now, we haven't done that. You know, after 911 attacks, Wolf, what happened is a NATO member nations came to the United States and said, we'd like to declare Article Five so NATO can get engaged. And the United States, under the Bush administration, said, no, we don't need you to do that. So, individual allies pitched in in Afghanistan. It wasn't until 2005 that the United States actually asked NATO to go into Afghanistan. So, it was -- we had been in there for four years, by that point.

And so, in this case, I think the United States has to work this. But, Wolf, we have to look at this through the correct end of the telescope. This is really first and foremost about the future structure of the Middle East and especially Syria. Will it be an Iranian state dominated by the Iranians, and therefore providing a land bridge from let's say Teheran through Iraq and on into the Mediterranean, surrounding Turkey and cutting off Saudi Arabia? Or will it be a Sunni-dominated state in which the Alawites and Christians had no place and it will be much more fundamentalist and it will then be an opponent to an Iranian-dominated Iraq? So, what's the middle ground in this? And that's really the role of the diplomats, hopefully they're doing that in Vienna. And if we could do that and bring these contending powers together, then we could get the Turks, the Saudis, the Iranians, the Iraqis and the Syrian army all focused on the real enemy that we see which is ISIS.

But until we can resolve the structure of the future of this area, everybody has conflicting objectives. And so, they mouth the words. They do a little bit. But underneath, they're hoping they don't do too much and upset the apple cart.

BLITZER: Yes.

CLARK: And that's been our problem. This is a geostrategic problem not a terrorist problem.

BLITZER: All right, General Clark, thanks, as usual, for joining us.

CLARK: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up, we'll have more on the breaking news, the video just released, eight-minute video, by ISIS, another beheading. This time, a so-called Russian spy.

Also coming up, we'll speak live with the chairman of the House Foreign Intelligence Committee, Ed Royce. There you see him. He's up on Capitol Hill. We'll get his reaction to the breaking news as well.

[13:15:01]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:19:04] BLITZER: Returning now to the breaking news. ISIS claiming it has executed an alleged Russian spy and sending a message to the Russian President Vladimir Putin vowing, quote, "you will not find peace in your homes."

Take a look at the tighter shot of the picture for the first time. We are seeing the uncovered face of an ISIS executioner just before he beheads this alleged Russian spy.

Let's talk about what's going on with Congressman Ed Royce of California. He's the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Mr. Chairman, thanks for joining us.

What is your reaction to this latest eight-minute ISIS video showing the beheading of someone they say is a Russian spy with a strong warning to Putin, among other things, they say, "Putin the dog."

REP. ED ROYCE (R), CALIFORNIA: Well clearly, you know, one more example of the brutality of ISIS taken in conjunction with the attack in Paris against civilian populations. It's a reminder of their war against apostates.

[13:20:02] And I think what Vladimir Putin should think on for a minute is the fact that Moscow itself is a target, the attack on the metro liner from Russia over Egypt clearly is another message from ISIS. And so, at this point, what we would like to see is a recalibration on the part of the Russian military so that instead of attacking the free Syrian army and the most -- more secular Syrian forces, they begin to attack ISIS. So far, we have not seen that. As a matter of fact, in theater, their operations now have been against the Syrian middle-class, basically, that are carrying on a separate struggle against Assad's regime.

BLITZER: Yes, the Russians -- Putin support Bashar al-Assad's regime and they've been going after rebels who are trying to fight him. They have had some attacks against ISIS targets around Raqqa, their so- called caliphate, but the U.S. obviously would like to see the Russians devote all of their energies to going after ISIS in Syria.

We did hear today for the first time in a long time from the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, in a rare interview basically blaming Turkey, the Saudis, the Qataris, for the ISIS strength. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIA: You need first -- fortify them and defeat them, you have to cut and suffocate their supplies, armaments, money, and recruits that are coming mainly through Turkey, and with the support of the Saudi and Qatari.

This is the first step you take while you are attacking them on the ground. The problem now that we are fighting the terrorists, but they have unlimited supply, unwarranted supply from many different countries, mainly regional, with the support or overlooking of the west of some of those same countries, to be precise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Does he have a point that Turkey is not doing enough to stop ISIS, especially the flow of terrorists across the Turkish/Syrian border and the sale of the black market sale of oil coming in from Syria into Turkey?

ROYCE: What we have discovered, and we had the Turkish ambassador in yesterday to talk to members of my committee, along with the ambassador from Jordan and Iraq and Saudi Arabia on specifically the issue of closing down the border. But it is not just oil sales that are ending up going to Turkey. It is also that ISIS is selling this to Assad's regime as well. And as you know, there is hard evidence on this now, Wolf.

So in fact, there is a little bit of the projection here. This has been, for a long time, one of the examples of the way in which Assad's regime, even while they use ISIS as a foil, still does business with ISIS, because what they are really worried about is the free Syrian army and the rebels who are trying to overthrow the regime in Damascus. Secondarily I would just say, we are re-doubling our efforts to try to get Turkey to just close that entire border, which will also be helpful.

BLITZER: Yeah. Turkey has a huge military, 400,000 active troops, 200,000 reservists. Yesterday President Obama said in particular he is concerned, in his words, about 98 kilometers, about 60 miles or so, that are still used, in his words, as a transit point for foreign fighters and he said ISIS is shipping out fuel for sale across that border that helps finance their terrorist activities.

So even the president really showing his frustration with this NATO ally, Turkey. I assume that you are frustrated as well. Did you express that frustration to the Turkish ambassador? ROYCE: We had a long discussion with the full members of the committee

with the Turkish ambassador and the other ambassadors in the region on the necessity of closing down that border and especially that particular open point on the border that you have just delineated.

At the same time, it's also incumbent upon the Assad regime to quit its trading in oil with ISIS, which is also fueling the conflict, because ISIS needs that hard currency to continue to recruit to pay its fighters. Remember, ISIS pays these new recruits that they recruit from all over the world, and that is one of their sources for money to do it.

BLITZER: I know the U.S. is also frustrated and many of these moderate Arab-Sunni states are friends of the United States like Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait. They basically stopped their personal, their direct involvement in going after ISIS in Syria. I don't think there have been any airstrikes from these countries since August, if you will. What is happening on this front?

[13:24:42] ROYCE: Well, this was another topic of our conversation was the necessity for those in the region to step up their involvement, not just with airstrikes, but there are also steps that they can take with ground forces as well. And of course, they are all frightened of ISIS, but they all want somebody else to do the fighting. The reality is that there are forces in the region that, as we have discussed before, are doing the fighting. There are Yazidis and Kurds and Sunni tribes. But they lack the weapons. They are the ones engaged right now on the ground. We have some trainers, U.S. trainers that have helped them. But again, they report that these forces lack the weapons on the ground and lack the type of air support they really need from not just the U.S. forces, but other air forces. Now that Britain is discussing joining the attacks in Syria, this will help as well. So I think we have to do all of the above here.

BLITZER: Are you supporting the president's decision, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Defense Secretary to add more U.S. troops in this fight against ISIS inside Syria directly originally 50 special operations forces, now another 200 or another 250 based in Iraq, they are going to go into Syria and try to hunt down ISIS commanders, is that okay with you?

ROYCE: Yes. I think what we have today is 3500 U.S. trainers and other military in the region that are assisting the Kurds and others who are resisting, along with the free Syria army, resisting ISIS and carrying out these types of activities, and it certainly makes sense to me for our - forward (ph) deployed special ops personnel to be able to do things like call in airstrikes when they see an ISIS target or do things like help stand up these brigades. After all, they are working with female battalions of Kurdish soldiers to make sure that they can withstand the attacks from ISIS, they're working with the Yazidis and the Christians and other local forces.

So this is a continuation of the policy, but what we need to do is step it up in the sense that we need to be targeting these ISIS forces on the ground, and as you know, you just saw the French pull in their Air Force and hit four ISIS training bases that we had yet to strike because our rules of engagement are such that the decisions can't be made by our local commanders. They are made all the way in Washington, D.C., and three times out of four, they can't get the approval to hit those targets. We need to change those rules of engagement and step that up. And that is where the president needs to lead and so far we have not seen a strategy out of the White House to do that. That needs to change right now and with Britain stepping up, that might help.

BLITZER: Because the rules of engagement try to prevent what is called collateral damage, innocent civilians who might be killed in those U.S. airstrikes. Donald Trump earlier today, the Republican presidential frontrunner, he was on TV, he was on Fox, and he suggested go ahead, kill the ISIS terrorists and if you have to kill their families, kill their families as well. Some are already saying that would be a violation of - that would be a war crime, if you will. What is your reaction when you hear that?

ROYCE: You know, for those of us that are involved in foreign policy and have been to the region and met with our military commanders, I think that is totally off topic. The question here is if you have a convoy of ISIS fighters or a convoy of trucks with artillery attached, ISIS artillery attached, we know of cases where our -- where our aircraft can't get the support from the administration to -- to take out those targets. That is what we are talking about. I think he is off subject in terms of what we are trying to do here.

BLITZER: Ed Royce is the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Mr. Chairman, thanks very much for joining us.

ROYCE: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

BLITZER: After the break, we will have more on the breaking news that's coming in. Standby. Much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)