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Iraq Security Forces Effectiveness against ISIS Discussed; President to Honor America's Fallen at Arlington National Cemetery; Flood Warnings Issued across Texas; At Least 350 Homes Swept Away Outside of Austin; Protests After Cleveland Officer Acquitted. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired May 25, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Our coverage starts with senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta at the White House. Jim?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela. As President Obama is set to remember the nation's fallen soldiers on this Memorial Day, his plan for dealing with ISIS is coming under increasing scrutiny. Asked about defense secretary Ash Carter's very candid comments about the Iraqi military's will to fight, the White House is not walking away from those comments. An official pointed out to me that the president also said just about the same thing last week, that the Iraqis have to fight for their own security and that the U.S. cannot do that for them.

Not only are Republicans criticizing the president's strategy, a few Democrats said the White House needs to rethink its approach. I was talking to House Democrat Tulsi Gabbard yesterday. She's also an Iraq War veteran. She's echoing Secretary Carter's concern that the Iraqis just don't have the will to fight, saying you can't train that into them.

And keep in mind relying on these Iraqi forces on the ground while the U.S. provides air power support has been a key part of the president's plan. I talked to two former top national security officials under President Obama yesterday. Former undersecretary of defense Michele Flournoy told me now is the time to do more. The former National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter said the administration has underestimated ISIS. And so we'll be listening to hear what the president has to say about the battle against ISIS. I don't think he's going to comment on what Secretary Carter said but he may make some comments about this battle against ISIS as he lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier later on this morning at Arlington National Cemetery. We do expect him to make some remarks during that ceremony. Michaela?

PEREIRA: And CNN will be taking those comments live, of course. Jim Acosta, thank you.

So how are Ash Carter's comments being received on the ground in Iraq? CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon is in Baghdad with that part of the story for us. Arwa?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And the sense here is that this is the U.S. effectively trying to distance itself from any sort of responsibility that it may have for the failures on the battlefield, distance itself from perhaps the Iraqi security forces that it was so instrumental in training and did declare to be combat ready when the U.S. did withdraw its troops, and also distance itself from its failed strategy when it comes to dealing with ISIS in Iraq. The Iraqi prime minister did react to those comments in an interview with the BBC. Take a listen to what Haider al-Abadi he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

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

Al-ABADI: It makes my heart bleed because we lost Ramadi. I can assure you we can bring it back soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: And in an effort to bring back Ramadi the Iraq government has amassed a force on that strategic city's eastern border after recapturing towns from ISIS. This force is not just made up of conventional army and police units. In fact, the core of the reliance when it comes to fighting in the battlefield, that is with the Iranian-backed Shia paramilitary force that has proven to be quite instrumental, albeit highly controversial.

Also, part of this force, the Sunni tribes, and up until now we have not really seen such a significant level or degree of incorporating the Sunni tribes. Of course, this is very unique to Anbar province itself given that these are individuals from these various areas. They are, however, being used in more of a defensive position, because they lack the weaponry to take on ISIS at the front lines. But the Iraqis most certainly seeming at this stage to be trying to push ISIS back in to Ramadi awaiting, we are being told, from a number of senior officials, the final go for zero hour, Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Srwa, thanks for all that information. We want to talk more about it now and turn to our CNN military analyst, Major General James "Spider" Marks. Good morning, Spider.

MAJOR GENERAL JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Hey, Alisyn, good morning.

CAMEROTA: So is Defense Secretary Ash Carter right that the Iraqis lack the will to fight?

MARKS: Well, it's been demonstrated that they're certainly not going to show up in combat. Will is not kind of reclaimed overnight. It really has to deal with the belief that what you're doing is for a greater good. And when you depart your brothers and sisters in combat you abandon your objectives, that's a challenge that goes very, very deep. I would suggest that they probably have the capacity. But as the secretary of defense indicated they need something much more, and that's what's called leadership at multiple levels in order to achieve a fighting force that's going to be able to show up in combat.

CAMEROTA: Well, the head of Iraq's defense committee would disagree that they have the capacity. He has very different take on what went wrong. He says here, I'll read it to you. "The Iraqi army and police did have the will to fight I.S. group in Ramadi but these forces lack good equipment, weapons, and aerial support." What's your response, Spider?

[08:05:19] MARKS: Well, the United States has agreed what they will provide is intelligence, they'll provide some logistics support. They probably are providing some degree of medical support, and certainly intelligence to an extremely large degree, as I indicated. But the primary kinetic force that we're providing right now is air power.

Air power is only as good as you can engage targets. In order to engage targets in a very tactical, up-close fight is you have to have spotters, you have to have guys on the ground that are marking targets so that you can attack those things very aggressively.

And the numbers of sorties that we've been applying have been more business-like than they have been accessibly aggressive and what I would call overpowering and suffocating to ISIS. That just hasn't happened yet, primarily because of that disconnect between marking targets and being able to go after those targets.

CAMEROTA: What he says goes even further. He says that they don't have the airier support, you're right. But he says they also don't have good equipment and weapons. Is that part accurate?

MARKS: Well, the United States, I would say you've got to look at yourself in the mirror here, gents. A lot of your kit has shown up in the hands of ISIS because you couldn't hold onto it. They overran certain positions and they've taken some equipment away from the Iraqi forces.

So the United States has a very fulsome foreign military sales cooperation agreement with the Iraqi military. So the United States and Iraq has over the course of years been able to kind of work through the details of what they need to show up in combat. The problem that the prime minister and the secretary -- or the minister of defense has indicated is that they've lost some of their kit. They've lost some of their capability, through the -- through the efforts of ISIS and the fighting that's been going on so far.

CAMEROTA: Spider, you're not alone. We've heard other military experts say that we do need those spotters on the ground in order to provide intelligence and exact locations with precision. Senator John McCain went further than that. He believes that we need a force of about 10,000 actual troops on the ground. Senator Lindsey Graham feels exactly the same way. Here is what John McCain said on a Sunday show yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: We had it won. The surge had succeeded. I called for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, my own president's secretary of defense because I saw we were losing. Then George W. Bush at least had the guts to reverse and -- and sponsor the surge, and which we eventually then succeeded. I wish, I pray that Barack Obama would do the same thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Spider, he wants another surge. Is that the answer?

MARKS: Well, the challenge, Alisyn, right now is that we -- the challenge we're in right now is that we left Iraq in 2011. The capacity was not sufficient. The leadership was not sufficient. The military in Iraq became Shia dominated and essentially it lost its professionalism, consciously lost its professionalism, which is shameful. I mean, it's criminal in its base.

So what we have right now is we've got a challenge of not sustaining capacity, which is what happened during the surge is we had a foundation where we were able to build upon it. We would be building capacity from essentially a very, very, very shaky base, a foundation of the Iraqi military, and now we have to build upon it.

So, frankly, what senator McCain has indicated is 10,000 would probably be a start, and then we'd have a very long -- this is intergenerational -- a very long relationship with Iraq in order to try to rebuild this professionalism and get a force that can get back into combat. So I would say our National Security Council has said as long as we hold Baghdad we're going to see the Balkanization of Iraq. And that's OK. That's half a loaf. It's sad, but that might be OK. Let's not lose Baghdad. And the United States and its ally Iraq is going to lose territory to this caliphate and we just have to hold and contain what exists until the Iraqi military and a coalition hopefully can show up.

CAMEROTA: Major General "Spider" Marks always great to have you on NEW DAY. Thanks so much.

MARKS: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, some breaking news overnight. Washington, D.C. on high alert following a major security threat. A bomb squad detonating a pressure cooker that was found in an abandoned car on the National Mall. This all happened just hours before thousands of people were set to gather for a Memorial Day concert in front of the capitol building. CNN's Rosa Flores is here with more. What a way to start the week.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, I know, Michaela, just think about it. Very tense moments in D.C., thousands of people gathered. And then police figure out, they identify a suspicious vehicle that they say smells of gasoline and also has a suspicious object inside.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: A frightening scene at the nation's capital, authorities blowing up a pressure cooker found in a, quote, "suspicious car."

[08:10:08] It all happened around 5:00 p.m. just west of the Capitol building when officers on routine patrol notice a suspicious vehicle parked between Jefferson and Madison Drives. Further investigation revealing a pressure cooker coupled with the smell of gasoline. That's when officers called in the bomb squad, authorities locking down Third Street between Independence and Constitution Avenues amid the annual Memorial Day concert on the national mall. The bomb squad worked the scene.

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

FLORES: Then, nearly three hours later, this -- no one was hurt. Police have arrested the owner of the vehicle, a Virginia man, charged with driving with a revoked license. Pressure cookers have been used as tools for terrorists, like in the 2013 Boston marathon bombing that resulted in the deaths of three and debilitating injuries of hundreds of others.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: Now here's the good news. According to investigators, nothing harmful was found inside. But, of course, police and authorities have to take these threats seriously. Just think about it. Thousands of people gathered for this concert, highly televised. Some of the big names in the crowd, Gloria Estefan, and also former secretary of state Colin Powell.

CAMEROTA: Thank goodness they were on top of it. Rosa, thanks so much for that.

Well, this Memorial Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery will remember the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice. CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr is at Arlington with more. Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. We are here at Arlington at section 60. Over 900 of the nation's young military members who fell on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, this is their final resting place. Of course, so many buried in towns and cities across this country, but Arlington, of course, on Memorial Day has come to symbolize that long line of service. This is the place where you see the brotherhood of arms really unfolding every Memorial Day.

The cemetery opened really just about ten minutes ago. And I think behind me you can already see a line of cars, people coming in, people already walking amongst section 60 visiting their family members who are here. We see relatives, we see battle buddies coming here.

I want to show you just for a moment the final resting place of Marine Corps Sergeant Major Joseph Ellis. Already perhaps his family, perhaps his battle buddies, have left some memories of him, his favorite beverage, a bit of chew, and of course some flowers.

I must tell you that we are, with the cemetery open just 10 minutes ago, we are already seeing this part of Arlington filling up with families, friends, and military personnel coming here to pay their respects on Memorial Day, 2015. Michaela?

PEREIRA: So important to have you there. Very moving, very stirring to see those sights that you're showing us. It's not just about the barbecue and the family and the fun. It's very important to remember the lives of those lost in the pursuit of freedom. Barbara, thank you so much.

We turn now to Texas and Oklahoma, where flooding has turned deadly and the damage catastrophic. At least 21 counties are under flash flood watches right now. Look at this. In Hayes County Texas just outside of Austin at least 350 homes have been swept away. The threat of more rain today means that more homes are in danger. I want to turn to CNN's Alina Machado who is live in Wimberley, Texas, with the very latest for us. It looks like there's a little bit of sunshine there.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there is definitely some sun coming out, but it's still kind of cloudy and there's still that possibility of more rain today. And when you walk through some of the hardest-hit areas like where we are, you see the debris littered everywhere, downed power lines, severely damaged homes, all the product of this historic flood.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god. Oh, my god.

MACHADO: Ravaging floodwaters and severe weather across central Texas and Oklahoma forcing more than 1,000 people to stay in shelters this morning.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my gosh! 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 a 25 years.

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

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

[08:15:03] MACHADO: Emergency crews scrambling to pull people from the floodwaters. 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 returned to homes unsalvageable.

(on camera): 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's no electricity at the complex now.

MACHADO (voice-over): In Houston, hundreds are now homeless after an EF-1 tornado packing winds of 100 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 ten residents from the flood. The waters 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 VIDEOTAPE)

MACHADO: Now, there is a possibility of again, more rain today, and the ground is already saturated so this could spell big problems for this area -- Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That would be terrible, Alina. Please keep us posted. Thanks so much for that.

Well, mostly peaceful protests to report this weekend in Cleveland, after a judge acquitted a police officer involved in the fatal shooting of two unarmed African-Americans in a car. Officer Michael Brelo remains on unpaid suspension while the police department continues its investigation.

CNN's Ryan Young is in Cleveland with the very latest. It looks quiet there at the moment, Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very quiet. This case happened back in 2012 and twelve officers fired shots into a car, 137 shots, and something that people in Cleveland talked about often.

Talk about those protests. So far, we have just one man walking in front of this Justice Center at this point. Of course over the weekend, we saw people going through the streets of Cleveland. In fact, 71 people were arrested on Saturday.

But it did remain peaceful. Only a few fights, not a lot of property destruction. You can see what they did in front of this Justice Center by leaving messages here in front of it just to show some of the signs, and some of the things they wanted to say. But once again, you heard all weekend long talking to pastors and

civic leaders, they did not want this to be a Baltimore or Ferguson. They kept saying that over and over, and it has remained peaceful and demonstrations have gotten smaller each day -- Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We'll take it. Ryan, thank you so much.

Overseas this week, the Irish government will begin drafting a marriage bill after voters overwhelmingly approved same-sex marriage in a historic vote there. Ireland, the first country in the world to approve gay marriage by popular vote. However, the first gay weddings are not expected until fall, because existing Irish law requires a three-month notice for any civil marriage.

Sad news in the entertainment world. Actress and comedienne Anne Meara has died. Throughout her 85 years, Meara did it all. She was well known as a popular and powerful comedy duo starting in the '60s when she and her husband Jerry Stiller appeared on the tonight show.

One of their famous bits was a routine about computer matchmaking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Hersey Horowitz.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm Mary Elizabeth Doyle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Stiller and Meara went on to perform their act more than 30 times on "The Ed Sullivan Show". Meara is survived by her husband, as well as their children, actors Ben and Amy Stiller.

PEREIRA: What a loss. A tremendous life. She was such a star, and it's so full of humor and grace. Equally versed in drama and comedy because I think we so always think of them all as comedians but she had a great stage and film and TV career. And she showed both sides of that coin.

CAMEROTA: That bit holds up.

PEREIRA: That was genius. That was so good.

CAMEROTA: That was the '60s. That holds up today computer matchmaking.

PEREIRA: Thank goodness for YouTube and things like that where you can see some of those old clips.

CAMEROTA: Yes. PEREIRA: All right. More ahead for you on that Cleveland Officer that was acquitted in the death of two unarmed people. Was justice served? Cleveland's former police chief joins us to give us his take on what's happening.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:22:57] GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO: That I think the people of Cleveland handled this, I mean they should be so proud of themselves and we should look at Cleveland as a model. They ought to protest. That's their right. But violence has been kept to an absolute minimum in that city, and God bless the people of Cleveland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That was Ohio governor John Kasich discussing protests in Cleveland this weekend following the acquittal of Officer Michael Brelo in the shooting deaths of two unarmed African-Americans. Officer Brelo was charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter following a lengthy car chase and shoot-out back in 2012.

I want to discuss this this morning with Patrick Oliver. He spent almost 28 years in the police -- in the state of Ohio. In fact the former police chief of the Cleveland P.D., now a professor of criminal justice at Cedarville University.

Chief Oliver, really a pleasure to talk to you especially in search of answers about what we can do to fix some of these challenges that is facing law enforcement. Thanks so much for joining us.

PATRICK OLIVER, FMR. POLICE CHIEF, CLEVELAND P.D.: Thanks for having me, Michaela.

PEREIRA: I have read some background, and you have talked about a couple of -- of problems that you see that, that you look at as sort of paramount to what's going on right now. You've talked about the fact that you believe police hire their problems, and that departments need to hire people who are compatible with policing. That seems to be one of those, of course. But what do you mean by that? And what is the ideal personality trait of a police officer?

OLIVER: The most effective decision a manager can make in policing is to hire a great employee. There are five key things that police officers should have that get hired in a police department.

PEREIRA: OK.

OLIVER: One, they should have high moral character. Two, they should be service oriented. Three, they should have good human relations skills. Four, they should be compatible team members. And five, they should be performance driven.

PEREIRA: OK. That seems to make sense. But are you seeing that that is not necessarily being adhered to in police stations across the country?

[08:25:00] OLIVER: I think when you look at these high profile police shootings, the key issue more than policy, procedure, training and tactics is the character of the individual involved in the shooting itself.

PEREIRA: Well, we know that it is getting more and more dangerous -- it seems to be more dangerous to be a police officer these days. Do you think that that might be driving some people away from signing up to be an officer?

OLIVER: Yes, a little bit. But policing is still highly desirable profession. So, a lot of people still want to be a police officer, because they know they can do a lot of good.

PEREIRA: We also talk about the need for constitutional based policing. Obviously, it sounds simple enough that officers should follow the Constitution. But it isn't always. Talk to us about that.

OLIVER: The Constitution of the United States protecting that is the primary responsibility of every peace officer. The Constitution not something to get under or around, the Constitution is the primary purpose of the job. So, police officers have to support and defend Constitution of the United States.

PEREIRA: Did you find that that wasn't happening when you were a police chief?

OLIVER: In some cases. But police officers, I think, need to understand that that they're there to protect the Constitution and support the Constitution and not violate it.

PEREIRA: So, I want to get more of your perspective of being a former police chief. When you were in the position that you would be called on to handle potential scenarios like the ones that we're seeing play out -- one of the things that we learned in Cleveland was that the judge decided to announce his verdict on a Saturday of a holiday weekend.

As a former member of that community, do you agree with that decision? Do you think it was wise?

OLIVER: I think that was a good decision. That was very strategic. You know, kids are not in cool. People are on holiday. And so there's going to be less crowds and less potential for violence and injury and harm. So, I think that was a good decision.

PEREIRA: What if Brelo, Officer Brelo was your officer? How would you have dealt with the situation? What would you say to him?

OLIVER: Well, I think that Officer Brelo is being handled properly by the Cleveland Police Department. They put him on administrative leave. There was a criminal investigation. There was a prosecution of him.

Now that that's over, there's going to be an administrative hearing for him, and the other officers involved. So I don't think you try to talk to him personally in this situation. You handle it administratively.

PEREIRA: We also know the Justice Department found a pattern of unreasonable and unnecessary force within that department. What is your sense of why that is occurring there in Cleveland?

OLIVER: Well, they've outlined those issues that they have with the Cleveland Police Department. They're going to be negotiating stipulations and they're going to go into a consent decree.

PEREIRA: Right.

OLIVER: And that consent decree, Cleveland will have to address all those issues in that department.

PEREIRA: What do you think is the problem there in Cleveland?

OLIVER: I think they need to deal with use of force issue. They need to deal with training. They need to deal with their pursuit policy. They need to teach and train the Constitution.

So, they need to manage those issues I think more effectively. And they would recognize that. Chief Williams and his command staff, they want to get better. They want to improve the department. They want to improve their relations with the community, particularly the African-American community.

PEREIRA: Do you feel hopeful?

OLIVER: I feel very hopeful. I think that they're prepared. They're interested. They're willing to make a difference.

PEREIRA: Well, let's hope that is the case, because certainly there are many that agree that things need to change. We've got to better that relationship between our officers and the black community and communities of color.

Chief Oliver, thanks so much for joining us today and giving your perspective.

OLIVER: Sure. You're welcome.

PEREIRA: All right.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, Michaela.

It's a big week in politics. Three presidential hopefuls expected to throw their hats in the ring this week. Who are they? And how do they stack up? We'll take a look.

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