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Former Cuban Leader Fidel Castro Dead At 90; Trump: We Will Help Cuba Move Toward Prosperity, Liberty; Trump Loyalists Rip Romney As Possible Secretary of State; Clinton Campaign: We Are Taking Part In The Recount; Exhiled Cubans Discuss Fidels Impact; Trump National Security Team to Face Challanges in Iraq. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired November 26, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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


[12:00:00] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

Hello again, everyone. And thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. To some, a hero. To others, a tyrant. Former Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, is dead at the age of 90 and reactions are pouring in from around the world. What are the political implications ahead?

President-elect Donald Trump releasing this statement last hour saying, quote, "Fidel Castro's legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights. It is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long," end quote. That from President-elect Trump.

And from President Barack Obama who has dedicated much of his second term to normalizing relations between the two countries, he said this in his statement, quote, "We know that this moment fills Cubans in Cuba and in the United States with powerful emotions. History will record and judge the enormous impact of the singular figure on the people and world around him," end quote. That coming from President Obama.

So those powerful emotions are on display in Havana where Castro supporters are in mourning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): the Cuban people is feeling sad because of the loss of our commander-in-chief, Fidel Castro, and we wish him wherever he is that he is blessed and us Cubans love him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: In Miami, the heart of the Cuban exiled community, celebrations broke out in the street, some saying his death will close a dark chapter of Cuba's history.

We want to talk about the political implications of all of this now in a moment, but first we have a team of reporters covering this story from Havana, Cuba to Little Havana, in Miami. Let's begin with CNN's Chris Moody who is in Miami. What are folks saying? CHRIS MOODY, CNN POLITICS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is a day of celebration in Little Havana here in Miami. This is the epicenter of the Cuban exiled group of people that came over from Cuba and we're in front of the Versailles Restaurant where many have gathered and met over the years talking about this day.

The celebrations began here on the street very early this morning while it was still dark. I guess you could call it was a street party with champagne bottles popping in the air. There are now parades heading back and forth across the street, and people making noises and waving their American and Cuban flags.

But Cuban-American members of Congress have now been weighing in. Listen to Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. She is a member of Congress from here in the Miami area. Hear what she had to say about the death of Fidel Castro.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN (R), FLORIDA: Now that his death is upon us, we must use this opportunity to refocus our efforts to help the people of Cuba build freedom once again. President-elect Trump has correctly stated that Obama's overtures to the Castro regime were one-sided and only benefitted the Cuban regime.

I hope that the new administration under the leadership of President Trump seizes this moment as an opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to the Cuban people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOODY: So we see her and other members of Congress like her wanting President-elect Trump to put the pressure on the Cuban government after President Obama opened diplomatic channels between the two countries as well as eased travel restrictions.

I think you will see a lot of people traveling between here and Cuba over the next few years. It's yet to be seen how President-elect Trump will handle what has happened between the United States and Cuba over his -- four years of his first term. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Moody, thanks so much in Little Havana, Miami. President-elect Trump issued a written statement on the death of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro saying, quote, "While Cuba remains a totalitarian island, it is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve."

Joining us live from Palm Beach, CNN national correspondent, Ryan Nobles. So Ryan, beyond this written statement, which follows a tweet of a headline from Donald Trump earlier today, is any other information about his commitment toward U.S.-Cuban relations or what he sees under his administration going forward?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, that's the big question right now, Fredricka, is how will Donald Trump react and negotiate with the Cuban regime and does it change at all now that Fidel Castro is dead.

You know, we saw Donald Trump talk lot about the deal that was struck with President Obama and the Castro regime to normalize relations between the two countries throughout the campaign.

[12:05:07]And even though Trump had a different tone when talking about the deal depending on the audience that he was in front of, he was consistent in his overall criticism of the deal.

Now that doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't think there is an opportunity to normalize relations, but he doesn't think President Obama did it the right way. Listen to what he told an audience in Miami back in September.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: All of the concessions that Barack Obama has granted the Castro regime were done through executive order which means the next president can reverse them. And that I will do unless the Castro regime meets our demands. Not my demands, our demands. You know what the demands are. Those demands will include religious and political freedom for the Cuban people, and the freeing of political prisoners.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: And the important point to draw out of that sound bite is that Donald Trump is reminding everyone that largely this deal is built on executive actions by President Obama. There was no congressional approval needed.

So just as easily as President Obama implemented them, Donald Trump will have the power to pull them back. It won't be easy because some of the provisions have already gone into place and people are taking advantage of them.

But Donald Trump has said that he wants a better deal. Exactly how he accomplishes that, we won't know until he actually takes office -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ryan Nobles, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

All right, meantime Republican Senator Tom Cotton has released a statement on Castro's passing saying this, quote, "Fidel Castro created hell on earth for the Cuban people. He will now become intimately familiar with what he wrought."

Earlier we heard from President Barack Obama. He released a statement on the death of Cuba's former leader, Fidel Castro. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is in Washington with more of this.

So Suzanne, President Obama, of course, wants that legacy of how he helped thaw relations between the U.S. and Cuba to remain. But there also is expressed worry from that White House as to whether that will continue.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, Fred. There is a consideration there, a concern about it. And I have to say that the president's administration really deliberately measured in their response today. You're not hearing some of the fiery language that is coming from members of Congress.

We are told the president is not going to speak about this on camera, but rather we got this written statement from earlier today really talking about that history will be the judge of Fidel Castro.

I want to read a part of it for you here, saying, "For nearly six decades, the relationship between the United States and Cuba was marked by discord and profound political disagreements. During my presidency, we've worked hard to put the past behind us pursuing a future which the relationship between our two countries has defined not by our differences but by the many things that we share as neighbors and friends, bonds of family, culture, commerce and common humanity."

And Secretary of State John Kerry putting out a very similar message really trying to emphasize the positive, a sense of moving forward here because this is one of his signature national security foreign policy achievements.

He certainly hopes that much of that already in place, that Americans used to traveling, used to seeing family and friends, now used to getting mail, that potentially these are the kinds of things that a Donald Trump presidency is not going to want to actually tinker with.

But there is no guarantee, much of this is through regulations to ease those restrictions and executive orders. And so that is the reality of it here, it would really take an act of Congress to lift the embargo that is still very much in place.

But I have to say, quite a few people are slamming the president already, very dissatisfied with his response. I want to read this, this is a tweet from Marco Rubio saying, "President Obama issued a pathetic statement on death of dictator, Fidel Castro, with no mention of thousands he killed and imprisoned."

So this is not sitting very well with those who say, look, you have not acknowledged really the true pain that Fidel Castro caused to millions of Cubans, but the administration today really trying to put a positive spin.

An optimistic spin on this saying that they want to look forward and we know that he was dealing with Raul Castro not Fidel Castro, but nevertheless a Castro family member in the years past. President Trump will actually be dealing with Raul Castro for two years before another election -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Suzanne Malveaux, thank you so much from the White House. Appreciate that.

All right, straight ahead, who might become the next secretary of state? While Mitt Romney is one contender for the spot, a California congressman is also running for that post. We'll discuss that after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:12:56]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Just in to CNN, the Clinton campaign saying today it will take part in an effort to push for recounts in several key states. The Clinton camp will join forces with the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, who has raised millions of dollars to have a recount in Wisconsin.

However, in a post from Jill Stein's campaign counsel so far the campaign has not uncovered any evidence of hacking of voting systems. Stein wants a recount in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan where Trump's combined margin of victory was just over 100,000 votes.

All right, meantime, President-elect Donald Trump announcing two more key picks for his administration on Friday. He has tapped national security analyst, K.T. McFarland as deputy national security adviser and Washington Attorney Donald McGhan as White House counsel.

The announcements come as Trump loyalists debate the choices for a much higher profile appointment, U.S. secretary of state. Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, tweeting this, receiving deluge of social media and private comments regarding Mitt Romney. Some Trump loyalists are warning against Romney as secretary of state.

I want to bring in CNN political commentators, Tara Setmayer and Paris Dennard to discuss this. Good to see both of you. So Paris, let me begin with you. Why would Kellyanne Conway tweet out something like that about someone under consideration for this U.S. secretary of state post?

PARIS DENNARD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, I've said this before, Fred, one of the things that campaigns to and political operatives do is they test the waters. And so they put out names, they float names and they pit the things out there to get reaction.

And I believe what Kellyanne Conway did, former campaign manager for the Trump campaign for president, did was just that, put out this statement, this tweet, showing that there are people, many people in the base who are concerned about the appointment of Mitt Romney as secretary of state because of --

[12:15:05]WHITFIELD: Right, but doesn't that undermine the process? I mean, that he's in the running, you know, under consideration along with Rudy Giuliani and now Dana Rohrabacher, a California congressman. If Mitt Romney is thinking it over, when he sees a tweet or comment like that from Kellyanne Conway, doesn't that give him incentive to say forget about having me in the running?

DENNARD: That might just be the point. I mean, look, Kellyanne Conway can tweet what she wants. She's not the head of the transition. She's not the chief of staff. She's the former campaign manager who is still advising Mr. Trump, the president-elect.

And so it's important for us to have a full conversation about who are these people going to come and serve. But it's also the critically important to remember there are people who have been loyal to the president-elect, who put their capital on the line, who worked tirelessly to help him get elected and they want to be rewarded for that.

And there are people who are just as qualified if the not more qualified than other candidates and it's important for her to put that out there so that the American people and the base can have a credible conversation on who is going to serve.

WHITFIELD: So Tara, what is at issue here, is it the issue of loyalty versus a nod or appealing to GOP insiders, and we're seeing it all play out in public view?

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, yes, there is a lot of dynamics going on here. I mean, we all remember Mitt Romney's scathing critique of Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: And vice versa.

SETMAYER: Absolutely. It was probably the most visceral attack against Donald Trump during the campaign and Donald Trump came back and, you know, he gave it right back to him. And he actually went around saying how he could have asked Mitt Romney to drop to his knees and he would have.

I mean, he just excoriated Mitt Romney. It was very personal both ways. So to see these two come together and now all of a sudden all of that has gone away, I think has some people questioning Romney's loyalty obviously.

I mean, I like Mitt Romney. I think he's a good man. I think he would have made a great president. He will probably make a great secretary of state. But I'm not quite sure how he's able to serve at the pleasure of the president after the kind of criticism that he leveled against Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: Then why would they even have a meeting and so public. Last weekend walking into that New Jersey golf -- I mean, if this was an issue of not wanting to be so public, I mean, why would they not just have a phone conversation? Almost sends a message, did it not, to see the two of them standing there in New Jersey?

SETMAYER: Well, I think for Donald Trump we have to remember he's an entertainer first and he understands appearances. And I think for him he wanted to show that -- it made him look magnanimous that he was willing to put aside those issues with Mitt Romney to vet the best person for the job perhaps.

Now for Mitt Romney, I just don't quite know, I understand he has a desire to serve and that bug never really goes away, but I just dot want to see him demean himself or grovel or have to. I know that it's reported that Trump wants a public apology from Romney before he would offer him a position.

And I'm not quite sure that's something that Mitt Romney needs to do. He needs to also be very cognizant of his own principles. Either he believed what he said back in March or he didn't. So which is it? You know, it's tough to square.

WHITFIELD: Another name being floated publicly now, California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. Paris, why would he be a good contender for U.S. secretary of state?

DENNARD: Just to correct something that Tara said, I think first Mr. Trump is a businessman and then he's an entertainer and now the president-elect. But to your point, Fred, when it comes down to the type of people that the president-elect is trying to assemble, Congressman Rohrabacher is a fine candidate.

You want to have people who are going to be able to give you what you lack and it's true, Mr. Trump did lack that political insight of being a D.C. person. And so these candidates are qualified candidates and they're smart selections.

WHITFIELD: And so Tara, you might know Rohrabacher better than anybody -- you are the former communications director for him. What instincts to you see in Rohrabacher to be U.S. secretary of state?

SETMAYER: Yes, I was with Dana for seven years and he is a wonderful congressman and he really is a man of the people. He is certainly an outsider. He's always stood on principal and what he believes, contrary to what the popular sentiment maybe.

That has worked both for and against him, but it's never popular to stand on principal sometime. As far as foreign policy is concerned, Dana has dedicated most of his life to foreign affairs when he was a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan for seven years.

He got elected to Congress in 1988. He went over and actually fought with Mujahadin (ph) against the Russians in Afghanistan.

[12:20:07]He is pre-eminent expert on that part of the country. But he's also the father of young triplets and he's been in Congress a long time and I know he loves his family, loves California.

I don't know that -- I haven't talked to him about this yet, but I will, knowing him, I don't know that he wants to go through the rigors of being secretary of state knowing what that would do to his family. But I'm sure he finds to be a great honor to even be considered for that position after a lifetime of service.

WHITFIELD: You get on the phone with him and then come back.

SETMAYER: I'm going to call him.

WHITFIELD: Talk a little bit more conversation. Meantime --

DENNARD: He makes good personnel decisions clearly when he hired Tara. SETMAYOR: Well, thank you, Paris.

WHITFIELD: That's right. Meantime something else, while Donald Trump is working with his transition team, trying to make selections, nominations, appointments, the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, has managed to raise enough money to get recounts starting with Wisconsin.

And now this news we're just able to bring to you this hour, you know, Paris, that the Clinton camp is joining forces on having this recount. Wisconsin also on the horizon Pennsylvania, numbers that was very close to call in terms of Donald Trump's victory.

So there is no real evidence according to the counsel of Jill Stein that there was any hacking, but they do have the support to carry through with these recounts. What is your assessment of the attention on recounts taking place in the midst of Donald Trump trying to build a transition?

DENNARD: It's ironic that the team, the people who are concerned about Mr. Trump not being accepting the results of the election are now the very ones who are not accepting the results of the election. The election is over.

Secretary Clinton has conceded. The American people are moving towards having the president-elect as the president of the United States of America. And it would be better suited by using this money to fund things that are more important than recounts.

They could give this money to Senate candidates or candidates that really need it if they really wanted to. But they want to make this about politics, move over, move on, the presidency is going to Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: So Tara, real quick, is this a pipe dream or is this a real potential threat here?

SETMAYER: No, I think Paris is correct about this. It's not as though we're looking at a Florida -- as close as Florida was in 2000 or anything like that. It was a pretty overwhelming win electorally for Donald Trump and he's right.

I mean, the irony of now, the left is the ones -- they are the ones now not accepting the result. I think this is just -- you know, Jill Stein from what I understand, a lot of my friends on the left, she's not someone that a lot of them are looking to as being the next leader of that movement per se.

And so I just -- could be to raise the money to help pay back campaign debt for goodness sake. But I don't know what the Clinton campaign is doing joining this. It just makes them look like sore losers.

WHITFIELD: Tara Setmayer, Paris Dennard, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

All right, coming up, we'll take a closer look at the man who may be the loudest voice in the president-elect's ear. Steven Bannon, Trump's controversial choice for chief strategist. More coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:27:02]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. President-elect Donald Trump one step closer to getting his administration in order. This week announcing two more picks. He has tapped national security analyst, K.T. McFarland as deputy national security adviser and Washington Attorney Donald McGahn as White House counsel.

Trump also selecting K.T. McFarland, a frequent critic of President Obama's foreign policy to be his deputy national security adviser. And Donald McGahn, former chairman for the Federal Election Commission, to be White House counsel.

Also now more information on the man who famously said just days ago that, quote, "darkness is good." Steven Bannon is the president- elect's controversial pick for chief strategist. Here is Brian Todd with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He says darkness is good. He says Dick Cheney, Darth ader, Satan, that is power. Steve Bannon, the rumpled 62-year-old who once headed Breitbart News now has the ear of the president-elect and many worry he will push the platform of the so-called "Alt-Right."

KURT BARDELLA, FORMER MEDIA CONSULTANT FOR BREITBART: We have in our history have never had someone like Steve with the platform that he has had at Breitbart come into basically be the co-chief of staff running the White House and the agenda of the president.

TODD: Civil rights groups like the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center say the Alt-Right Movement is just code for white supremacists and anti-Semites and they say Bannon has to go.

Bannon pushes back telling "The Wall Street Journal," quote, Breitbart is the most pro-Israel site in the United States of America. We are a leader in the reporting of young Jewish students being harassed on American campuses."

On the accusation that he's at least loosely embraced white nationalism, Bannon told "The Hollywood Reporter," quote, "I'm not a white nationalist, I'm a nationalist. I'm an economic nationalist."

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR AND COLUMNIST, REALCLEARPOLITICS: What Bannon says is that he is anti-globalist, anti-elite, anti- establishment and that he is an economic populist because he believes that the system has hurt and hindered the little guy. It has nothing to do with race, religion or anything else.

TODD: Bannon jumped on the Trump train early on, telling Trump last year he was a big admirer. STEVE BANNON, INCOMING CHIEF OF STAFF: I said look, people are leaning forward in these audiences when he was talking. Of course, we were mocked and ridiculed.

TODD: Now it's Bannon who is mocking and ridiculing the mainstream media who he blames for failing to recognize the frustration of Americans left behind in the global economy. Quote, "It's just a circle of people talking to themselves who have no f-ing idea what is going on.

If the "New York Times" didn't exist, CNN and MSNBC would be a test pattern." Kurt Bardella, who quit Breitbart, feeling it had become a mouth piece for Trump is now critical of Bannon. He sees that darkness is good remark as chilling.

BARDELLA: I think that is very much how Steve views the world. The worst emotions amongst us can be weaponized and used to advance an agenda. I think a lot of what you saw in the Trump campaign and what you will see going forward is tapping into anger and fear and hate to try to move their agenda forward. And I think that's exactly who Steve Bannon is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[12:30:10] WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Brian Todd.

Straight ahead we'll hear from two generations of Cuban Americans what they say about the communist leader now after being exiled decades ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE He destroyed our lives, you know, most of my life has been here not in my country. So in that sense, it has affected me a lot, because I miss all the good things about Cuba.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Hello again and welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, when news of Fidel Castro's death reached Miami, hundreds of Cuban Americans filled the streets, many celebrating the death of a man they considered a tyrant.

By now, many people are still out there marking his passing particularly on that Calle Ocho, Little Havana there in Miami. Ahead of Castro's death, CNN's Ed Lavandera sat down with two generations of a Cuban American family to get their take on the Castro regime.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's dinner time for the Garrido family. We asked the Garridos to sit down for a conversation about Fidel Castro and Cuba, to capture how Cuban American families have evolved more than 50 years after Castro rose to power. When Jorge Garrido came to the United States in 1960 at age 19, he had

hopes back then of crushing Fidel Castro's dictatorship.

JORGE GARRIDO, CUBAN EXILE: I was adamant at that time. Now, you know, I guess everybody is tired.

LAVANDERA: Everybody is tired.

J. GARRIDO: Everyone is tired because nothing has been done. We lost a lot of opportunities.

LAVANDERA: Jorge and his wife Lourdes have now lived in the United States longer than they ever lived in Cuba. Fidel Castro is a figure that forever changed their lives.

[12:35:03] LOURDES GARRIDO, CUBAN EXILE: What can I tell you about Fidel, I mean, like he said, Fidel is Fidel. He's a non-issue at this point and I don't think Cuba will ever change. When Fidel goes, the regimen will be the same with different people, younger people. Maybe I'm wrong. I wish I am.

LAVANDERA: Are you as angry today toward him that you were 40, 50 years ago?

L. GARRIDO: I mean, you know, life makes you change. Like, of the way you think. When I came here, I was too young. But he destroyed our lives, you know? Most of my life has been here, not in my country. So in that sense it has affected me a lot because I missed all the good things about Cuba.

LAVANDERA: But the American-born children of Cuban exiles like Alexa and Maite view Cuba differently.

MAITE GARRIDO, CUBAN AMERICAN: I feel Cuban but it's an abstract for me. It's a culture, it's a tradition. It's family. It's what you do. For them, it's more raw. For me, it's -- I don't like Castro. I would love to see a democracy there and I think most Americans probably would, but what they feel is obviously going to be much greater.

L. GARRIDO: Yes, because we had to live through the Bay of Pigs invasion where we both lost -- yes. A lot of friends, you know, close friends. I remember clearly the October crisis of the measles.

LAVANDERA: The talk turned toward what could have been done differently in the last 50 years to bring political change to Cuba. It's not something the younger generation thinks of as much. Time has softened Cuban American support of the trade embargo, but Jorge and Lourdes are still adamant that Castro's regime must go.

J. GARRIDO: The dinosaurs, if you want to call it, the cronies, they are in power right now, they don't want to let go and they should have let go a long time ago if they were really true patriots. Yes, I'm very angry at that because we had a beautiful country.

LAVANDERA: Did you guys think that you'd be at this age and not going back to Cuba?

J. GARRIDO: I did not.

L. GARRIDO: I thought we were going sooner, but apparently we're stuck here.

(LAUGHTER)

LAVANDERA: I understand what you meant. It's not a bad place to be stuck.

L. GARRIDO: Right. You're right.

LAVANDERA: The day may soon come where the Garridos all visit Cuba together, at least that remains the hope. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Straight ahead, one of the biggest foreign policy challenges for the Trump administration will be the war against ISIS and the crisis in Iraq. Our panel looks at the top choices facing his new national security team, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:41:31] WHITFIELD: The death of Fidel Castro, it is just one of many issues that will challenge how President elect Donald Trump handles foreign policy after he's sworn into office. Another pressing issue, the war against ISIS in Iraq. CNN's Becky Anderson takes a look back at President elect Trumps position on Iraq and what he has inherited from his predecessors.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: With Operation Shock and Awe, America invaded Iraq. The Iraqi army couldn't hold back, but that didn't stop the regime from doing some wishful thinking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

They will try to approach -- to enter Baghdad, and I think this is where their graveyard will be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: American troops took the city easily in weeks, tearing its dictator Saddam Hussein from power. In every way that's something perhaps President-Elect Donald Trump regrets seeing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, right? He was a bad guy, really bad guy. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good --

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP) ANDERSON: Barely two months after the Iraq war began, this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

The United States and our allies have prevailed.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: The war wasn't even close to over. Countless Iraqis killed in a merciless tailspin of violence. Then, said years after Mr. Bush announced Mission Accomplished.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

The American combat mission in Iraq has ended.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: But again the fighting didn't run to Washington's timetable. ISIS spread on Iraq a smoldering ruins, something U.S. warplanes are trying to undo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

I would bomb the (INAUDIBLE) out of them.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: While bombs kill terrorists, they can't kill their ideas.

MINA AL-ORABAI, IRAQI JOURNALIST: Carpet bombing Iraq and Syria to try to defeat ISIS of course won't solve the problem.

ANDERSON: So fixing Iraq isn't just about fighting. It's about strong ideas and ideals. And many here in the Middle East are all questioning America's role in providing them.

AL-ORABAI: You don't find Arabs thinking, "Oh, we can turn to the U.S. as being the leader of the free world that will support human rights and support the people against oppressive government," that time has shifted.

ANDERSON: So for an American president who talks so much about putting America first, then Iraqis will have to keep watching and waiting to see what a Trump presidency means for them.

Becky Anderson, CNN Abu Dhabi.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's bring in our panel. Michael Weiss is a CNN contributor and co-author of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror and Kimberly Dozier, CNN global affairs analyst and a contributing writer at The Daily Beast. Good to see both of you. All right, so Trump has said that he is going to give his generals 30 days to come up with a plan to fight ISIS for starters. So Kim, you know, will a challenge like that involve potentially troops on the ground inside Iraq or Syria?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, remember we already do have troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria. A small special operations force of roughly 300 people plus their support inside Syria right now. One of whom was just lost on Thanksgiving Day, an explosive ordnance technician, but also a few thousand a footprint of a few thousand inside Iraq, with the permission of the Iraqi government. So might --

WHITFIELD: But so more troops?

[12:45:01] DOZIER: -- but might one of the generals recommend a slightly larger number? I think you could see that. But inside Iraq, they have to get the Iraqi government's permission for that and sell them on that idea. So far Iraq has been reluctant to enlarge that U.S. footprint.

WHITFIELD: All right. So Michael, you heard Donald Trump, you know, remind people that he would bomb the terrorists. Is that the kind of difference his plan could potentially make?

MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I mean, if he is going to carpet bomb most Mosul -- again as Kim says, he needs buy a leaf from Baghdad, and I don't think the Iraqi government, as misguided as it may be in terms of human rights abuses ,is prepared to see the complete leveling of one of its major cities in Iraq.

No, I think -- I hope that the generals who are going to advise him at least have the wherewithal to tell him that you cannot destroy ISIS from the sky. We've been doing that for over 10 years. Look at the battles of Fallujah, look at the battles of Mosul prior to this current campaign. ISIS is very good at quite literally going underground. Digging tunnels, repairing to the cow patches in the countryside region of the Jazeerah.

When they lose Mosul, they're already preparing to return to that sort of desert borderland area, particularly in eastern Syria in Raqqa and Azure. Bombing the hell out of them is not going to do it. You need some kind of ground contingent. And the problem that I see with the Trump administration, well there's several problems, least of which is Donald Trump's lack of awareness of what's actually taking place in these two countries.

But he is appointing now -- every official to his cabinet is vehemently opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran. And yet in Iraq, the Iranian militias, also known as the popular mobilization units, today in fact, were just made in official part of the Iraqi security apparatus. So our ally Iraq now has in its defense establishment, in some cases wholly owned subsidiaries of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Does Donald Trump realize this? Is he going to rely on Iranian ground forces to help destroy ISIS in Iraq? And then what is he going to do in Syria where he is proposed aligning with Russia and Assad, while still trying to contain Iran, when Iran is next to Russia, the single biggest backer of the Assad regime in Syria. So there are too many contradictions in Trump's prescriptions for how to fix the Middle East.

WHITFIELD: So Kimberly, you know, after a realization might be made here based on what, you know, how Michael was laying things out, a 30- day plan. Does that no longer even sound realistic.

DOZIER: Well, I think the generals have been making plans. There are some on the shelf that they can show Donald Trump. I think what they'll say is, "You've got a lot more leeway with what you can do inside Syria," and that if the Trump administration wants to align with Russia on this they could rely on Russia to keep the Iranian forces in check, with -- U.S. forces are working alongside, U.S. advisers are working alongside Iranian advisers inside Iraq right now, so it can be done.

So back inside Syria if you've got the U.S. and Russia and Turkey all working together to defeat ISIS you at least diminish one player on the board. The problem with that is, in the aftermath, Al-Qaeda is -- has been predicted to grow in strength if ISIS is weakened and we don't seem to have a plan for that. Having more forces on the ground in Syria be they Russian American or Turkish doesn't diminish the fact that these are in some cases local forces.

They're going to be able to go underground and commit to a long term insurgency campaign that Syria will be fighting for some time to come.

WHITFIELD: So Michael, do you see this Trump administration being able to work with these neighboring countries, those who are committed thus far in this fight, so that, like Kimberly was, you know, laying out; Iraq doesn't have to increase or come up with a new agreement that would allow more troops, more U.S. troops on Iraqi soil?

WEISS: Well, technically the Iraqi armed forces and these Shia militia groups have the manpower to retake the terrain. But as Kim was saying, it's the aftermath, it's the post ISIS conditions you have to worry about. If there are pogroms against Sunni Muslims and Sunni Arabs and Sunni Turkmen for instance, then there's a town we're not paying attention to called Falafel, which is in many respects more crucial than Mosul as a border gateway between Syria and Iraq.

The Shia militias are going into this town. If there are human rights atrocities and Sunnis now rise up and decide they want to go to war against us again with Baghdad, you're looking at something like ISIS 2.0. It may not be the caliphate but it'll be some other form of Sunni revengeism. And in Syria I think actually -- where I would disagree with him here is, there is no Syrian Arab Army anymore. The Iranians are running the show.

They are running the ground forces and you trust nobody better than the Russian government's own military assessment of what a spent force Bashar al-Assad's army is. [12:50:02] These are IRGC built militias, warlords and Alawite

militias that are doing the heavy lifting. These are the guys, including by the way, Lebanese Hezbollah, who are going to try and sack East Aleppo as we speak. So I don't think the Russians can really rein in Iran without completely delegitimating the Assad regime's own ground campaign.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll have to leave it right there, very complicated scenarios there. Michael Weiss, Kim Dozier, thank you so much for your input, appreciate it --

WEISS: Sure.

WHITFIELD: -- and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:59:14] WHITFIELD: Hello again everyone and thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Some call him a revolutionary others a tyrant. Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro is dead at the age of 90 and reactions are pouring in from around the world. The president elect's Trump releasing this statement saying, "Fidel Castro's legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights. It is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long."

And President Barrack Obama, who has dedicated much of his second term in normalizing relations between Cuba and the U.S. saying this in a statement, "We know that this moment fills Cubans in Cuba and in the United States with powerful emotions. History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him."

So we'll talk about the political implications of all of this in a moment. But first we have a team of reporters covering this --