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Wolf

Variety of Artillery Used in U.S. Attacks in Syria; Interview with Sen. Bill Nelson; Cost of Air Strikes to Destroy ISIS, Khorasan; Israel, Syria Incident Raising Tensions as Well; Obama Praises Arab Coalition Partners Against ISIS, Khorasan

Aired September 23, 2014 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting today from the United Nations here in New York City.

Let's recap our top story. The U.S., along with a coalition of Arab allies, launching overnight strikes in Syria. A senior U.S. military official tells CNN the first wave of the aerial bombardment was a flurry of Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from aircraft carriers. Then fighter jets and other warplanes rained down more bombs. The goal? Taking out ISIS's ability to train, command and resupply militant fighters. The U.S. is the only non-Arab member of this new coalition. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Qatar all assisted the United States.

And in just the first few hours, the U.S. expands the mission to targeted al Qaeda offshoot. The Pentagon says the group Khorasan plotted an imminent attack against the United States and Western interests, recruiting from the heartland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: The threat of foreign terrorist fighters is very real. And we have to start with the uncomfortable reality that security measures alone will not solve this problem. We're talking about fighters recruited from our own communities and radicalized sufficiently to go fight in wars that are not their own. The minds of these young men and women are poisoned by terrorists who brainwash them into committing unspeakable atrocities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Throughout it all, ISIS kept up the propaganda war with a new video of the British hostage, John Cantlie, warning that the West will be fighting ISIS -- that fighting will lead to a mess not seen, in their words, since Vietnam.

The U.S.-led air strikes in Syria last night, they used a variety of artillery. The Pentagon says more than 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from the U.S. ships in the region toward ISIS and those Khorasan group targets. The missile attacks were coordinated with a bombing campaign using both drones and aircraft from multiple countries.

Let's bring in CNN's Tom Foreman, who has a closer look at some of the ordinance used in this attack.

Let's start, Tom, with the Tomahawk cruise missile strikes. Exactly where were they launched from?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The distance they were launched from is quite simply described as this, Wolf. It was beyond an area where they could be attacked as a launching site. One of the things we see here -- let me reset back here. This area up here is where they were hitting. Wolf, the attack zones were down here. The Red Sea is where a U.S. warship was and also in the Arabian Sea as well. The reason they're so far away when they're doling something like this is the very essence of the Tomahawk missile. You're able to fire it from very far away. It's virtually impossible to stop. And it will go to your target with great accuracy. And in this case, the Tomahawks were relied on much more heavily over in this area, almost exclusively over here. As you move this direction to the second and third strike area, you saw many more aircraft -- Wolf?

BLITZER: The U.S. also used the new F-22 Raptor, the stealth fighter. I believe this is the first time we've seen this aircraft used like this, is that right?

FOREMAN: That is correct. This aircraft costs anywhere from $200 million to $400 million depending on how you calculate it. The main reason that these planes have been in this area really has been as a deterrent to Iran's nuclear program because this is a stealth-designed plane. It can carry in missiles and drop them. Interestingly enough, because it's a stealth plane, the missiles are actually enclosed on the underside of the plane. They don't hang out there to increase the radar signal. Then they are fired. It's considered a very much state-of-the-art plane. It travels well over 1,000 miles an hour, faster than the speed of sound. The range is from 1,800 miles and can carry more than 1,000 pounds of warheads. It's a controversial aircraft in some ways, Wolf, but this is exactly the circumstance for which it was designed, in part. Go back to that target map we were talking about before. Why were the aircraft relied on more over here? Because Syria, still, for all its difficulty with its government and fights with rebel forces, they still have very robust air defenses over in this part of the country. So relying more on missiles over here, which are hard to stop, and where people aren't in danger, and more on aircraft like the F-22 over here, because those aircraft may be safe enough over here where they're dealing mainly with ISIS -- Wolf?

BLITZER: I don't know if that Syrian air force defense system could deal with the F-22 stealth fighters. Those are pretty hard to find. That's the whole purpose of being stealthy, as they say.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Tom, thanks very much.

Up next, we'll talk to a senior member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, get his insight on last night's U.S.-led attacks and the threat posed by this new al Qaeda splinter group, the Khorasan group.

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BLITZER: Let's get back to the U.S.-led military mission against ISIS and against an al Qaeda splinter group operating in Syria. This was a coalition mission with the United States and four Arab partners launching air strikes. A fifth Arab partner was involved militarily as well.

Joining us now, the Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, a key senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Senator, thanks very much for joining us.

A quick question on the cost of this. We know 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched, each one of those, according to the U.S. Navy, costs about $500,000. Do the math. That's $20 million or so right there. This is going to wind up costing U.S. taxpayers a lot of money. Is that money already appropriated, part of the Defense Department spending already, or will you need more appropriations authorization to pay for what could be a very long war?

SEN. BILL NELSON, (D-FL), SENIOR MEMBER, SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Yes and yes. The arsenal that they have is already paid for. But we're going to need a lot more in the future.

BLITZER: That means the president is going to have to come to you, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and your colleagues, and seek more money? Are you ready to support, at a time of domestic economic issues, obviously, are you ready to spend whatever it takes to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria?

NELSON: Yes, sir. The country is threatened. The entire free world is threatened. One of the reasons to have a national government is to provide for the common defense. And that's what we'll do.

BLITZER: Would it be unusual to ask some of the oil-rich Arab countries, whether Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Qatar -- they have a lot of money -- to reimburse the United States for some of the enormous costs this is going to require?

NELSON: Absolutely. One of the things that sticks in my craw is that when we went into Iraq, by the way, under false pretenses, we were also told that the revenues from the Iraqi oil was going to reimburse the United States for all of our treasure that we spent. It never was. And so absolutely now, the Arab nations have to shoulder the cost.

BLITZER: I guess the president's going to be meeting tomorrow with the new prime minister of Iraq, Haider al Abadi. As far as I know, the Iraqis have not reimbursed the United States anything over these past 10 years or so. The U.S. is now trying to get rid of ISIS on behalf of the new Iraqi government and the Iraqi military, which was MIA over these past several months, as we all know. Would it be appropriate for Iraq, a major oil exporting country, to reimburse U.S. taxpayers for whatever it costs to free Iraq from ISIS right now?

NELSON: Not only is it appropriate, but we ought to insist that Iraq share the expenses. We want them to get their military so that they're doing the boots on the ground while we're helping them from the air. But it's a long-term, expensive campaign. And the Iraqi oil ought to now start paying for what we were told years ago it would be.

BLITZER: The U.S. spent probably -- at least $1 trillion over the past 10 years, 15 years or so, at least 11 or 12 years in Iraq. We'll see if the Iraqi government steps up and is willing to do so. My suspicion is the answer will be a very polite no. But we'll see what they do, and what the other Arab countries that have a lot of money, what they decide to do as well. Right now, the U.S. is pretty grateful they're just cooperating militarily with the U.S. in this war, this new war against ISIS.

Senator Nelson, thanks very much for joining us.

NELSON: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Still ahead, an incident between Israel and Syria has fueled some rising tensions as well. We'll have that story. That's coming up.

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BLITZER: As tensions are ramping up in the Middle East, there's now word of an incident, a potentially significant incident involving Israel and Syria. Israel's military said it shot down a Syrian war plane over the Golan Heights.

Let's go to Jerusalem. CNN's Ian Lee has all the latest information.

What have you learned, Ian?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we learned that the Syrian airplane penetrated about a half mile into Israeli air space before a Patriot missile shot it down. The plane crashed into Syria. We do not know the mission of this plane. But it's believed it was going after Syrian rebels. There's been a lot of fighting right now on the border in the Syrian Golan between the forces of Syrian President Bashar al Assad and al Qaeda-backed al Nusra Front. But Israeli military is quick to point out that any incursion like this is a threat. They say it takes roughly three minutes to get over any major populated areas, so any sort of incursion is dealt with swiftly -- Wolf?

BLITZER: I take it the pilot or pilots of the Syrian warplane ejected and they landed inside Syrian territory, is that right?

LEE: That's right. We are learning that this is a Savoy 24 and there's two -- a pilot and a co-pilot on this plane. The ejected safely. They ejected over Syria -- or they fell into Syria and we do not know the fate of those pilots.

BLITZER: We know the Israelis have had a lot of tension over these many years on the Lebanese border, certainly with Gaza. You were just there. But something like this, that Syrian frontier with Israel along the Golan Heights, it's been remarkably quiet over these many decades, going back to the 1973 war. When was the last time an incident like this, an incident of Israel shooting down a Syrian warplane occurred?

LEE: Well, you're right. This is the largest incident so far. I was in the Golan recently. When I was there, there was incoming fire from Syrian Golan, but this is the largest incursion into Israeli air space. Last August, there was a drone that was hot down. But when you look at the last time a Syrian jet was shot down, you have to go back to 1985 when there was a dog fight between an Israeli airplane and a Syrian. So this is really the largest incident to happen on the Golan, on Israeli airspace so far -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Significant development. Let's hope it doesn't escalate on that frontier.

Ian Lee, in Jerusalem, thanks very, very much.

He wanted to be the president to end the U.S.-led wars, not start new ones. We're going to examine President Obama's role as a reluctant warrior as the U.S. targets ISIS locations inside Syria. Gloria Borger will join us when we come back.

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BLITZER: President Obama today praised the Arab countries who took part in the U.S.-led air strikes against the ISIS targets in Syria. He says their participation shows the U.S. is not going it alone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are joined in this action by our friends and partners, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar. America is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these nations on behalf of our common security. The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not America's fight alone. Above all, the people and governments in the Middle East are rejecting ISIL and standing up for the peace and security that the people of the region and the world deserve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's bring in our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger. She is joining us from Washington.

How important, Gloria, was it for the president to have this kind of pretty steadfast, impressive support by these Arab countries?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it was -- it was hugely important, Wolf. If you look back a year ago when the president was deciding whether or not to use air strikes in Syria over the issue of chemical weapons, he couldn't get the support of Congress. He couldn't form a coalition. And he backed off. I think the difference this time around, Wolf, is that he has a coalition of Arab nations.

And also one other important thing here, to him, is this Khorasan problem. Because I was on a phone call with other journalists with senior administration officials who made it very clear that their plotting had reached what one would call an "advanced stage." That they had found a safe haven in Syria, and that this is a president who has said these terrorists will not have any safe haven. And I think he found himself up against a deadline, had to act, and found a coalition willing to act with him because they have a mutual enemy.

BLITZER: A very significant development as you know.

BORGER: Right.

BLITZER: The president, Gloria, he wanted to be the president to end the war, the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now he's obviously a reluctant warrior, but he finds himself in a new war, a war against ISIS and Iraq and in Syria. This is not the way he hoped to end his final two years as president.

BORGER: No, it isn't the kind of legacy he would've wanted. But also on this call with administration officials, one described it as a milestone that's occurred. That's because this is a critical moment in which the president has announced military action not against a state, not Syria per se, but against a movement. And this is clearly a look into the future, Wolf. We've seen this in smaller bites with Somalia and Yemen. But this is clearly, as this administration said, something they consider a milestone. And it's the way wars are going to have to be fought in the future. So not something the president wanted.

But, by the way, his own ambivalence actually reflected the ambivalence of the American people. But as you know, a majority of the American people were for air strikes against ISIS. And now they know about this other threat by this al Qaeda spinoff, they may even be more in support of it. We'll have to see.

BLITZER: Gloria, thanks very much.

BORGER: Sure.

BLITZER: Gloria Borger with good analysis.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room." Another special two-hour edition.

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is next.

For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Anderson Cooper starts right now.