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Judge Denise Dismissal; Chicago Video to be Released; Defense Secretary Ash Carter to Lay Out Fight Against ISIS. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired December 09, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00] JEAN CASAREZ, CNN ANCHOR: He talked about the van going back and forth. Gray pounding the sides of the van at several of the stops. The defense promised the jury the opening statements that the defendant would take the stand in his own defense. So they've got to make him likable here.

And they also are going to bring into the case we believe a document. We just heard about this in open court. Nobody knew about this. Last Saturday night, the defense says that they were able to get a document that was prepared by the Baltimore city police detective in March of this year. So that's one month before anything happened to Freddie Gray. This detective was talking to, interviewing in some way, writing something up with Freddie Gray. Freddie Gray talked about a back or spinal column injury that he had. And he was leaning to the left as the detective was talking with him in March.

Prosecutors have admitted that at least one member on their team knew about this. They didn't have the document they say. But they had been orally told about this one month prior. They did not tell the defense. The judge was not happy about that. He did decide it was a violation of discovery. And the defense will now be able to use it in their case.

How significant is it? We don't know. But it's obviously something that the defense will use to show reasonable doubt that the defendant, William Porter, caused the death of Freddie Gray.

Pam.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Very interesting development there.

Jean Casarez, appreciate it.

And good morning, everybody. I'm Pamela Brown, in for Carol Costello. Thanks for being here with us.

Any minute now, Defense Secretary Ash Carter will take the stage on Capitol Hill and lay out to lawmakers the fight against ISIS. His testimony comes as a new report reveals the terrorist group is fighting with stockpiles of U.S.-made weapons obtained from Iraqi forces and Syrian opposition groups. Here at home, many are blasting the president for now doing enough to combat the threat against American soil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it. We will destroy ISIL and any other organization that tries to harm us. Our success won't depend on tough talk or abandoning our values or giving into fear. That's what groups like ISIL are hoping for. Instead, we will prevail by being strong and smart, resilient and relentless, and by drawing upon every aspect of American power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, what does the Pentagon chief need to say this morning to convince lawmakers the U.S. is on the right track? Let's ask CNN military analyst and former aid to general David Petraeus, Colonel Pete Mansoor.

Thank you for being here with us.

COL. PETER MANSOOR, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Pamela.

BROWN: I'm curious to know, do you think the president's strategy is tough enough? And, if not, what would you strategy be?

MANSOOR: You know, I have to give the administration credit, they are doubling down on their chosen strategy. They're not backing away from it. And they're saying, if we just do more of it and explain it louder, that it will work. You know, I - I think that everyone agrees there has to be a ground component to the fight against ISIS. The disagreement is over who should provide it. The administration says that in due course, over time, we can develop local partners and they can assist us in the fight against ISIS, along with U.S. airpower advisors and special operations forces.

But, you know, the key adjective there is eventually. And eventually may be 10 years. And the new normal is a massive terror attack in the west once a month. And I just don't think the American people, or even the people of Western Europe, are going to put up for that if that becomes, like I said, the new normal. So I think eventually we're going to see the introduction of western ground forces into this conflict in substantial numbers. And then the development of an international alliance, along with Arab partners, to make sure that this is not Islam versus the west.

BROWN: Interesting. And on that note, a new poll out just this week revealed that a majority of Americans don't think the U.S. strategy is tough enough and it also showed that 53 percent of the people think the U.S. should send ground troops. But if not ground troops, in your view, are air strikes enough to knock out ISIS' strongholds there?

MANSOOR: You know, you can fly over a country forever. You can bomb it into smithereens, but you cannot control land from the air. According to the Pentagon's own statistics, we've killed about 12,000 militants over the past year with air strikes. But then according to another recent report that's out, 30,000 have come in from 80 different countries to join the Islamic State over the past year. So we're not even mowing the grass. The grass is getting taller and the Islamic State is getting stronger. So I really - I don't think the president's strategy is working and, you know, -- but I have to give him credit for sticking with it.

[09:35:14] BROWN: Well, and also, you know, there is this ISIS intelligence report that just came out recently, our Barbara Starr reported on, saying that ISIS is broadening its reach. And we saw that recently. We saw it in Paris. We saw this ISIS-inspired attack in the U.S. So what do you say about this notion that even if you - you make a dent in their safe haven in Iraq and Syria, people are still going to do their bidding in western countries?

MANSOOR: Well, I would turn that on its head. ISIS is growing and developing affiliates around the world because it appears to be successful in its homeland. It has an aura of historical inevitability about it to a certain segment of Islamic people. And so if you destroy its caliphate and you take away its aura of invincibility, then I think the number of people around the world who - who are - who are entranced by what it's doing in Syria and Iraq will be reduced. You know you have to - you have to stop the lure of the Islamic State. And the only way to do it is to destroy it.

BROWN: But what about the fact that as we've heard other officials say they're metastasizing. Now we know that ISIS is growing in Libya, in Sinai Peninsula, perhaps elsewhere. I mean what do you do about that?

MANSOOR: Well, also, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, the north caucus, lots of places around the world, this - this has to be a holistic campaign with our international partners. And it has to be unrelenting and continuous pressure against Islamist militants wherever they crop up. It cannot be simply a strategy of destroying ISIS in Iraq and Syria and then allowing the rest of the world to collapse. So this is going to be a long war. I think everyone admits that. But I think one of the major pieces of it has to be the crushing of ISIS in its homeland.

BROWN: Colonel Peter Mansoor, thank you very much for that perspective. And you'll be back with us the next hour to discuss the evolving strategy against ISIS, so stick around.

And still to come right here in the NEWSROOM, under pressure to resign, Chicago's mayor is just minutes away from speaking about the city's troubled police force.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:41:57] BROWN: Allegations of police misconduct piling up in Chicago. Next hour, embattled Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks before the city council. He's under pressure to resign following a series of fatal incidents involving police, including the shootings of Laquan McDonald and Ronald Johnson and the Tasing of Phillip Coleman back in 2012, who later died in the hospital from a drug reaction. Another video of a fatal shooting will be made public today.

CNN's Rosa Flores has the disturbing details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First there was the shocking video of Laquan McDonald. And then Ronald Johnson. Both shot and killed by Chicago Police. Cases that have caused outrage.

But there's a third police shooting and video that few have seen. We've talked to two men who have seen it and they say it shows in detail the killing of black teen Cedrick Chatman by a Chicago police officer in 2013.

BRIAN COFFMAN, CHATMAN FAMILY ATTORNEY: He is running as fast as he possibly can away from the police and he is shot.

FLORES: Brian Coffman represents Chatman's family and has been fighting for the release of the video.

COFFMAN: Approximately three to four seconds elapses and the first bullet is fired and he is dead within eight seconds of getting out of his car and running.

LORENZO DAVIS, FIRED BY IPRA: They saw the commotion or they herd the gunshot.

FLORES: Lorenzo Davis analyzed the video second by second and says this case cost him his job.

DAVIS: We felt like it was an unjustified shooting.

FLORES: Davis worked (ph) at the review for the city agency that investigates all officer-involved shootings, called the Independent Police Review Authority, or IPRA.

DAVIS: And they pulled up alongside of that car.

FLORES: Chatman was running away from the stolen car he was driving when a police officer opened fire.

DAVIS: Chatman was running along here and when he got to roughly this location I would say, there was a gunshot.

FLORES: Chatman was carrying a black iPhone box in his hand. The shooting officer would later say he thought it was a gun.

DAVIS: He did not shout a warning. He did not use his radio to give direction of flight. He simply pointed his gun until he had a clear shot.

FLORES (on camera): Lorenzo Davis says that when he deemed the shooting unjustified, his boss at IPRA asked him to change it to justified. When he refused, he says he was fired.

FLORES (voice-over): IPRA assigns another investigator and called part of Davis' report "glaringly biased," saying, "there was a significant discrepancy between Davis' findings and what the facts of the case actually show." The officer who shot Chatman was exonerated.

DAVIS: They don't want to say that the shooting was wrong.

FLORES (on camera): Why is that?

DAVIS: Because then it makes it look like some police officers are killers and they don't -

FLORES: Bottom line.

DAVIS: Right, and they don't want it to look that way.

FLORES (voice-over): Rosa Flores, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And Mayor Rahm Emanuel is expected to address police misconduct soon in a special city council meeting.

[09:45:01]

Our cameras are there of course and we'll bring you any major developments.

Still to come, Donald Trump says he wants to ban Muslims from coming to the U.S. and in fact he just spoke to Michael and Kelley and we're going to bring you what his reaction has been to all the controversy surrounding those comments after this break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Let's go straight to Capitol Hill where Pentagon Defense Secretary Ash Carter is testifying about the ISIS strategy.

ASHTON CARTON, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We are intensifying the campaign and have in the six weeks since I appeared before you last time. And I'm happy to be here today to describe what we're doing. It's very much along the lines of what you just described, that is forces to accompany, to call an airstrike, to conduct counterterrorism strikes, and train and equip. So I'll describe those actions which we're taking.

Because the attacks on Paris and San Bernardino were an assault upon the civilization that we defend. ISIL requires and it will receive a lasting defeat. The president has directed us to intensify and adapt the military campaign -- I'm sorry -- had directed us to intensify the military campaign before the Paris attacks. The necessity of accelerating our efforts, as we're doing, has only been made more plain by the recent attacks.

We are urging others in the region and around the world to do the same, because those attacks further highlighted the stakes that not just the United States, but the world has in this fight. The defense of the homeland must be strengthened to be sure. But it is absolutely necessary to defeat ISIL in its parent tumor in Syria and Iraq. And also to take necessary action wherever else in the world this evil organization metastasizes.

Achieving these objectives means leveraging all the components of our nation's might, as the chairman noted -- diplomatic, military and law enforcement, homeland security, intelligence, economic, informational.

That's the right overall approach for three principal reasons.

[09:50:03] First, the strategy takes the fight to the enemy where they are, which we must do. Second, it seeks to develop capable, motivated, local ground forces as the only force that can assure a lasting victory. U.S. and international coalition forces can and will do more to enable them, but we cannot substitute for them.

And third, it seeks to set the conditions for a political solution to the civil war in Syria and for inclusive governance in Iraq, both of which are essential because they're the only durable ways to prevent a future ISIL-like organization from reemerging there. And that's why the diplomatic work led by Secretary Kerry is the first and absolutely critical line of effort.

The Defense Department, of course, is centrally responsible for the military campaign, which is the focus of my statement today. Through our and our coalition partners' actions, the military campaign must and will deny ISIL any safe territorial haven, kill or capture its leadership and forces, and destroy its organization, all while we seek to identify and then enable motivated, local forces on the ground who can expel ISIL from the territory it now controls, hold it and govern it, and ensure that victory sticks.

Militarily, we're taking new steps each week to gather momentum on the battlefield in Syria and Iraq. I'll take a few extra minutes this morning to give as much detail as possible about the new things we're doing, applying multiple pressures on multiple fronts simultaneously to accelerate ISIL's defeat.

The reality is we're at war. That's how our troops feel about it because they're taking the fight to ISIL every day, applying the might of the finest fighting force the world has ever known. In northern Syria, local forces with our support are fighting along the Mara line, engaging ISIL in the last remaining pocket of access into Turkey.

Meanwhile, a coalition of Syrian Arabs that we helped equip in northeastern Syria are fighting alongside Kurdish forces and have recaptured important terrain, most recently pushing ISIL out of the town of al-Hawl and at least 900 square kilometers of surrounding territory. They're now focused on moving south to isolate ISIL's so- called capital of Raqqah, with the ultimate objective of collapsing its control over the city.

To build on that, President Obama, on my and Chairman Dunford's advice, ordered U.S. special operations forces to go into Syria to support the fight against ISIL. American special operators bring a unique set of capabilities that make them force multipliers, such as intelligence gathering, targeting, and enabling local forces. Where we find further opportunity to leverage such capability, we will not hesitate to expand it.

Next, in the south of Syria, we're also taking advantage of opportunities to enable indigenous fighters, trained and equipped by us and other coalition partners to conduct strikes inside Syria. We're also enhancing Jordan's border controls and defenses with additional -- and defenses with additional military assets and planning assistance.

Turning to northern Iraq, Peshmerga units with the help of U.S. power -- air power and advisers, have retaken the town of Sinjar, cutting the main line of communication between Raqqah and Mosul, which are the two largest cities under ISIL's control. To move people and supplies, ISIL must now rely on back roads where we will locate and destroy them.

Elsewhere in Iraq, we have about 3,500 troops at six locations in support of Iraqi security forces. There, we've been providing increased lethal fire and augmenting the existing training, advising and assisting program. And we're prepared to do more as Iraq shows capability and motivation in the counter-ISIL fight and in resolving its political divisions.

After a frustratingly long time, we are starting to see some movement in the operation to recapture Ramadi. Over the past several months, the coalition has provided specialized training and equipment, including combat engineering techniques like in-stride breaching and bulldozing, and munitions like AT-4 shoulder-fired missiles to stop truck bombs, to the Iraqi army and its counterterrorism service units that are now beginning to enter Ramadi neighborhoods from multiple directions.

[09:55: 17]

In fact, in the last 24 hours, the ISF re-took the Anbar operations center on the northern bank of the Euphrates River across from Ramadi's city center. This is an important step, but there's still tough fighting ahead. ISIL has counter-attacked several times, but thus far, the ISF has shown resilience.

The United States is prepared to assist the Iraqi army with additional unique capabilities to help them finish the job, including attack helicopters and accompanying advisers if circumstances dictate and if requested by Prime Minister Abadi.

I mention all this because it represents how we've adapted and the way we support our Iraqi partners, and it shows that training, advising and assisting helps and works. We will do more of what works going forward.

While we're focused on making additional tactical gains, the overall progress in the Sunni populated areas of Iraq has been slow, much to Prime Minister Abadi's and our frustration. Indeed, with respect to Sunni tribal forces, we are urging the Iraqi government to do more to recruit, train, arm, mobilize and pay Sunni populant (ph) revoluzation (ph) fighters in their communities.

We continue to engage the Iraqi government at all levels to move forward on this critically important aspect of the counter-ISIL campaign, including working with Sunni local police to ensure that there's an Iraqi hold force to sustain future gains.

Next, in full coordination, again, with the government of Iraq, we're deploying a specialized expeditionary targeting force to assist the ISF and Kurdish peshmerga forces and put even more pressure on ISIL through a variety of raids and intelligence gathering missions. This force will also be in a position to conduct unilateral operations in Syria.

In Iraq, the force will operate at the invitation of the Iraqi government and focus on defending its borders and building the ISF's ability to conduct similar operations.

We will not be discussing specifics of this expeditionary targeting force or its operations in unclassified settings, but to protect our forces and to preserve the element of surprise. We want this expeditionary targeting force to make ISIL and its leaders wonder, when they go to bed at night, who's going to be coming in the window.

Chairman Dunford and I recognize that in principle, there are alternatives to the strategic approach we had adopted to drive ISIL from Syrian and Iraqi territory, including the introduction of a significant foreign ground force, hypothetically international, but including U.S. forces, even in the absence of capable motivated local ground forces.

While we certainly have the capability to furnish a U.S. component of such a ground force, we have not recommended this course of action for several reasons. In the near-term, it would be a significant undertaking that, as much as we may wish otherwise, realistically, we would embark upon largely by ourselves. And it would be ceding our comparative advantage of special forces, mobility and firepower instead fighting on the enemy's terms.

In the medium term, by seeming to Americanize the conflicts in Iraq and Syria, we could well turn those fighting ISIL or inclined to resist their rule into fighting us instead. As Chairman Dunford testified last week, quote, "ISIL would love nothing more than a large presence of U.S. forces on the ground in Iraq and Syria so that they could have a call to jihad."

And lastly, in the long-term, there would still remain the problem of securing and governing the territory. These must be done by local forces. So in the end, while we can enable them, we can not substitute for them.

Next, momentum on the ground, which I've described, in both Syria and Iraq has been enabled by greatly increased coalition airstrikes. Additional strike aircraft we've deployed to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, along with improved intelligence, allowed us in November to significantly increase our airstrikes against ISIL to the highest level since the start of our operations in August, 2014.

Moreover, because of improved intelligence and understanding of ISIL's operations, we've intensified the air campaign against ISIL's war-sustaining oil enterprise, a critical pillar of ISIL's financial infrastructure.

[10:00:11] In addition to destroying fixed facilities like wells and processing facilities, we've destroyed nearly 400 of ISIL's oil tanker trucks, reducing a major source of its daily revenues. There's more to come, too.