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Wolf

Full-Scale War Unfolding in Yemen; News Co-Pilot Deliberately Crashed Plane as Grieving Families Go to Crash Site; Answering Viewer Questions on Flight 9525. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired March 26, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I should note that in the last 18 months, the National Security Division at the Justice Department has prosecuted or is prosecuting 32 people for traveling or trying to provide some kind of assistance to terrorist groups. 18 of those have involved is.

[13:30:10] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And this particular case, Army reservist. He was going to use his military background experience to try to help ISIS battle against the United States.

PEREZ: Right. Exactly. That's disturbing allegation here.

BLITZER: We're going to get more. The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, we're going to get his reaction, as well as the dramatic escalation and now a full-scale war unfolding in Yemen. Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries they are now invading. They're moving in. They're fighting proxies backed by Iran. This is an escalating and very dangerous situation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:34:23] BLITZER: We'll get back to the coverage of the deliberate downing of flight 9525 in a few moments.

I want to turn to another important development unfolding right now, this one, in Yemen. Saudi Arabia leading a major military coalition in Yemen, launching air strikes against the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi fighters. They're planning to send 5,000 ground forces in the coming days. The Saudis are leading this coalition of mostly gulf Arab states, although they are getting support from Egypt and Jordan as well. United States Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with his counterparts in the Gulf States today. He told them that the United States supports their efforts and will provide what's described as logistical and intelligence support to this major Saudi-led military movie.

These moves come after the elected president was forced to flee his palace in southern Yemen when rebel forces swarmed the area. President Hadi is now in the Saudi Arabian capitol of Riyadh.

Here's a breakdown of the battling groups in Yemen. The elected government took over after Arab Spring demonstrations led to the departure of the then president. The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels once confined to parts northwest of Yemen, but now they have joined forces with army units still loyal, supposedly, to the former president. Then there's AQAP. That's a key regional terror group that wants to launch attacks against the United States. Add to that a growing ISIS presence that's been detected. This is clearly a mess, to put it bluntly.

Let's bring in Texas Republican Congressman Mike McCaul. He's chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

I want to get your reaction, first, Congressman, to what Evan Perez, our justice reporter, reported, the arrests of two more Americans including one U.S. Army National Guard reservist apparently seeking to go off to Egypt and head over to Syria, hook up with ISIS. What do you make of this?

REP. MIKE MCCAUL, (R-TX), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: It's very disturbing to see our National Guardsmen going to join the enemy in Syria, and his cousin plotting to attack a military base in the United States. We have that ISIS kill list that's been out there. And remember, just last week, U.S. Air Force veteran was arrested for trying to go join the enemy and ISIS in Syria as well. This is a strange development of our U.S. military personnel wanting to join ISIS. The good news is the FBI and Homeland Security officials have been able to detect and destruct and stop these potential plots.

BLITZER: I know you and other Homeland Security experts here in the United States, you're really worried about AQAP in Yemen, given their track record and wanting to attack targets right here in the U.S. How does it affect the U.S. ability to deal with these terror threats?

MCCAUL: Remember, the administration called Yemen the model of counter-terrorism policy. I think that model failed and imploded. Now we're seeing where the Shia militants have tried to take over Yemen. AQAP running with impunity. I think this development in the Saudis in collaboration with nine other Arab nations to go in and try to stabilize and take out this threat is a positive development. And what I think is, it could be a role model for counter terrorism in the region, particularly against ISIS as we look forward.

But make no mistake, the reason why the Saudis are going into Yemen, it's right in their backyard, but also because it's the Shia militants. That's Iran in their backyard not because of AQAP. I think again it's a positive development if they can stabilize the region.

But the threat to the homeland is clear that AQAP, the premier bomb making, the premiere external operation force in the Middle East, is running free without any ability on our part to monitor. If the Arab nations can go in and stabilize this, then perhaps we can have greater monitoring on the ground, intelligence capability, intelligence footprint, which we're lacking right now.

BLITZER: I think you're right. I think the Saudis, backed by the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait and Egypt, all these other Arab states, their real concern right now is that Iran, that they see as a bitter rival right now, will have this foothold right on the Arabian Peninsula. Isn't that right? MCCAUL: That's right. They're also concerned about the presence of

Iran in Iraq and possibly in Syria as well, which is why we're having a hard time getting their support against ISIS as we speak. But Yemen, if you look at the map, it's right south of Saudi Arabia and it's in that -- that peninsula. So they are very concerned about the presence of Shia militants, Iran, in their own backyard. That's why for the first time they're finally standing up and acting and protecting their own backyard, which I think again is a positive step. If we can look at that model of cooperation of Arab Sunni nations against Sunni extremists and also Shia militants and have them provide the ground force while we provide the air support and Special Forces to wipe out and destroy these terrorists.

[13:40:04] BLITZER: I'm sure you've seen those reports, Mr. Chairman, that the U.S. left behind in Yemen for the -- what were once considered Yemen military, $500 million worth of military equipment at various air bases, including in the capital, and a lot of that equipment now in the hands of these Houthi Shiite pro Iranian rebels. How worried are you about this development?

MCCAUL: Well, I'm very worried because it's a failure of foreign policy has now turned over a lot of our capability to the enemy. We saw the same thing happen in Iraq when they went into Mosul and took over -- the Iraqi army folded and they took over a lot of our hardware and technology. Same thing happened in Yemen. That kind of capability turned against us, particularly AQAP that' intent, hell bent on attacking the West and the United States particularly, could be a dangerous, dangerous situation to the homeland.

BLITZER: Mike McCaul is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Mr. Chairman, thanks for joining us.

MCCAUL: Thanks, Wolf. Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: Thank you.

Note to our viewers, later today, the Saudi ambassador to the United States will be my guest in "The Situation Room." That's coming up 5:00 p.m. eastern. The Saudi ambassador to the U.S., he announced the Saudi military move into Yemen last night. We'll talk about what's going.

Still ahead, we'll get back to the other top story. A heartbreaking trip for the families of those killed in flight 9525. Their journey to the crash site made so much more difficult after learning their loved ones died because of the co-pilot's deliberate acts. We're going to have a live report. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

{13:45:42} BLITZER: Updating the breaking news this hour. Officials now say it appears the co-pilot of Germanwings flight 9525 crashed the plane deliberately. That based on the cockpit voice recorder. The French prosecutor says after the pilot left the cockpit, the co-pilot refused to let the pilot back in, even when he was banging on the door screaming, "Let me in." He also says the co-pilot initiated the plane's descent from 38,000 feet to 6,000 feet. The prosecutor says all that was done on purpose by the co-pilot.

Those shocking revelations coming as grieving friends and families go on an emotional trip to the crash site in the French Alps.

Our own Karl Penhaul is joining us on the phone right now. He's near where the families have gathered.

Karl, how did they hear this terrible news today that the co-pilot took that plane down deliberately?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, it was the French prosecutor himself who met those families as they arrived in Marseille Airport. At least two flights have come in bringing relatives from the German side and the Spanish side. Before the French prosecutor met the press, he received up to 200 relatives and told them the news first. He said he owed it to them to keep them up to date with every new detail. Of course the French prosecutor was under pressure to give out as much detail as he could after leaks overnight in the news media gave way of some of the details of the explosive new material. He said that many of the relatives expressed disbelief. He said that they did not have the words to express their surprise that this investigation had taken this kind of turn. He said then he was bombarded by multiple questions asking technical questions and legal questions as well. Families trying to -- to come to terms with just how this could have happened. And then, of course, the reaction from the press as he then went and dropped his bombshell publicly, even among the press, dropped jaws and shaking heads. Many just could not believe the explosive remarks that the prosecutor was making -- Wolf?

BLITZER: It was amazing. We were watching it live right here on CNN. Do we have an update on the teams scouring the mountain side right now looking for the remains of the people on board that plane?

PENHAUL: Yes, absolutely. Again, the prosecutor going into quite a lot of detail about that. First of all, he said that the recovery of the bodies had begun yesterday afternoon. He also went onto say that because of the speed that the aircraft hit the ground, death would have been instantaneous and of course we already know that they're not necessarily looking for whole bodies, but body parts. On that, the prosecutor had some strong words. He said recovery teams were recovering remains bit by bit, one by one, and bag by bag. And as that recovery is done, those body parts are loaded onto a stretcher, they're taken to a morgue area on the side of the mountain. And that is where the process of formal identification and declaration of death is done. What he also said describing the area as very dangerous and very mountainous said that investigators were working in teams of two accompanied by experienced mountain guides. That enabled many teams to fan out across the mountain side and they were looking and marking any spots where they found body parts or significant parts of the plane as well. But he said it was a task that is going to take a long time. At one point in the press conference, he said recovering all the bodies could take several weeks. He then went on and gave a little bit more precision and said perhaps by the end of next week or by the end of the following week most of the recovery of bodies could be complete -- Wolf?

[13:50:00] BLITZER: Yeah, and then French prosecutor with the chilling words that the cockpit voice recorder, in the final seconds before the plane crashed into the French Alps, said they could hear people screaming inside the plane, inside the cabin.

Karl, we'll check back with you. Very chilling information.

Coming up, much more on the deliberate crash in the French Alps. We'll also be answering your questions. Our panel of experts are here. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Throughout the morning and into the afternoon we've been asking viewers in the United States and around the world to submit their questions about the crash on Twitter.

To answer them, let's bring back our panel. CNN aviation analyst, Peter Goelz; our law enforcement analyst, Tom Fuentes; in London, our aviation analyst, Les Abend; and in Atlanta, our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

Peter, let's get right to our first question. "Does the rate of descent tell you anything? If the co-pilot was determined to crash, why set so slow?"

PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: That's a little bit of a question mark, but he did set it at a rather sedate decline, and we don't know.

BLITZER: They could have gone down.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Eight minutes it took them to descend from 38,000 feet and crash into the Alps. They could have done it more quickly. Good question.

Miranda Woods asks, Tom, "Why don't we have live cameras on planes to when we detect something wrong we can help the innocent and take over and help?"

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That's a great question. It's because the pilots don't want it. The airlines haven't wanted it. Everyone is clamoring for the police to have cameras on, but I don't know one cop that shot 149 people at one time.

[13:55:08] BLITZER: Yeah, that should have streaming of what's going on inside the cockpit, and what's inside those cockpit voice recorders and the flight data records. That could be live, sent to some place. We've got the technology. They have to do it.

Les, a question for you from Bob.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: "Why is the second black box -- this is for you, Les -- so hard to find if pinging like it's supposed to? Could the pinger be damaged?"

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, the pinger is used primarily for underwater situations. In this particular circumstance, it would have been the emergency locater transmitter because of the impact with the ground.

Back to the camera situation, that wasn't going to help this airplane. Having a camera in the cockpit, there was nobody else could have intervened but the crew members. That's kind of why we're not in favor of it. It doesn't really add to safety.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But it might give us a better explanation of what went wrong. As a result you learn from will lessons and avoid those down the road. That's the other side of the argument.

ABEND: True.

BLITZER: Let me get another question for his getting for Elizabeth Cohen. Lauralie asked, "Is it not possible the co-pilot was medically unconscious?"

DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, a lot of people are wondering this. The authorities say the co-pilot deliberately manipulated the buttons in order to make that descent. They say that action, quote, "can only be voluntary." In other words, they're saying you can't do that if you're medically unconscious.

BLITZER: Peter, a question from Jimmy. "New cars stop themselves before a crash. Why isn't there technology to prevent a plane from landing anywhere but the runway?"

GOELZ: We've seen great advances in the use of drones. There's been discussions about pilotless planes, particularly on cargo flights. I think we're a decade away from that technology being testable in the air.

BLITZER: Here's a question for you Tom. "Is there a possibility the plane was hacked and that the co-pilot was framed?"

FUENTES: I think the problem with that is that you couldn't hack the door to be locked. You couldn't hack to keep the pilot out. As far as deliberately changing the trajectory of the plane to go down fly into the mountain, I don't see how you could hack that or how you could prevent that from being undone if the co-pilot didn't want that to happen.

BLITZER: Here's a question for you, Les, from Michelle. "Plane was presumably full of fuel. Why wasn't there a fiery exPLOsion upon impact? Does wreckage show any burn marks?" ABEND: Initially, there looked like there was some smoke, but the

plane literally disintegrated. The fuel didn't have time to burn, it impacted the terrain so quickly.

BLITZER: Here's a question for you, Elizabeth, from Jodi. "What about under the influence of medication and other drugs? How often do they go through drug screening?"

I assume Jodi is referring to the co-pilot in this particular case.

COHEN: Right. Some pilots go through an annual physicial and some do it twice a year. What's interesting is they don't have formal psychological screenings. The family doctor that does the physical is supposed to look at them. Are they acting ago strangely? Doing anything bizarre? Unkempt? They're supposed to ask about drug use, are you feeling anxious or depressed, thinking of committing suicide? But there's no formal psychological screening.

BLITZER: Here's a question for you, Les. Our executive producer wants to know, "Do they routinely look at major carriers take pilots and co-pilots and do drug screenings?"

ABEND: I can't speak for European carriers but can for United States. We do random screening at this point in time. We used to do it almost all the time. But it's random at this point, alcohol and drugs.

BLITZER: Peter Goelz, here's a question from me, Wolf. It's a serious question. "Where do we go from here?"

GOELZ: I think this is going to be a wake-up call, particularly on the medical and psychological screening area. As our correspondent indicated, often times they go to family doctors to get their screening. It's got to become more sophisticated and independent.

[15:59:43] BLITZER: As you pointed out to me, what we're learning to me could potentially be a game changer.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: And we'll have a lot more coming up later today in "The Situation Room," as well as throughout the day on CNN.

I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room." Much more on the breaking news. Once again, the Saudi ambassador to U.S. will be joining us as well.

CNN "News Center" coming up for international viewers.

For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.