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New Day

Iraqis Responding to Secy. Carter's Comments; The Fight Against ISIS in Iraq; Pressure Cooker Found by DC Bomb Squad; Damage in Texas Due to Heavy Rains, Flash Flooding; Outrage in Cleveland. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired May 25, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

[00:07:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: About this topic as well Jim. Thank you for that. Well, the Iraqis responding this morning to Secretary Carter's comments, this as Iraqi forces prepare to try to retake Ramadi.

Let's get right to CNN's Senior International Correspondent, Arwa Damon. She's live in Baghdad with that part story. What are you learning Arwa?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And the sense here is that this is those comments by U.S. Defense Secretary, Ash Carter, are an attempt by America to try to clean it's hands off the problem in Iraq and any sort of responsibility it may have. Now we did earlier hear from the Country's Prime Minister. He was speaking to the BBC. Take a listen to what Haider al-Abadi has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAIDER AL-ABADI, IRAQ'S PRIME MINISTER: I'm surprised why he said that. I mean he was very supportive of Iraq. I'm sure he's -- he was fed back -- he was fed with the wrong information.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nevertheless, Ramadi was a disaster, wasn't it?

AL-ABADI: Makes my heart bleed because we lost Ramadi but can assure you we can bring it back soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: And we also spoke to an Iraqi soldier who was a part of the unit that was among the last to withdraw from Ramadi and he was telling us that despite the order to retreat, they did have the will to fight. He said their key problem was that they were simply put running out of ammunition and he blames the problems with the Iraqi Army on a failure in leadership and also was saying, as we have been hearing from so many others that this was at the end of the day the Iraqi Army that the U.S. spent years training, spent millions of dollars trying to bring up and when U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq, they did at the time declare the forces here combat ready.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Arwa. Thank you so much. Joining us now Michael Weiss, CNN contributor and co-author of "ISIS Inside the Army of Terror", good to have you here even this holiday weekend. I appreciate you joining us let's listen just a refresher to the words of Ash Carter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHTON CARTER, U.S. SECRETARYOF DEFENSE: Was that the Iraqi forces showed no will to fight. They were not outnumbered. In fact, they vastly outnumbered the opposing force.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: The will -- they lack the will. Are -- Is he right? Do you agree?

MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Largely right. Look, Ramadi has been contested by ISIS for a bit over a year. I have to say it has been under their control. This is a very sophisticated and savvy terrorist organization.

PEREIRA: OK.

WEISS: It has sleeper cell stationed throughout the city so that when they're advancing columns came in their sleepers then sort of fed intelligence and told them where to hit and bomb and do things like that. They used to have 30 enormous vehicle born suicide bombs some of which leveled the entire city blocks similar to the Oklahoma City bombing and then there's added component of this which is some of the soldiers that have been in Ramadi have been there without leave for the past six months and haven't been paid in six months. Right?

PEREIRA: OK.

WEISS: And also there's a sectarian element which is nobody in the United States government wants to talk about and nobody --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: How big of an issue is that?

WEISS: It's a huge issue. Look Ramadi was the locust for the so called al-Anbar awakening, right, the sons of Iraq, the guys who turn the tide against al-Qaedain Iraq in 2006.Why did they do that? They're mostly Sunnis, sheikhs and tribal leaders who said they had enough of AQI raping our women, assassinating our leadership, stealing our black and gray market economic trade through which we've enriched ours from Saddam until now.

And we see the Americans as a credible and non-sectarian actor on the ground that when they come in and fight the terrorist, they don't then do (programs) and (ethnic cleansing) against us.

Look at the situation today. You don't have an American -- you don't have the hundred and first airborne, you don't have the marines, you don't have the first division instead you have ISS soldiers many of them trained but not so well trained completely flagging, low morale, feeling like if they're Sunnis, why should we --

PEREIRA: Right.

WEISS: Defend them on behalf of Baghdad which is controlled by Shia and backed by Iraq?

PEREIRA: Well look at the response of Iraq Head of the Defense and Security Committee. The Iraqi army and police did have the will to fight IS group and Ramadi. But these force slacked good equipment, weapon and aerial support, which is -- what -- it goes with what you're saying, it's not just the morale, you talked about morale.

WEISS: Right.

PEREIRA: You talked about the equipment and even the training, we said they were combat ready the, U.S. did when we left.

WEISS: Right.

PEREIRA: You think that was a misstatement? And --

WEISS: Look, it's -- nobody wants to discuss the fact the sort of the organic cultural nature of Iraq is what can save Iraq. Right? Without empowering the Sunnis, without giving them weapons, I mean there were Sunnis tribesmen, sons of Iraq who said, "We just run out of ammunition. We couldn't stand and we couldn't fight." So but the problem is you can't --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: And that's too simplistic of a view though?

WEISS: Well not really the problem is we can't just give them weapons because Baghdad wouldn't allow it. Baghdad says, "We're a sovereign government. Everything that you have to give in terms of military support material has to come through us." The problem is Baghdad doesn't trust the Sunni population.

[00:07:05] They think if we give weapons to them, those weapons will wind up in the hands of ISIS. Now my point to that is ironically, ISIS has gained most of its weapons from the United States --

PEREIRA: Right.

WEISS: Stolen from the Iraqi Army, right? That would -- which is normally under the control of Baghdad.

PEREIRA: So if we look at John McCain let's listen to what he had to say on TBS state of the nation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: We need to have Special Forces we need to have more of those kinds of raids that were so successful into Syria. We need to have a strategy. There is no strategy and anybody that says that there is, I'd like to hear what it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: So it seems to me that from what I'm hearing of what you're saying and from what I'm hearing John McCain and others saying is it not only that we need a different strategy --

WEISS: Yes.

PEREIRA: But we need to have a better understanding of the situation instead of looking at it through American eyes? Is that a fair point?

WEISS: Very, very broadly. Since 2003, but especially since the Syria crisis kicked off in 2011. If you're a Sunni living in either Iraq or Syria, you now believe that the United States is in league with Iran and the Shia majority country of Iraq to commit ethnic cleansing, murder and dispossession against your number.

Yes? I mean the conspiracy theory is enormous right now. They think it does goes back to the Iran deal that President Obama prefers to work with the Shia rather than the Sunnis. They have no sense of empowerment.

This is the reason why ISIS is proliferating. It's not that people support the ISIS ideology. Some of them do of course butt's a game of pragmatism. We would rather -- if ISIS comes in, they act like the Mexican drug cartel. "We will provide you protection, in exchange for what you pleasure (you're filthy) to us. If you don't, we will cut the head off the guy that runs the town -- "

PEREIRA: Right.

WEISS: "And put it on a pike." And that sort of classic mafia's 101 rules.

PEREIRA: Right, right.

WEISS: And if you're living in that town you say, "Well who were the vanquisher of this guys? Who's going to come to liberate us?"

And just look at the last few months of this campaign the Shia militias come in, they do looting, they do ethnic cleansing, they do murder. They consider any Sunni military aged male to be a collaborator with ISIS.

PEREIRA: Right.

WEISS: The Shia militias, our (defector) partner on the ground blamed United States for creating ISIS. Some of them have gone so far to say as, "We need to shoot down U.S. cargo planes which were delivering weapons to the terrorists."

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: To your point, you don't believe that they are the ideal fighter to have on the ground? (CROSSTLK)

WEISS: Not at all. Not at all

PEREIRA: We have been looking to them to take on ISIS here.

WEISS: Look at all these areas on the map, right? Ramadi puts ISIS within about 70 miles striking distance of Baghdad. Now it's not the Baghdad that's going to be sacked by ISIS I think it's too well- fortified but doesn't need to be. The ISIS just has to roll in with the (v bids), vehicle born ids, suicide bombings to discombobulate Baghdad, put them on the defensive. All of this area here, this is the Sunni geo strategic car plan. They do not want to see the butter core Iran's revolution guard core, (Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq) all of these militias, many of which have American blood on their hands let alone Sunni blood on their hand they don't want to see them coming in and conquering that terrain.

PEREIRA: So final thought is I mean is this going to devolve into a civil war? Is that what's going to happen?

(CROSSTALK)

WEISS: It's huge. Look. Look, let me just give the analysis that heard from every military official, military intelligence officer I talked to without a greater U.S. force commitment, now you can say it's going to be an uptick, in a number of jay sack raids like the one killed Abu Saif, two weeks ago, without a greater U.S. force commitment.

Humpty Dumpty doesn't get put back together again. This country is too far gone, the region is in too much inflame right now to expect any kind of local actors on the ground to really do this sort of for themselves.

PEREIRA: Sobering thought. Michael Weiss --

(CROSSTALK)

WEISS: Yes.

PEREIRA: Will be back to talk to us more about this topic --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Because we know this is not going anywhere any time soon.

WEISS: All right. No problem.

PEREIRA: Thank you for your analysis. We appreciate it. Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK Michaela.

We do have some breaking news overnight to tell you about major security threat in Washington D.C. A bomb squad detonating a pressure cooker found in an abandoned car on the National Mall. This incident happening as thousands gathered for a Memorial Day concert in front of the Capitol Building.

CNN's Rosa Flores is here with more. This is scary Rosa, what do we know?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really is. This pressure cooker was found in a 'suspicious' car around 5p.m. last night just west of Capitol Building. Now officers on routine patrol noticed the unattended vehicle smelled of gasoline and found it contained a pressure cooker. That's when they called in the bomb squad. Authorities blocked down local roads and warn the public about what was happening. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. Capitol Police are investigating a suspicious vehicle on a nearby street. In the next few minutes, you may hear a loud noise as part of that process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Then after that nearly three hours later, the bomb squad succeeded in detonating the pressure cooker. Now the vehicle's owner has been arrested and charged with driving with a revoked license. Authorities say the search and the investigation turned up nothing harmful.

But of course, all of this happening on Memorial Day Weekend with the detonation happening just before the annual Memorial Day Concert on the U.S. Capitol's west lawn. Now this is a major televised event and

[00:07:10] this year included some big names, including Gloria Estefan, Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and current Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Martin Dempsey so a lot of people scared out there.

PEREIRA: Yes, I can imagine. All right. Thanks for that Rosa.

Well, the nation is pausing on this Memorial Day to remember service members who gave their lives to defend the United States. Ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery will get under way in a few hours' time. CNN will be watching. CNN's Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr is there in fact with more press. Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela. We are here at Arlington, it will open to the public in just under an hour and we expect, of course, every Memorial Day as we always see a number -- a great number of people, Americans, coming here to pay their respects to the Nation's fallen here at Arlington -- 400,000 are interred here and we are standing here at Section 60 as we often do on Memorial Day. This is an area -- 15,000 interred here and over 900 are those who fallen on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. Many such young Americans who have fallen in battle over the years, and what we usually see at Section 60 here is the families. That's what the real message of Section 60 is, the love from the families who come here to remember their loved ones, their military members who fell in battle. I think in a few hours, were going to see so many people arriving, pausing, paying their respects on this Memorial Day 2015. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: You will be a powerful morning there, Barbara. Thanks, so much for that preview.

Well, insult to injury for all ready flooded parts of Texas and Oklahoma, more rain may hit the area today, making an all ready deadly and devastating situation even more dangerous. There is staggering destruction in Hays County Texas, that's just outside of Austin, and at least 350homes and two bridges have been swept away there.

Let's get to CNN's Alina Machado. She's live in Wimberley, Texas. Tell us what you are seeing, Alina.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alisyn, it's really hard to watch. You walk through some of these hard hit areas and you see -- what we're seeing behind us debris scattered everywhere, downed power lines and severely damaged homes, all the products of this historic flood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my god! Oh my god!

MACHADO: Ravaging floodwaters and severe weather across Central Texas and Oklahoma forcing more than a thousand people to stay in shelters this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now is not the time to try to return to your homes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my god. Stop. Stop. Stop.

MACHADO: Vehicles and hundreds of homes destroyed, swept away by the deadly deluge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This flood is the largest I've seen in 25 years.

MACHADO: Waters continuing to rise through Sunday in Central Texas, the flood's height swelling one river to record breaking 43-feet in San Marcos, according to officials.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point it's mainly an operation of rescue.

MACHADO: Emergency crews scrambling to pull people from the flood waters. Bridges washed out, unable to handle the force of the rising tide. Roller coasters at the Six Flags Amusement Park near Dallas, Texas, submerged in water. In Wimberley, many residents return to homes unsalvageable. We've seen houses that have been knocked off their foundations or tipped over like this one over here, just by the sheer force of those rising flood waters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no electricity at the complex now.

MACHADO: In Houston, hundreds are now homeless after an EF-1 tornado packing winds of100 miles an hour slammed into their apartment complex. The severe storms turning deadly in Oklahoma, a fire fighter swept away from a dramatic rescue just north of Tulsa. Captain Jason Farley, a nearly 20-year veteran, died while trying to rescue 10 residents from the flood. The water's so high the fire fighter never saw the storm drain that carried him under.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We suspect that he drowned, got caught in the storm drain, itself. It's something I'll have to live with for the rest of my life. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MACHADO: The ground is all ready saturated here and now they're expecting several more inches of rain, possibly today. That's the last thing these people need here. Michaela.

PEREIRA: Truly, it is, all right Alina. Thank you for bringing that to us. An international group of 30 female activists who crossed the Korean border from the North to South calling for peace. Leading the charge a well-known feminist Gloria Steinem the group crossed by bus after South Korea said no to their original plan marching across the demilitarized zone. The activists have been in North Korea hosting a series of event to promote women's rights and are seeking to bridge divisions between South and North. Critics accused the group of legitimizing Kim Jong-Un and ignoring North Korea's human rights abuses.

[00:07:15] CAMEROTA: Well tennis star Roger Federer blasting security at the French Open after a selfie seeking fan ran onto the court following his match. Look at this.

Federer, who's been really uncomfortable, he gently rebuffed the fan, stepping back and glancing over at security. After few seconds the boy was taken away. Federer says the same thing happened the day before following a practice session.

CAMEROTA: The selfie has taken over people's common sense. People are walking into traffic. I'm sure they're probably running into other people. The lengths we're going to get a selfie and what is security doing? Why is security there if they let fans charge the --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Have we lost our (inaudible) of mind?

CAMEROTA: I think we have.

PEREIRA: Let's debate that. My goodness.

CAMEROTA: Let's debate that. We'd love to hear you voice you can find us both on twitter.

PEREIRA: At Cleveland police officer acquitted in the shooting deaths of two unarmed people, was justice served? We're going to speak with that officer's attorney right here on New Day. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I find that the state did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant Michael Brelo knowingly caused the deaths of Timothy Russell and Melissa Williams because the essential element of causation was not proved for both counts.

CAMEROTA: Well outrage in Cleveland after those words from a judge clearing a police officer in the shooting deaths of two unarmed

[00:07:20] African-Americans in a car. Officer Michael Brelo was charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter following a lengthy car chase and shootout back in 2012 but he has now been exonerated, with us this morning, Officer Michael Brelo's attorney Pat D'Angelo. Mr. D'Angelo thanks for being here.

PAT D'ANGELO, MICHAEL BRELO'S ATTORNEY: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: How are you and Michael Brelo feeling this morning?

D'ANGELO: I'm little bit tired and I'm sure Mr. Brelo is as well.

CAMEROTA: And there must be a huge sense of relief. I mean this was a two-year long in the case -- more than two years in the making and many people thought he would be convicted of this.

D'ANGELO: Well, it has been a long battle and it was David vs. Goliath but we had faith in the legal system. This is a nation of laws. We submitted to the system and we prevailed.

CAMEROTA: More than 70 people were arrested this weekend for protesting the findings of this judge. Can you help the protesters in Cleveland and the viewers at home understand how the judge reached this conclusion, how 49 shots fired by Officer Brelo did not add up to a excessive force?

D'ANGELO: Well, you can't help people understand if they don't have an open mind and an open heart and you have to be intellectually honest. Everything that was done in this case was done on the record in open court and video. Individuals have their own opinions and sometimes the facts don't matter because of their own agendas or their hatred and animosity towards law enforcement, so if anyone wants to spend the time to find out what happened, all they have to do is read the judge's opinion or look to the State of Ohio Attorney General Website the investigative file is on the record or review the court transcript.

But in essence, the case came down to the fact that there was a questions to causation which bullets caused the death to the two decedents and in addition to that the major issue was one of legal justification, that pursuant to law officer Brelo as well as the other 12 officers were legally justified in using the deli force that they used. There are many, United States Supreme Court's decisions throughout our land that talk about number of shots not being relevant. So you get into these emotional issues, again at the end of the day the issue is what are the facts and what is the law?

CAMEROTA: Look I mean I know it is hard to be cool headed and unemotional in cases like this because you know people who are not legal experts as you are feel as though there was something wrong that happened here. They feel it though knowing how many shots were fired, there were -- each victim was hit, one victim was hit 23 times the other victim was hit 24 times then to find out they were unarmed and it sounds as though Michael Brelo as you know was focused on by the prosecutor because he jumped up on the hood of the car and was firing through the windshield as you say the judge determined he could not figure out it was Michael Brelo's exact bullet that killed the two victims but do you understand why the protesters feel if you look at that scenario, it feels like excessive force?

D'ANGELO: Listen, my whole life people that know me, I was a public defender, not a prosecutor. I've defended poor people my entire life. I came up in a single parent household again at the end of the day it's what in one's heart and mind. There is no doubt in my mind that there are some individuals in our society that are just closed minded and they don't want to be honest about what happened because of their own agendas and/or because of their failure to roll up their sleeves and do some work to find out what happened. If you--

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: But I mean when you say honest about what happened. What exactly do you believe? Where is the honesty here?

D'ANGELO: Well the honesty here is listen there's radio dispatch tapes of the 22 minute pursuit. Where there are excited utterance raised just statements of officers seeing the occupants of the vehicle allegedly with their arms extended as if they had a weapon pointing it at police? There are also radio broadcasts confirming that.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Yes but there are also, I'm sorry to interrupt Mr. D'Angelo but just to be clear, there were also radio dispatches that say wait, they're not armed. Not armed.

D'ANGELO: No, there was one officer that road up and saw the passenger had a pop can in her hand but again in that officer's statement in open court and the record, he testified that did not preclude the fact that he still believed that they were armed and in addition to that there were radio broadcasts not only by a police supervisors but other officers that the passenger appeared to be reloading a weapon so that's what the officers had to act on or respond to.

So we are in a situation where they under the law are permitted to listen to what they hear on the police radio dispatch and respond accordingly and again when Brelo pulled into the parking lot. He didn't know that car would come

[00:07:25] barreling at him, which it did. He and his partner who had just returned back after having delivered a baby who fired 19shots herself, they fired through the windshield of their car. Then they got out of the car because they didn't want to get killed in the car.

This is where Brelo took cover and continued firing this all unfolded in 18 second sat nighttime after a high speed pursuit where the driver clearly using his car as a deadly weapon. If people don't want to look at the record and understand what happened. Again they have a closed mind I can stand on my head here there is nothing that will persuade them otherwise.

But there is a factual record here about what really happened and everyone wants to make the police to be the buffoons, barney fife they were firing at each other or something worse than that. Again, it could have been someone else's son or someone else's daughter in that situation 18 seconds at night sirens going and lights flashing --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

D' ANGELO: And these two people fleeing and acting like they have guns shooting at the police and in fact scientific evidence shows they both tested positive for gunshot residue on their hands and the interior of the car --

CAMEROTA: Then how did you --

(CROSSTALK)

D' ANGELO: And on the ceiling.

CAMEROTA: Yes. And how do you explain that?

(CROSSTALK)

D' ANGELO: It tested positive for gunshot residue.

CAMEROTA: But they were unarmed.

D' ANGELO: They did not find a weapon in the car after the shooting stopped. But that does not preclude the fact that they could have had a weapon and discarded it at some point during their pursuit.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

D' ANGELO: And the state attorney general's office noted that, so it could be they were unarmed from the start. It could be they also were armed and discarded the weapon.

In addition to these officers --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

D' ANGELO: Interpreting what was allegedly a backfire, as a gunshot, there were other civilians in the area who also interpreted it the same way.

CAMEROTA: Well, Mr. D'Angelo we appreciate you coming on NEW DAY, to lay out the facts of the case as you understand them to be and hopefully that will help quell what is going on in Cleveland in terms of all the protests and the feelings about this. Thanks so much for being on New Day.

D'ANGELO: Thank you.

PEREIRA: All right. Is the Hillary Clinton e-mail controversy just a Partisan witch hunt? We're going to tell you who's saying that and why he is saying that straight ahead inside politics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)