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Scary Moments in the Sky; U.S. Military Conducts Operation in Somalia; A Look at How Russia Views Current Events

Aired September 02, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: In question is whether the Blackwater guards were justified in opening fire. Iraqi witnesses have testified that they fired without provocation, but some of the government's own witnesses have said the guards could have believed they were under attack. The incident contributed strongly to the rise of anti- American sentiment in Iraq.

Former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has a new job on Wall Street. Cantor, who recently left Congress after he was defeated in a Republican primary, will join the investment firm Moelis and Company as vice chairman and managing director. Cantor will have an office at the firm's New York headquarters but will open a new office for the company in Washington.

All right. Here you go. A first look at Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's wedding pictures -- I know you wanted to see them, Chris, here you go -- courtesy of "People" magazine.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: I was there.

PEREIRA: Of course, you were.

Jolie's dress was designed by Louie Gimasi (ph) who sewed artwork designed by her children into the dress and veil. It's so sweet.

Pitt for his part, went a little more low key, wearing a suit from his own closet, apparently had to borrow a tie from his own son. Their six children played a key role in the intimate ceremony which was held at the family estate in France.

There you go. I know you've been dying to know. She looked beautiful as every bride should.

CUOMO: Of course, Italian dress-maker.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. Obviously.

PEREIRA: I knew it was coming around to that.

CUOMO: Luigi. Can't do better than that.

Listen to this. Not one but two scares in the air to tell you about. Overnight, a flight from New York to West Palm Beach diverted to Jacksonville after another unruly passenger caused a disturbance, and we have new pictures for you of an Allegiant Air Flight out of Michigan bound for Orlando and had to be diverted after the cabin lost pressure. And that one is more serious. What was that about?

Christine Romans has details for us.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And some of those passengers look like they are sort of laughing and joking around, but it's no joke. It's no joke when the gas mask comes down or the oxygen mask comes down, and in the second flight the plane had to be diverted to South Carolina on Sunday, two hours after taking off from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought we were just going to go down.

ROMANS (voice-over): Panic in the skies as an Allegiant Air Flight suffered pressurization issues, leaving more than 150 passengers on board terrified.

DOMINICK CLARK, PASSENGER: It was wrong with my air pocket and my chest locked up a little bit. The thing dropped from ceiling.

ROMANS: And one passenger managed to captured the panicked moments on cell phone video as oxygen masks fell from the ceiling.

IDA TACKER, PASSENGER: It got cold in the plane, and all of a sudden, all the oxygen masks fell down.

ROMANS: Passengers scrambled to put their masks on as the plane was forced to make an emergency landing in South Carolina.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as I looked out the window they told me to close the window and not look outside, so that's what kind of freaked me out a little bit.

ROMANS: Airline officials tell CNN affiliate WESA say they have not yet determined what caused the plane to lose pressure, but they are conducting a full investigation.

And another incident in the skies, an unruly passenger forced a Delta flight to be diverted to Jacksonville, Florida, where authorities met the plane and removed the passenger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This woman who is sitting next to me knitting actually just tried reclining her seat back. The woman behind her started screaming and swearing and then flight attendant came over and that just exacerbated what was going on, and then she demanded that the flight land.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: By my count that's the third reclining seat problem over the past week that's caused a flight to have to be diverted. The Delta plane returned to its final destination in West Palm after the disruption last night.

Again, at least the third incident over a reclining seat on a plane in the last few weeks.

BOLDUAN: Unbelievable.

ROMANS: Pretty much is your worst nightmare, you think you're going some place and you have toned up spending your night in South Carolina or have the plane diverted because of an unruly passenger.

PEREIRA: Because somebody wants to put their seat back, can't we all just give our heads a shake for a second and get our common sense back? That's ridiculous.

BOLDUAN: There's not a lot of common sense on the planet anymore.

CUOMO: There's also not a lot of leg room.

ROMANS: Get in there and don't move.

PEREIRA: But that's not the person in front of you fault, right? You're knitting, minding your own business. Could have been me.

CUOMO: Knitting is a bad --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Knitting needles are no joke. You got to be careful.

Thanks, Christine.

Let us know what do you think about these recliner wars? Yes, it has a name now. Go to Facebook.com/NewDay.

The U.S. military has carried out an operation inside Somalia, were senior terror leaders -- where senior terror leaders the target. We're going to tell you what we know -- new information is coming in.

CUOMO: And we're going to get an inside scoop on what may be motivating Vladimir Putin -- the Russian military moves in Ukraine have the world on edge now -- a suggestion he may be eyeing a new country. We have new information for you ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Breaking overnight: we're learning more about a U.S. operation conducted in Somalia against the al Shabaab terror network. The Pentagon has not released many details but a Somali official says a drone strike targeted the Islamic militant group senior leaders. It's unclear if any of the members were wounded or killed.

But let's bring in some of our smarter minds. Let's turn to Bobby Gosh, managing editor of "Quartz", and John Avlon, CNN political analyst and editor in chief of "The Daily Beast".

This is one -- Somalia is one of many fronts that the president is facing in terms of what to do -- what to do with terror networks really around the globe at this point? What do you make -- even though we don't have a lot of details yet, Bobby -- what do you make of the U.S. operation in Somalia at this time? What do you make of it?

BOBBY GHOSH, QUARTZ: Well, this is part of a continuing process. We've been sort of sending drones over to Somalia and taking strikes at their leadership since 2008.

It looks like this one was targeted at a man cold Abdul Abdi Godane, the attack in the shopping mall attack last year in September in Nairobi, nearly 70 people killed there. It looks like they were targeting him, it's not clear that they got him.

It's hard to make a pattern here because in Somalia, we're being familiar more adventurous than we're being, let's say, in Syria. So, in Somalia there's no immediate threat to any American nationals or any direct American interests, whereas in Iraq, there is, and so the policy there is different.

It looks like there's different horses for different courses here and that might be the smartest way to do this, because although they may all be Islamist groups, the operations and the threats they represent are different.

BOLDUAN: How is this the smartest way to do this? How does -- how do the Obama administration advisers make the argument?

You laid it out really well, Bobby. There's not necessarily -- we don't see it right here, an immediate threat to the U.S. homeland or to Americans in Somalia for this targeted attack. A bit of a different situation in Iraq.

Why different applications? Why different approaches?

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the kindest explanation is that this is sort of a hidden hand presidency approach, that there's something more cohesive going on in the background. But the criticism from the president, Dianne Feinstein, senator, on down, which is that there's a lack of consistency, a lack of backbone that's evident is really troubling.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Dianne Feinstein is one of the more considerate, deliberative, kind voices to the president that you will get in the U.S. Senate. This is not a woman who is going out there spouting off whatever she wants on the Sunday talk shows just to make a headline. She is very considerate in the words that she chooses.

AVLON: Yes, and a very hawkish Democrat and that's why her criticism carries such weight both in Washington and I think close observers around the world. There is an increasing concern that, you know, we're getting into the halfway mark of the second term. Some things get cast as in the light of history, and there is a concern about the president in withdrawing from a more activist role in the international community, that Vladimir Putin has tried to fill that vacuum, that ISIS has filled that vacuum, so now is a testing time for the president and the larger international community. We see these a la carte attacks, the administration being very

aggressive in targeting al Qaeda and other groups with drones and Special Forces, but really shying away from the global commitment that characterized the "W" years that really created its own backlash domestically, as well as internationally.

BOLDUAN: Is that disjointed or is that a foreign policy approach?

GHOSH: It's hard to see this as a policy. It is disjointed. It might be that the Obama administration has decided this is the only way to approach this.

As I was saying earlier, these are very different kinds of groups. They may have a common way in the background of Islamist ideology, but the way they operate is quite different and the threats they represent is quite different. And so, it might be that the most practical way to approach it is to approach the different groups differently.

The trouble is that the main act, if you like, is ISIS, just talking about Islamist groups at the moment. At moment, the main act is ISIS, and what are we doing there. That part -- that piece of it seems insubstantial.

We've done some airstrikes in Iraq. They have worked. With the help of Iraqi forces, with the help of Kurdish forces, the ISIS has lost territory, and that's very important but not much is being done in Syria and not much is being done to target the ISIS leadership.

BOLDUAN: Take this all in the context now that the president is heading to -- heading to meet with NATO leaders. There's a lot that they need to discuss. Russia is obviously a top priority as well in its aggression in Ukraine but where's NATO here?

AVLON: This is a critical moment for NATO and the future of that alliance. They have the opportunity to double down, to re-establish how integral they are at securing international order, both in contrast to Russia, which was originally how they were formed back in the Cold War days, and in dealing with this sort of threat that ISIS represents, which is beyond nation state order.

Look, NATO has been reluctant. Europe has been reluctant to wade into these issues even when they are in their own backyard going back to what looks like the good war in Kosovo.

So, President Obama needs to establish its leadership working with Cameron and NATO needs to re-establish how essential it is in maintaining international order, not just with special rapid deployment organizations, which is one of the innovations they are talking about deploying but really digging down and finding its purpose and a clear strategy for the West in confronting these threats.

BOLDUAN: What does -- what do NATO leaders want to hear from President Obama going into this summit, do you think?

GHOSH: Well, if he's getting criticism from Dianne Feinstein, you can bet that behind closed doors, he'll get much more of the same from the NATO leadership, because they think they are facing -- particularly the eastern nations -- are facing an existential threat from the Russia bear.

And what they are hearing from NATO is sort of mixed messages. On the one hand, you have the NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen saying, well, if Ukraine wants to join, then that should be Ukraine's choice.

And then you're hearing from President Obama saying, whoa, no, no, no, no. We're not really -- Ukraine joining is not on the table right now.

So, on one hand, you have a NATO that appears to be poking the Russian bear. On the other hand you have the president saying no, no, we're not going into any kind of military adventures there. So, that sort of two different voices being spoken by one alliance is -- actually opens up possibilities for -- for Putin. Putin is saying that and says my enemies are divided. This is my moment.

AVLON: We've got deep divisions inside the NATO coalition, with regard to Turkey and other nations like Germany. I mean, look, you know, what Putin sort of flashed the nuclear card the other day as one of his trump plays. And this is a moment of high crisis. This is an opportunity if NATO can get together and send forth a clear message.

Ironically, Putin might provoke the thinking he was long trying to avoid which is a strong, unified NATO. But its going to be up to NATO to dig deeply and the president of the United States to lead along with David Cameron and others to make sure that it's not simply a U.S.-led alliance, that it's functioning the way its supposed to in the 21st century against this diverse array of threats that are all unfolding in real time right now.

BOLDUAN: It seems an opportunity, but I think you ended on a perfect note. Realtime, right now. It seems that time is what there is not much more of in any of these fronts that the president is facing, the international community as well. Its great to see you guys. John, Bobby, thank you so much

Alright, the Ukrainians say Russia has launched a war.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BOLDUAN (voice-over): With Vladimir Putin now suggesting statehood for Eastern Ukraine. Can the NATO summit help slow the Russians? We're going to get the view from inside Russia coming up next.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Vladimir Putin's aggression in Ukraine is getting worse. That is a fact, and while the Russian president has denied that fact in terms of what's happening on the ground, he did tell the European commission president, quote, "I can take Kiev in two weeks." Today Russia says those comments were taken out of context.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (voice-over): Ukraine is accusing Putin of launching a great wear on the country by edging further into Eastern Ukraine, and NATO leaders are now working on creating a quick reaction force to answer any future moves from Russia. How will that be perceived? How would that work, what will it mean? Let's get some perspective from Vladimir Pozner, he's a Russian journalist and TV personality.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (on camera): Mr. Pozner, good to have you back on the show. Let's start with this report about the Russian president saying that he could take Kiev in two weeks. Do you think that was real, or do you think it was taken out of context, and if so, how?

VLADIMIR POZNER, RUSSIAN JOURNALIST AND TV PERSONALITY: You know, quite frankly, I find it difficult to comment on what Mr. Barroso said because he's one that reported that, and I really don't know what Mr. Putin said. I do think there's a tendency to take a lot of things out of context on both sides. Frankly, I think that should Russia actually want to take Kiev in two weeks it could do it. It's a much stronger country militarily, but I somehow doubt that Putin would say that. Makes no sense to say it. I do think it probably was taken out of context. I would like to hear the entire phrase when he said it rather than just those words.

CUOMO: Why do you think the Russian president has been slow to confirm the facts on the ground in Eastern Ukraine in terms of Russia's obvious involvement?

POZNER: You know, that's an interesting question. On the one hand, it would seem to me that there has to be involvement. People have spoken about Russian military people on the ground in Eastern Ukraine, 1,000 men. On the other hand, what's 1,000 men when you figure out that the Ukrainian army is there and the Ukrainian army is, what, tens of thousands of men so 1,000 Russian military is what? A drop in the bucket. It seems to me that there's a very strong sentiment in Russia that that part of Ukraine, which is now being called New Russia and which once upon a time was part of the Russian empire, is being seen more and more as something much closer to Russia actually than to Ukraine, and I think there's been a -- I don't know whether it's legitimate or not, but a been a worry that what the United States and the West in general want is to establish their presence in Ukraine and the presence of NATO. And I would have to say, at least in my opinion, that that is something that Russia will not accept even if there is a real war. There's no real war now. There's fighting, but if we're going to use the term war, the appearance of NATO forces on Ukrainian ground could be something that will really lead to a war.

CUOMO: It's interesting. It's such an opposite perspective because from the Western perspective the fact that Russian troops are definitely on the ground, I've heard that 1,000 number. I don't know how it's substantiated, but I can confirm for you having been in Eastern Ukraine and witnessed the fighting there are many Russian uniforms there. There are many Russian people there in positions of leadership. There's a lot of Russian equipment on the ground and that that presence is the obvious threat, not NATO. NATO would be brought in defensively from what is an obvious act of aggression on the Russian part, no?

POZNER: Well, the Russians see NATO as an aggressive force, as a force that is against Russia. They have always seen it that way, and I say, look. Looking back to the Cuban missile crisis, Cuba, an independent country, Fidel Castro, a leader, and Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, agree to put Soviet missiles in Cuba. Legally they could do it. The United States said not only would they not allow that, they'd sink Russian ships if necessary and there would be a world war III because the United States felt that it was a threat, and I would agree that it was a threat.

Well Russians, whether they're right or they're wrong, we can debate this, but they have always seen NATO as a threat to their security, and if NATO were to appear on the Russian border it would be like Russian troops appearing on the American border in Mexico. They simply will not allow that, and it is a different understanding, but I think if you don't make the effort, you, I don't mean you personally, but if we don't make the effort to understand that there is a radical difference in the way we look at things, we're in trouble because we will not be able to talk to each other, and I think we're not talking to each other. I think we're talking at each other, and here's what we have.

CUOMO: So now is the latest and perhaps best opportunity to have bilateral negotiations here, multi-lateral obviously nominally, but there will be Russian U.S. representatives putting it on the table. What do you think Russia wants? What do you think the motivation is for the Russian president here?

POZNER: It's awfully hard for me to guess what Vladimir Putin thinks. He has, as you know, he has a spokesperson by the name of Mr. Peskov, and I guess he's the one to ask, at least for the official view. I would say the following, a, a guarantee that there would be no NATO troops in Ukraine, b, that the Russian population, and there are a lot of ethnic Russians in the Southeast of Ukraine, that somehow they be guaranteed a greater degree of independence than they have today. Now, a lot of the leadership down there are saying we want statehood. We want to be totally independent, and I don't think that Putin is going to want that, but some kind of federal situation where it would be like a state in the United States or like a land in Germany where they have much greater independence from the central government. Some kind of guarantees that the West would not try to pull Ukraine away from Russia, and I realize that we're talking about geopolitical interests here, and how should I put this? The Ukraine is so close historically - -

CUOMO: Right.

POZNER: - - even ethnically in the sense of language to Russia that there's a sense that you guys are trying to come into our territory. I'm giving you, its not my view

CUOMO: Sure, sure, I got you.

POZNER: I'm giving you the general view.

CUOMO: It's very helpful, Vladimir. It's very helpful because then you get into this extension argument, and I think this is probably the last point we can hit on in this conversation, but, okay, I understand you.

POZNER: Okay.

CUOMO: There's a big Russian influence in Ukraine. There's a big connection. Well, that goes for a lot of now independent countries there since we had World War II go by, and you hear the Russian president mention Kazakhstan. Now, this is a rigorously independent group. The Kazakhs are their own people and culture, but you have a higher percentage of Russian people in Kazakhstan than you do in Ukraine, about 17 percent versus 23 percent, and the Russian president says, well, it's kind of a made-up state. That sounds like, well, what? Are they next? Where do you logically extend this rationale of closeness to Russia?

POZNER: I think that's a very, very interesting question. I think the way the Russians would see it is this. There are three countries that they call Slav, that is to say the same origins, the same religion, Orthodox, Christian Orthodox.

CUOMO: Right.

POZNER: And that would be Ukraine and Belarus.

CUOMO: Right.

POZNER: Kazakhstan nothing of the sort, its a completely different country. There was no Kazakhstan not that long ago. It is a state that was created by the Soviets.

CUOMO: Right.

POZNER: It was a completely new thing. I don't think there's any danger whatsoever of Russia trying to take over Kazakhstan, forget it, but Belarus and Ukraine are just very special to Russia. Rightly or wrongly, but historically that's the way it is.

CUOMO: No small irony that the discussions in Minsk taking place obviously in Belarus and will they -- what will that mean when obviously Vladimir Putin seems to have his eyes on the prize? Vladimir Pozner, thank you for the perspective. Good to have you back on NEW DAY, look forward to talking to you going forward.

POZNER: Thank you.

CUOMO: So, we just got the inside scoop there from a Russian journalist about what may be happening with Russia. We're going to have to find out what these negotiations bring. We have the attack in Somalia, and we have emerging situations all over the globe and here at home so let's get right to the latest. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The U.S. attacking terrorists in Somalia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Targeting the al Shabaab terrorist group there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been pretty much a disastrous week for Ukrainian forces.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAN: Next week I'll be in Europe to coordinate with our closest allies and partners.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Russian bear is encountering the Obama kitty cat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: North Korea still has these people and that they want the U.S. to do something about it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If there was ever a time to step up the efforts it's now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are just average Americans and they're taken and held as though they are subversive spies or terrorists.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome back to NEW DAY. It is now 7:00 in the East. And we do begin with breaking news.

(START VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (voice-over): A U.S. military operation against a terrorist group in Somalia took place overnight.

BOLDUAN (voice-over): The Pentagon says it is now assessing the strike against the al Qaeda linked al Shabaab network and whether any senior leaders were taken out. We have complete coverage of this breaking story for you this morning.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BOLDUAN (on camera): Let's start once again with Elise Labott live this morning in Washington. Elise, what more are we learning?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, Somali officials are saying that the leader of al Shabaab Ahmed Godane and his deputies were holding a meeting of top commanders in the rebel-held village that was hit by the U.S. That meeting how to withstand this ongoing offensive by the Somali military, the African Union aiming to flush them out from the region, but the U.S. is not acknowledging whether Godane is the target quite yet. The Pentagon says it wants to assess the success of the operation before commenting, and that is because we've been here before. Earlier this year a U.S. drone strike killed a high ranking al Shabaab intelligence officer. Godane was not killed and Godane has really been the driving force between al Shabaab's close ties to al Qaeda.