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U.S. Set To Overhaul Syria Rebel Training Program; U.S. To Arm And Train Syria Arab Coalition; Fallon States Russia Should Use Its Influence With Al Assad; Russia Has Made 67 Missions In 24 Hours In Syria; Syrians Face New Threat From Bombing Campaign; Ryan Considering House Speaker Run; Clinton And Sanders On Debate Stage; Ryan Considers Speaker Run; Biden Team Meeting. Aired 1-1:30p ET
Aired October 09, 2015 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 7:00 p.m. in Paris, 8:00 p.m. in Damascus. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.
We begin with the dramatic shift in U.S. strategy in the fight against ISIS in Syria. The defense secretary, Ash Carter announcing today, the U.S. would be doing a massive overhaul of its Syrian rebel training program conceding the current approach isn't working.
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ASHTON CARTER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I wasn't satisfied with the early efforts in that regard. And so, we're looking at different ways to achieve the -- basically the same kind of strategic objective which is the right one which is to enable capable, motivated forces on the ground to retake territory from ISIL and reclaim Syrian territory from extremism. So, we have devised a number of different approaches to that going forward.
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BLITZER: We're covering this story from all angles. Our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr is with us as well as our CNN Counterterrorism Analyst Phil Mudd, our CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kimberly Dozier. She's here with us as well. And our Senior International Correspondent Arwa Damon. She's on the ground in the region. She's reporting today from Istanbul.
Barbara, the Pentagon has revealed more details of its brand new approach now to fighting ISIS. The old approach, clearly, has been a failure. What's the new approach?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Wolf. Forget about everything you've heard about taking rebels by the single person, a couple of people at a time, out of Syria, taking them to Turkey, taking them to Jordan and training them. Forget about all of that.
What the focus will now be is to provide ammunition and some very initial communications' gear to about 5,000 rebels in a loosely knit coalition in northern Syria, near the Turkish border but very much in an area where they have already been fighting ISIS and they are looking for additional help in fighting ISIS.
This is a group that the U.S. believes has a proven track record. So, what they're going to do is they're going to start supporting them. They hope, and it is a hope, as they are working more and more with the people and they get a proven track record with them, because they have had initial success, that will give them more success with the U.S. backing, airstrikes, air support. And that could lead to the U.S. providing them with additional more sophisticated weapons down the road. Not yet, by any stretch, but looking to the seed that the area along the border and put this -- these rebels in a better position all the way along that border to be able to fight ISIS -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Standby, I want to bring Kimberly into this conversation. So, why do they think -- Kimberly, you've been talking to U.S. officials, national security officials, Pentagon officials. Why do they think this new strategy might be better than the old one?
KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Because they're building on what's already working. It's almost the Darwinian rules of vetting. They're looking at the groups that have a proven track record of success and they're going to throw the money at them as opposed to taking people that they don't know, taking them out of the environment, trying to give them some training. And then, sending them back in in numbers that are too small to even use the kind of infantry tactics that these trainees are being taught.
The problem is this was a little bit of a bait and switch program. It was sold to Syrian rebels as we will teach you how to defend your territory against all-comers. The White House changed it to you can only fight ISIS. So, the Syrian rebels just didn't show up in the numbers that they needed to make this work.
BLITZER: The Syrian rebels, and correct me if I'm wrong, Phil, because you've studied this closely, they're much more concerned about Bashar Al Assad's regime, the barrel bombing, all of that. They blame Bashar Al Assad's regime for the -- for the awful situation, the civil war in Syria, a lot more than they blame ISIS.
PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: That's right. I think that's one of the problems we have here. We're going in saying, to some of the opposition, why don't you go fight ISIS? The model we have here and the reason we're in this sort of strategic problem area is the rebels, of course, are sitting back saying, what do you mean fight ISIS? Our responsibility is to provide a better future for the Syrian people, that's about taking out Bashar Al Assad. Why aren't you supporting us for regime change instead of just for fighting other people who, themselves, are trying to take out Assad? We're confused here about what our ultimate objectives are.
BLITZER: Is it just a coincidence, Barbara, or is it deliberate that this new announcement, this shift in U.S. strategy comes just as Russia is escalating its military involvement in Syria? STARR: Well, hard to say. Now, the Pentagon had been pushing for these decisions that we're hearing about today for some weeks, especially U.S. special operations forces that they had wanted because they've worked with these guys. They had been pressing, for weeks, to get the White House to get them the ammunition that they were really desperate for. They were running very low up on that border.
[13:05:11] And special operations were getting very frustrated that they could not get a decision out of the Pentagon, a decision out of the White House. I think it's reasonable to assume that the new Russian profile there, their intervention, their ground and air campaign certainly, perhaps, incentivizes the process.
BLITZER: Listen to the British, Kimberly, the British defense secretary, Michael Fallon, who's been meeting with the U.S. defense secretary, Ash Carter, talk about Russia's involvement in Syria.
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MICHAEL FALLON, DEFENSE SECRETARY, GREAT BRITAIN: By propping up Assad instead of defeating ISIL, Russia risks making a grave situation much worse. We want Russia to use its influence with Assad to find a diplomatic solution and help alleviate the humanitarian crisis.
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