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ISIS Captures Christians in Syria; U.S. Shipping Weapons to Iraq; American Missionary Kidnapped in Nigeria; Suspicions U.S. Money Sent to Qatar Aides ISIS; V.A. Secretary "Embellishes" Resume, Apologizes

Aired February 24, 2015 - 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 from Washington.

We're following this disturbing story, the capture of those Christians in northern Syria. It follows the capture and killing of Egyptian Christians earlier this month in neighboring Libya.

CNN's Becky Anderson is joining us now live from Abu Dhabi with more.

Becky, what do we know about the fate of those 80 or 90 Syrian Christians who apparently were just kidnapped by these ISIS fighters?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The details are very sketchy. What we know at this point is ISIS militants abducted, as you rightly point out, some 90 Syrian Christians. The actual numbers, a little bit difficult to pin down at this point. But we are talking women, children and the elderly from two villages in northeastern Syria. This information coming to us from a variety of organizations, not least the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, quote, "Reliable sources overheard ISIS militants talking on wireless devices about having detained what they called 56 crusaders, at least, in one village alone."

Now, you'll be aware that ISIS, or Daesh, has attacked numerous minority groups like the Syrians during this bloody campaign. This summer, ISIS overran the city of Karakosh, for example, a historical Syrian town of some 50,000 people in northern Iraq, about 20 miles southeast of Mosul. At the time, ISIS issued an ultimatum to Christians living there, "Convert to Islam, pay a fine or face death by sword."

Well, the latest reported abduction occurred in the northeastern corridor of Syria with the focus activists telling us being the Syrian-dominated region of Tel Tamir (ph). ISIS took over a series of villages in the region after clashing there with Kurdish forces. It's quite a complicated sort of picture on the ground.

This video I want to show you now shows some of those who fled the village after this abduction, displaced families who have found refuge at St. Mary's Cathedral in the town of Hasakah. This just a week, after you rightly point out, ISIS in Libya beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians.

So, Wolf, another seemingly horrific crime at the hands of ISIS militants, targeting what are these minority groups, already displaced, disenfranchised by war and conflict -- Wolf?

BLITZER: These Christians are in deep, deep trouble in Syria and Iraq and elsewhere in that part of the world.

Becky Anderson, in Abu Dhabi, thanks very much.

Meanwhile, CNN has learned the United States has been shipping millions of dollars worth of weapons to Iraq. These are weapons that could be used in the fight to try to take back the Iraqi city of Mosul from these ISIS fighters.

Our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, is following these developments for us.

What kind of weapons are we talking about?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: These are mostly light weapons, 10,000 M-16 weapons, 10,000 M-68 optical scopes, the scopes that put a red dot on a target, as well as ammunition magazines. So mostly light weapons, but things you'll need in a potential urban combat assault on Mosul, which is coming up. Planned shipments that will be there in time for this planned assault on Mosul in the next two or three months.

It's not the first round. Earlier in January, the U.S. sent them a bunch of MRAPs, which are the up-armored mine-resistant vehicles, as well as Hell Fire missiles. It's a continuing arming relationship. And the Iraqis need these and have been asking for a long time.

BLITZER: Who's paying for these weapons?

SCIUTTO: You and me are paying for it, Wolf.

(LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: The U.S. taxpayers.

The U.S. taxpayers.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Why don't the Iraqis? They export a lot of oil. They have money. Why are American taxpayers paying for these weapons shipped to Iraq? A lot of these weapons may wind up in the hands of ISIS, if past experience is any example. They simply ran away from Mosul, left all their U.S.-supplied weapons once before. That can happen again.

SCIUTTO: It's a fair question. And keep in mind, this $17 million figure is dwarfed by the costs of the U.S.-led coalition. You have this major air campaign under way, some 3,000 U.S. military advisers now authorized to go into Iraq, not quite there yet. But the costs to the U.S. taxpayer, getting into the billions of dollars, and a couple of years after we pulled out from the trillion-dollar war. It shows, just as we're back in militarily, as a country, we're very much back in financially.

BLITZER: Very quickly. We just heard from the emir of Qatar who was in the Oval Office with the president of the United States. This relationship between Qatar and the U.S., assuming it works well, could be very significant. But there is a deep suspicion, as you know, that Qatar is also providing some funding at least indirectly to some of these terror groups.

SCIUTTO: That's the thing you hear. And that's a real concern going back to some of the extremist forces in Syria, al Nusra, et cetera. I've spoken to Qatar officials about that. They deny that they intentionally funded these groups. But that's been a question. And beyond that, there are things the Qataris want from the U.S. that they're not getting. One of those -- for instance, we talk about the Arab partners in the coalition campaign. Qatar is not flying strike missions. They say that's because they don't have strike aircraft from the U.S. They would like them. And they want a broader regional strategy to confront ISIS, including outside Iraq and Syria.

BLITZER: And people don't necessarily realize the U.S. has about 8,000 or 9,000 military personnel in Qatar right now at the air base camp. It's a major military staging point for the United States in that part --

(CROSSTALK)

SCIUTTO: It is. And a very long runway, which is very key for flying strike missions.

BLITZER: It certainly is.

All right, thanks very much. We have much more on this story coming up later as well.

Officials call it a purely criminal act. An American missionary working to educate children has now been kidnapped in Nigeria. We're going live to the region for details.

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BLITZER: An update now on the search of those three missing British teenage girls who ran away to Turkey. Police now believe the three girls have actually crossed from Turkey into Syria. It's feared they were trying to get to Syria to join ISIS. The girls, two of them 15 years old, one 16 years old, they disappeared about a week ago.

We're just hearing word that an American woman working as a missionary in Nigeria has been kidnapped. Police say five men scaled the walls of her workplace on Monday and they, quote, "whisked her away." It happened in an area located away from where the terror group Boko Haram operates.

CNN's Arwa Damon is joining us now from neighboring Chad.

Arwa, what do we know about this very disturbing development?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this woman, Reverend Phyllis Sortor, was running an NGO that educates nomadic Fulani children. Where the kidnapping took place was a school where her office is located. Two of the five men who scaled the wall were masked. They whisked her away to the nearby mountains firing into the air. At this stage, the police commissioner of Kogi State says they do believe this is a control act. However, Wolf, the concern is because this group has demanded $300,000 in ransom, they could end up selling her on to the highest bidder.

BLITZER: Do they suspect Boko Haram, even though this is an area that is not necessarily in Boko Haram's reach?

DAMON: It's not in Boko Haram's reach, Wolf, at least not at this junction in time. This area is south of Abuja, around 200 kilometers to the south, say over 100 miles. But it is an area where, a few years ago, Boko Haram did manage to stage a massive prison breakout of their own fighters. Since then, the Nigerian authorities have put checkpoints into place, making it quite difficult for Boko Haram fighters to assess it. However, we spoke to a Nigerian intelligence source who says another terrorist organization that is something of a spin-off from Boko Haram, they do remain loose ties, does have cells in this particular state. Its ties to Boko Haram have been significantly diminished. But, again, the concern is that since this does seem to be a highly sophisticated criminal act, it could be that this gang does have the intent, if this ransom isn't paid, to capitalize on the fact that they do have a Western hostage and potentially pass her on to an organization, sell her on to an organization like Boko Haram -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Horrendous story.

Arwa, thanks very much.

Arwa reporting from Chad.

Meanwhile, there's a mystery over the skies of Paris right now. Drones over major landmarks in the city. What is going on? We have details.

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BLITZER: Let's get back to today's terror-related developments and bring in for some serious analysis our intelligence and security analyst, former CIA operative, Bob Baer, joining us from Colorado; and from New York, our CNN global affairs analyst, Bobby Ghosh.

Guys, thanks very much for joining us.

Bob Baer, this relationship the United States has with Qatar -- and we saw the president and the emir in the Oval Office a little while ago, both praising this relationship, saying it's great. But as you know, there's deep suspicions here in Washington and in the Arab world that there's money that goes somehow from Qatar to fund some of these terror groups, including ISIS, right? BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Absolutely, Wolf.

Look, here's the problem. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, used to work for the Qatar government when there was an arrest warrant for him. We know Qatar funds the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Syria and other countries. A lot of that money supposedly filters down to the Islamic State, which ideologically is not that far from the violent wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. And I think that -- let's remember, Qatar is a Wahhabi country. They believe in the ultimate establishment of a caliphate of some sort. If this money continues to go in, it wouldn't surprise me. It's probably been cut way back because of what the Islamic State has become. But there's certainly that suspicion that's well grounded.

BLITZER: Bobby Ghosh, you want to weigh in on this sensitive issue?

BOBBY GHOSH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think at the early stages of the uprising of Bashar Assad in 2011, there was a lot of money going in from Qatar to anybody who would fight against Assad. Some of that money, wouldn't surprise me, turns up in the hands of ISIS. But I think since then, since ISIS sort of broke out and became this universally recognized group, I think there's been some more restraint from Qatar.

Let's also remind ourselves, whatever the amounts that went in from Qatar, the very high likelihood that the amount that went in from Saudi Arabia, whether directly or from private individuals, was much, much larger. It's not just Qatar who we have to worry about. It's many of America's allies in the Middle East.

BLITZER: What's also worrisome today, Bob Baer, another 90 Syrian Christians kidnapped by ISIS forces in Syria. Explain what's going on here. What are they after?

BAER: Well, what they'd like to do ultimately is drive the Christians out of Syria. The Syrian Christians, the people who had been kidnapped in eastern Syria, have traditionally been allied with the Alawites in Damascus, the minority Shia regime there. So they're very much tainted in this civil war in Syria. Very much considered the enemy, if you like. And the fact they're calling them crusaders makes me worry about their fate.

But remember, Wolf, these people have been there before. Islam in that part of the world. It would be a true tragedy if the Christians are run out of the Middle East.

BLITZER: Remember, Bobby Ghosh, these are women and children, elderly people, not just men who are fighters. But they kidnapped 90 Christians, and we don't know what they're going to do with them.

GHOSH: Indeed. And they kidnap people for all kind of reasons, for ransom, that's a big source of income for ISIS, just kidnapping for ransom. But unfortunately, we have also seen those gruesome videos of the other things they do with the people they kidnap.

The hope is that because these people were taken from a region that is run essentially by Syrian Kurds that are already fighting against ISIS, the hope is that these Kurdish militias, backed by U.S. military, might be able to affect some kind of rescue mission. One can only hope that's true. If these people remain in ISIS' hands for a very long time, those hopes will begin to fade and the worst scenarios can then play out.

BLITZER: Let's hope for the best for these Christians in Syria.

Bobby Ghosh, thanks very much.

Bob Baer, thanks to you as well.

Meanwhile, there's that mystery over the skies of Paris. Police are investigating the sighting of at least five drones over well-known landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, the Bastille, the U.S. embassy. All the drones were spotted flying between midnight and 6:00 a.m. Paris time. Police in France say they have no clue -- repeat, no clue -- who flew them or why, but they say they're investigating.

Coming up, the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs here in the United States is publicly apologizing for something he said about his military record. The controversy, the potential fallout, that's next.

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BLITZER: If the Veterans Affairs Department here in the United States isn't already facing enough problems, now the man who runs the department has had to admit he embellished his resume a bit, saying he served with the U.S. Special Forces when he did not. Secretary Robert McDonald made the claim during a conversation with a homeless veteran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED VETERAN: You happen to be a veteran of any service?

ROBERT MCDONALD, SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS SECRETARY: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED VETERAN: Really? Army, Navy?

MCDONALD: Army.

UNIDENTIFIED VETERAN: Army? What unit?

MCDONALD: Special Forces.

UNIDENTIFIED VETERAN: Special Forces? What years? I was in Special Forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Our Suzanne Malveaux has been watching the story for us.

He really wasn't in Special Forces.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know.

BLITZER: He's now apologizing. MALVEAUX: He's apologizing. The question is whether or not this is going to be enough for people to take here because this is what we're seeing here. Veteran Affairs Secretary McDonald is doing some serious damage control since this all broke. He's holding a press conference in 90 minutes, which we're going to attend, to try to explain his actions, I assume apologize again.

He got caught lying on camera, not a gotcha under-cover moment, but actually during a shoot of a CBS story on the Veterans Affairs' efforts to address this serious homeless problem in the veteran community. Well, a homeless vet told McDonald he had served in the most elite units of the armed forces, the Special Forces, and you saw his response. He said he, too, was in Special Forces. Turns out that he completed Army Ranger training, graduated, but was never assigned to a Ranger battalion or Special Ops unit. Instead, he was assigned to and served in the 82nd Airborne Division until his retirement back in 1980.

So when "The Huffington Post" first discovered this error, they contacted him, he 'fessed up immediately, said what he said was wrong. He went on to release a statement saying, "I incorrectly stated he had been in Special Forces. That was an accident. I apologize to anyone that was offended by that misstatement. I have great respect for those who have served our nation in Special Forces. They and all veterans serve a Department of Veterans Affairs that provides in the care and benefits they've earned. I remain committed to continuing our progress to improve V.A. services and our ongoing efforts to reform V.A. for the long term."

The White House, Wolf, seems to be quite committed, at least for now, saying they accept the apology, they would like to move on.

We've heard from the American Legion today as well. They say, well, you know, it was an unfortunate choice of words. A lie is a lie, that there is some mistrust here, that he's going to have to rebuild on that trust.

So the two things he's doing today, meeting with us in about an hour or so, to try to explain himself again. And he's also meeting with the American Legion this afternoon. So we'll see if all of this -- how it shakes out and whether or not they can survive this.

BLITZER: At least he immediately apologized.

MALVEAUX: He certainly did.

BLITZER: He immediately came clean.

MALVEAUX: He's trying to get in front of this -- Wolf?

BLITZER: And you're heading to the Department of Veterans Affairs to attend this news conference.

MALVEAUX: We'll see if it works.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens. Thanks very much, Suzanne Malveaux --

MALVEAUX: Thank you.

BLITZER: -- reporting for us.

That's it for me. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

"Newsroom" with Ana Cabrera starts right now.