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Utah Teen Survived The Brussels Attack; Top ISIS Commander Killed; Pentagon Leaders On Fight Against ISIS Aired 10:30-11:00a

Aired March 25, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: ... a bag was examined and things were being taken out by police. We don't know what went on inside the neighborhood as far as did police raid apartments or home we don't know that because police are keeping reporters away. But according to the mayor of this town of Schaerbeek, this town in Belgium, near Brussels, the operation -- the police operation is now over.

Of course we're still gathering information from the scene and when we get more, we'll try to take you back to Brussels, Belgium. And as you might expect it's hard to maintain a live shot out of this neighborhood.

I'll be back with much more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:35:24]

COSTELLO: Mason Wells is a 19-year-old Mormon missionary from Utah. He was with other members of his church in the Brussels airport when two bombs ripped through the departure hall. He was badly burned and wounded. His parents raced from Utah to be with him at the hospital. Here's their emotional reunion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAD WELLS, FATHER OF BRUSSELS VICTIM: Mason. How (ph) are (ph) you (ph)? I love you, son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. CNN was able to talk with Mason Wells from his hospital bed. Phil Black was the correspondent. I want to let you hear a bit of what Mason had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MASON WELLS, SURVIVED BRUSSELS TERROR ATTACK: Well, I was actually conscious for all of it. We tried to pull out my friend's tickets at a small little station, my friend's tickets to go to the United States, and the machine wasn't working, actually. So after working with the attendant, she took us to the back of the line, the check in line. I had actually pulled out my iPad to look at something. It was part of my responsibilities in the mission, and I was starting to look that up. I was looking at my iPad when the first blast went off. It was really loud. It was really loud.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You had no warning this was about to happen?

MASON WELLS: No. It really came out of nowhere. I wasn't expecting it at all.

I was looking down and all of a sudden a huge blast came to my right. I think -- I believe my body was actually picked up off the ground for a moment. And my iPad, it was in my hands, I don't know what happened. It just disappeared. I think it actually might have hit me in the head when it got blasted out of my hands. My watch on the left hand has disappeared. My left shoe just -- was blown up.

A large part of the right side of my body got really hot and then really cold. And I was covered in a lot of fluids, a lot of blood, and a lot of -- a lot of that blood wasn't mine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: As I said, Phil Black talked to Mason Wells. Tell us more, Phil.

BLACK: Yes. When I spoke to him, Carol, he said he'd seen better days. That's because in the two blasts he suffered second and third degree burns to his face and his arms, shrapnel wounds to one of his legs and some pretty serious damage to one of his ankles as well. All of that, he should make a complete recovery from.

What he also has also got is that extraordinary story which you just heard there. He was so very close to the first of the explosions that detonated. He's able to tell it and talk about it in such a clear, concise detailed way. It is no surprise that he believes he is very lucky to be alive given just how close he was.

And he says without a doubt that has been the overwhelming thing that he has been thinking about as he lies in that hospital bed recovering from the wounds that he sustained. I asked him to describe those thoughts, those feelings, the things he's been reflecting upon. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MASON WELLS: I was so lucky, thinking how close I was. And I saw a lot of people that were injured worse. I heard a lot of people that were injured badly, and my only thoughts, my only feelings are for the people out there. I hope that they're doing OK.

I just wanted to pray for them. I've been praying for them since it happened. That's the only feeling I have is I hope they're OK, because I'm very lucky. And I know that there were maybe some that were not as lucky as I was. (INAUDIBLE) so close. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACK: So Mason is feeling lucky trying to imagine what his parents, Chad and Kymberly, must be feeling. When they scrambled on the flight, walked into that hotel room after hearing the terrible room that he'd been caught up in all this into the hospital room, I'm sorry, saw him lying on the bed, that was the first time they had seen him in two years.

[10:40:00]

That's how long he's been away in Europe as a missionary for the Mormon Church. They saw him there bandaged, weak, but OK. So what they are feeling is absolute overwhelming relief, Carol.

COSTELLO: And, Phil, before you go, just tell us about Mason's injuries. He'll make a full recovery? He didn't lose his legs. Will he have scars on his face?

BLACK: Apparently he's in a really good, lucky shape. So no, he won't lose his leg. He will make a full recovery despite second and third degree burns on his face. A plastic surgeon told him and his family this morning shouldn't have any major scarring, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. That's great news. Phil Black reporting live for us from Brussels.

When we come back, we're expecting a major announcement from the Pentagon. A top ISIS commander killed. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:44:50]

COSTELLO: All right. At any moment now we're expecting a huge announcement out of the Pentagon.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter announcing that the number two in command of ISIS has been killed in Syria.

[10:50:01]

This is a huge get. This is a man who authorities have been looking for -- the military has been looking for for a very long time.

This is his name here, and his picture. His name is Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli. He has actually more than 15 aliases. As I've said he's considered the deputy leader of ISIS. He's number two in command behind al-Baghdadi. And the United States considers him a major operative involved in ISIS' finances. So that's why this is very, very important.

Paul Cruickshank is here to tell us why this is such a big get for American forces.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Al-Qaduli believed to be the number two of ISIS, Carol. A veteran jihadi who was also the number two of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the predecessor organization of ISIS that was battling the U.S. during the Iraqi insurgency. Somebody with a lot of experience.

He was that group's envoy to Osama bin Laden. He was Osama bin Laden's favorite to take over the leadership of al-Qaeda in Iraq as it became ISIS. But Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was eventually elected leader. But al-Qaduli was his deputy. He's a man from the northern part of Iraq, an ethnic Turkmen who has long standing experience in jihadi ranks operating in Syria and Iraq.

He's a former physics teacher. He is a religious figure in the group as well. So this is a very significant breakthrough to get the number two, and it suggests the net may be closing in on Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi. Because this is the second highest value target you could get within ISIS. There are three people they want to get. He's one of them. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the other one. And Abu Mohammed al- Adnani, the head of ISIS' external operations, he supervises all those western attack plots. He's the other dangerous figure they want to get. Well, they've got one of those top three right now.

COSTELLO: Well, you can tell the Pentagon thinks this is a very major deal because the defense secretary himself is going to announce the killing of this man and also the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman is going to be with him, General Dunford, said this is a big get. Even according to U.S. military sources.

And you talk about intelligence, and how this may signify that intelligence is getting better on the field of battle. Why is that important?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, I mean, if you can take out one of the top leadership, you can take out others. You may be able to capture some. They have captured a number of significant individuals including a high ranking member of the chemical weapons program just earlier this month as Barbara Starr was reporting. As they capture people, as they launch these raids, they get more and more and more intelligence about the ISIS' activities, where their leadership are, how they organize.

COSTELLO: I guess I ask you about intelligence because the United States has been having problems getting good intelligence on the field of battle and maybe that's vastly improved. Maybe that's what this signifies.

CRUICKSHANK: The move towards Special Forces raids has certainly improved that intelligence gathering. Last year there was that raid which netted Abu Sayyaf, a senior leader in the group, and that provided an intelligence trove of electronic documentation which allowed them then to target other ISIS leaders.

There have been more raids, perhaps more raids than we know about in the past several weeks. As they gather information they can zero in on the ISIS leadership. This is a big breakthrough. I think we can expect more breakthroughs like this.

ISIS leaders are going to be worrying that their time may be numbered, that they may not have much room for maneuver anymore. They can't go onto a cell phone or a radio or anything like that to create any sort of electronic footprint where the U.S. might be able to target them.

COSTELLO: I also want to get into the role that Special Forces played in killing this man inside Syria. We don't know special ops forces directly killed him or did they use, I don't know, Syrian rebels, perhaps. I don't know.

What do you make of that?

Let's pause. So this is the defense secretary and General Dunford sitting down now to make the big announcement. Let's listen.

ASH CARTER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Let's see. Well, good morning and thank you all for being here.

I want to start by reiterating that our thoughts and prayers remain with all those affected by Tuesday's bombing in Brussels. As you know this tragedy has hit our military community as well. And our hearts go out to the injured airman and his family.

Like Paris, Brussels is a strong reminder of why we need to hasten the defeat of ISIL wherever it exists in the world.

[10:50:00]

Today the United States is as committed as ever to our European friends and allies. Our enemies are one and the same, and together we continue to do more and more to bring the full weight of our vast military capabilities to bear in accelerating the defeat of ISIL. After Chairman Dunford and I spoke with our commanders this morning, let me update you on some new actions we've taken in just the last few days.

First, we are systemically eliminating ISIL's cabinet. Indeed, the U.S. military killed several key ISIL terrorists this week, including, we believe, Haji Iman who was an ISIL leader -- senior leader, serving as a finance minister and who also is responsible for some external affairs and plots. He was a well known terrorist within ISIL's ranks dating back to its earliest iteration as al-Qaeda in Iraq, when he worked under Zarqawi as its liaison for operations for Pakistan.

The removal of this ISIL leader with hamper the organization's ability to conduct operations both inside and outside of Iraq and Syria. This is the second senior ISIL leader we've successfully targeted this month, after confirming the death of ISIL's so-called minister of war a short time ago.

A few months ago when I said we were going to go after ISIL's financial infrastructure, we started with the storage sites where it holds its cash. And now we've taken out the leader who oversees all the funding for ISIL's operations. Hurting their ability to pay fighters and hire recruits.

As I've said our campaign plan is first and foremost to collapse ISIL's parent tumor in Iraq and Syria. Focusing on its power centers in Raqqa and Mosul. In Syria motivated local forces that we support recently took the town of Shaddadi, repelled ISIL's counterattacks and ultimately severed the main artery between Syria and northern Iraq. And as a result, it has become much harder for ISIL's leaders and forces to travel between Raqqa and Mosul.

I'm also pleased to see that Iraqi security forces have moved from their staging base at Makhmur and are advancing to new positions as part of the early stages of operations to collapse ISIL's control over Mosul. The U.S. marines we've sent near Makhmur, where Staff Sergeant Cardin gave his life, are now providing artillery fire at the request of the Iraqis to help support the ISF advance against the enemy and protect their forces. So in both Syria and Iraq, we're seeing important steps to shape what will become crucial battles in the months to come.

As our partners move forward, we're continuing to bring relentless pressure on ISIL commanders in Mosul. And we've taken a significant number of actions this week, one of which I've already mentioned. But second, we targeted Abu Sarah, one of the top ISIL leaders in charge of paying fighters in Northern Iraq. Next, we targeted a number of ISIL associated who were directly involved in external plotting and training. And these precise actions came after recent strikes that destroyed a significant quantity of improvised explosive devices in bomb making equipment that could have been used against our partners headed for Mosul. We believe these actions have been successful and have done damage to ISIL.

As Chairman Dunford noted earlier this week, the momentum of this campaign is now clearly on our side. The United States military will continue to work intensively with our coalition partners to build on this progress as our counterparts throughout our governments work to defend our homelands at the same time.

One final note before we turn to questions. Yesterday I spoke with my Saudi counterpart, Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammad bin Salman. We agreed to convene a U.S. Gulf Cooperation Council defense ministerial on April 20th in Riyadh. Ahead of president Obama's participation in the U.S.-GCC leader summit there the following day. This will be an important forum to build on our Counter-ISIL Defense Ministerial in Brussels last month and to strengthen U.S.-GCC defense partnerships including by reviewing and discussing the way ahead for joint regional defense initiatives that we all committed to during the 2015 U.S.-GCC Camp David Summit last May.

[10:55:16]

Chairman Dunford and I are now prepared to take your questions. I have to say we have limited time to do that because we have something else that we both need to do upstairs, but we want to do that. I'm going to ask you also, please to respect the fact that we're not going to go into any further details about how our coalition conducted the operations I mentioned earlier. Any more details than that could put lives and our future operations at risk, hinder the effectiveness of our campaign. So we're going to ask you to be restrained in that regard as we intend to be as well. Let me ask the chairman.

GEN. JOSEPH DUNFORD, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF CHAIRMAN: Sir, I just join you in the expression, my condolences for those affected by the attacks in Brussels this week. And in particular to the families of the two Americans that were lost. Also, to recognize Staff Sergeant Cardin, by all accounts a great leader we lost last weekend in operations in Iraq. (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Secretary, I realize you said you didn't want to go into any more details. I was hoping you could at least confirm that this happened in Syria, that this raid definitely (INAUDIBLE) the senior leader was in Syria? And more broadly, can you talk a little bit about -- we've all saw a lot of al-Qaeda senior leaders killed repeatedly over the years. So number three was killed -- you know, every six months or so. What do you think this actual death suggests in terms of plots, particularly those involving the West? I mean, does it really mean anything or do they simply just replace them?

CARTER: OK. I'll turn it over to Joe after this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: General Dunford, the marines that the secretary --

CARTER: (INAUDIBLE) let me just take your first question first. On the question of leadership, striking leadership is necessary, but as you note, it's far from sufficient. Leaders can be replaced, however, these leaders have been around for a long time. They are senior. They are experienced. And so eliminating them is an important objective, and achieves an important result. But they will be replaced and we'll continue to go after their leadership and other aspects of their capability. So I'd say it's necessary. It's not sufficient but it's important. Joe.

DUNFORD: Correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The marines this week in their support of the Iraqi offensive operation, is this something we will see more of, do you think, as time goes on in the fight to get to Mosul? And is -- can you talk about the accelerants that the secretary has talked about before and whether this is a key part of what you want to see the military do more of in Iraq over the next several months?

DUNFORD: Sure. I mean, we've talked, I guess, for some months about setting the conditions for success in Mosul and facilitating the Iraqi forces and staging around Mosul to begin to isolate Mosul and as Iraqis have announced that that has begun.

These marines that were there, the artillery battery that were there were in direct support of that. We put the battery there to support the Americans that are there, advising the Iraqi forces. And also in a position to provide support to the Iraqi forces. And from my perspective, this is no different than aviation fires we've been delivering. This happens to be surface fire or artillery but certainly no different conceptually in the fire support we've been providing to the Iraqis all along.

And with regard to further accelerants, the secretary and I do expect that there'll be increased capabilities provided to the Iraqis to set the conditions for their operations in Mosul. And those decisions haven't been made yet but we certainly do expect more of the kinds of things that we saw in Ramadi, albeit, a bit different, tailored for operations in Mosul. But again the primary force fighting in Mosul will be Iraqi security forces, and we'll be in a position to provide advice, assistance, enabling capabilities to make them successful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It appears to be part of a -- more of a ground combat role than we've seen before.

DUNFORD: No, it's not. I mean, we have surface fires in al (INAUDIBLE) and other places as an example. And we've used those in the past. And so this is not a fundamental shift in our approach to support Iraqi forces. This happens to be what was the most appropriate tool that the commander assessed needed to be in that particular location.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Secretary Carter, Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al- Qaduli who you call, Haji Iman, was in an Iraqi prison up until 2012. He was released in 2012 shortly after U.S. forces were pulled out at the end of 2011. Do you see this as a cautionary tale for releasing these prisoners who are already caught and captured?

[10:59:58]

CARTER: A number of the leaders of ISIL were in detention in Iraq back in former years, including the head of ISIL himself in Iraqi detention.