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Kerry Testifies before House Panel; Country Star Confronts Protesters

Aired September 10, 2013 - 10:30   ET

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

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: In a world of terrorists and extremists, we would choose to ignore those risks at our peril. We cannot afford to have chemical weapons transformed into the new, convenient weapon, the IED, the car bomb, the weapon of everyday use in this world. Neither our country, nor our conscience can bear the cost of inaction. And that's why we've come before you at the instruction of the President to ask you to join us in this effort.

Secretary Hagel.

CHUCK HAGEL, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Mr. Chairman, ranking member Smith and members of the committee, the Department of Defense has a responsibility to protect the national security interests of the United States. And General Dempsey and I take that responsibility very seriously.

That's why I strongly support President Obama's decision to respond to the Assad regime's chemical weapons attack on its own people -- a large-scale and heinous sarin gas assault on innocent civilians including women and children. I also wholeheartedly support the President's decision to seek congressional authorization for the use of force in Syria. And I believe Secretary Kerry outlined those reasons very clearly. The President has made clear that it is in our country's national security interest to degrade Assad's chemical weapons capabilities and deter him from using them again.

As Secretary Kerry mentioned, yesterday we outlined a way to accomplish this objective and avert military action. It would require the Assad regime to swiftly turn its chemical weapons arsenal over to international control, so it can be destroyed forever as President Obama noted in a verifiable manner.

All of us are hopeful that this option might be a real solution to this crisis. Yet, we must be very clear-eyed and ensure it is not a stalling tactic by Syria and its Russian patrons. And for this diplomatic option to have a chance of succeeding the threat of a U.S. military action, the credible, real threat of U.S. military action, must continue as we are talking today. And will continue to talk and discuss throughout the week. It was the President's determination to hold Assad accountable. And the fact that he put military action on the table that enabled this new diplomatic track to maybe gain some momentum and credibility.

The support of Congress for holding Assad accountable will give -- will give even more energy and more urgency to these efforts. So Congress has a responsibility to continue this important debate on authorizing the use of force against the Syrian regime.

As each of us knows, committing our country to using military force is the most difficult decision leaders will make. All of those who are privileged to serve our nation have responsibility to ask the tough questions before that commitment is made. We must be able to assure the American people that their leaders are acting according to U.S. national interests with well-defined military objectives and with an understanding of the risks and the consequences involved.

The President and his entire national security team, asked those difficult questions before we concluded that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets.

I want to address briefly how we reached this decision by clarifying the U.S. interests at stake here today and in the future, our military objectives and the risks of not acting at this critical juncture. As President Obama has said, the use of chemical weapons in Syria is not only an assault on humanity, it is a serious threat to America's national security interests and those of our closest allies.

The Syrian regime's actions risk eroding the longstanding international norm against the use of chemical weapons; a norm that has helped protect the United States homeland and American forces operating across the globe from these terrible weapons. The weakening of this norm has grave consequences for our troops, our country's future security and for global stability. These weapons are profoundly destabilizing. And have rightfully been rejected by the international community.

Syria's use of chemical weapons also threatens our friends and partners along its borders including Israel and Jordan and Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq. It increases the risk that terrorist groups like Hezbollah, which has forces in Syria supporting the Assad regime, could acquire chemical weapons and use them against our interests and our people.

We must do all we can to prevent Hezbollah or any terrorist group determined to describing the United States from acquiring chemical weapons. And we cannot allow terrorist groups in authoritarian regimes to mistakenly believe that they can use chemical weapons against U.S. troops or America's friends and partners in regions without severe consequences.

Our allies throughout the world must be assured that the United States will stand by its security commitments and stand by its word. Our adversaries must not believe that they can develop and use weapons of mass destruction without consequence. A world where these adversaries are emboldened instead of deterred is not the world that we want to live in, as President Obama said last week.

For example, North Korea with its massive stockpile of chemical weapons threatens our treaty ally the Republic of Korea. Directly threatens the 28,000 U.S. troops stationed there on the DMZ.

During my recent trip to Asia, I had a very serious and long conversation with the South Korean defense minister about this real threat that North Korea's chemical weapons presents to them and to our troops.

Given these threats to our national security, the United States must demonstrate through our actions that the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable. The President has made clear that our military objectives in Syria would be to hold the Assad regime accountable for its chemical weapons attack. Degrade its ability to carry out these kinds of attacks. And deter the regime from further use of chemical weapons.

The Department of Defense has developed military options to achieve these objectives. And we have positioned U.S. assets throughout the region to successfully execute the mission. We believe we can achieve them. We can achieve them if the military action that would be targeted, consequential and limited. General Dempsey and I have assured the President that U.S. forces will be ready to act whenever the President gives the order.

We are working to build broad international support for this effort as Secretary Kerry has noted. Last week at the G-20, the leaders of a number of countries condemned this atrocity and called for a strong international response. In the days since a number of other nations have also signed on to this statement, as Secretary Kerry has also noted.

In defining our military objectives, we've made clear that we are not seeking to resolve the underlying conflict in Syria through direct military force. We will not send America's sons and daughters to fight another country's civil war. We are not contemplating any kind of open-ended intervention or an operation involving American ground troops. A political solution created by the Syrian people is the only way to ultimately end the violence in Syria. And Secretary Kerry is helping lead that international effort to help the parties in Syria move toward a negotiated transition.

(END LIVE FEED)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We're going to jump out of this. That's Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel testifying before the -- before the House Arms Committee. We're going to discuss this with Jason Johnson, Ana Navarro, our political analyst and also Colonel Rick Francona, our CNN military analyst.

We're going to talk about this deal supposedly Russians made with Syria, that Syria would turn its chemical weapons stash and put it in the control of the United Nations.

We're going to talk about all of that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Forty-one minutes past the hour.

For those of you just joining us, there has been a surprise twist to the crisis in Syria. Syrian officials reportedly agreeing to a Russian plan to turn over its chemical weapons. It's a plan that has many in Washington and beyond hoping that a U.S. military strike on Syria could be avoided.

Right now there is a House Armed Services Committee going on. And we just heard testimony from the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense. This is the Joint Chiefs Chair General Martin Dempsey talking now. And they did mention this plan of Syria turning over its chemical weapons.

And we want to talk about that with our CNN military analyst Colonel Rick Francona; also Jason Johnson and Ana Navarro, two of our best political minds out there.

So I'm going to start with you Colonel Rick because John Kerry during testimony said that it is -- I'm going to read the quote here -- he said "It is the threat of force to hold Assad accountable that has motivated others to talk about credible solutions." And by credible solutions he meant this plan, is he right?

COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes I believe so. I'll give the Secretary credit there that it was his remark that triggered this but it was the over -- it was the looming threat of U.S. military action in Syria. The Syrians don't know exactly what we were going to do but it was going to cause them a degradation of their forces.

And you know if you believe Secretary Hagel and I'm sure General Dempsey is making that point that we were going to cause you know deterrence and degradation in their forces. The Syrians don't want that. They want to be able to continue to prosecute this civil war to their own benefit without our -- what they would call interference.

So I look at this as a positive development, but I'm very worried that this is just a tactic on the part of the Syrians to delay this. We're going to -- we're going to see from the Syrians what we saw from the Iraqis, just obfuscation and agree to talk about this and how do we set up the protocol. We're going to be talking for months just how to do this let alone doing it.

COSTELLO: Right and the Secretary of State acknowledged that. In fact he went on to say, "You know lawmakers, if you support a military strike on Syria this will button this up. Syria will have to accept this deal because now it knows the United States is quite serious."

Jason, is that going to happen? That's the big question, right?

JASON JOHNSON, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: I think it's going to happen in the Senate. It was never going to happen in the House. This is like -- you've got to -- you've got to put your foot on the gas right now. If we've got the Syrians and the Russians coming to the table -- the Russians who for years have tried to block any action on Syria; the Syrians who pretty much denied that they had chemical weapons until this attack.

Now is not time for the U.S. Congress to back off. So I think it is going to happen in the Senate but when that vote actually occurred may have to do with when this deal gets cut.

COSTELLO: Yes it was supposed to happen, what, tomorrow? Now they've delayed it because they're interested in this diplomatic solution. And isn't that a good thing, Ana Navarro, because that's what most Americans want?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think it's up in the air and is yet to be seen. What we have seen right now is the most incoherent policy from this administration. What this does is buy time for the Syrians and it also buys time for this administration that was heading towards a sure defeat in Congress if this was brought up to a vote.

And I think it's absolutely essential that the Senate, that Congress include provisions now that demand that if Syria does not meet these conditions by a certain time, a time certain, very specified, then the U.S. will be able to strike. I think this may actually get more votes now than it would have before.

But at the same time, we've got to -- you know, we've got time. And we've got to do what President Obama hasn't done in the last two years. We've got to keep trying to change the momentum on the ground which means arming the rebels, supporting the rebels.

COSTELLO: Ok. So Colonel Francona, let's talk about that. John McCain still wants to arm the rebels but he also came out and says, he doesn't really trust Syria. Doesn't really trust Russia because we don't know because he believes what you just said this is something to delay things so that Russia and Syria can figure out what to do. So what is the answer?

FRANCONA: Well, there's two different issues here. And Ana, you know, brings up the point that, you know, this is to avert a U.S. strike and degrade their chemical capabilities. So right now, we're talking about stopping Syria from using chemicals.

No one is addressing the real problem and it's how do you stop the Syrian civil war. Everybody wants a diplomatic solution to that but that's a much bigger problem. And I think we're not really addressing it. And I think that changing the momentum on the ground is a good thing.

We've been talking about this for two years now but we really haven't done anything. The President said last time when the Syrians used chemical weapons we were going to start arming the rebels but we haven't done it yet. And we haven't given them the right weapons.

So this is two different issues and hopefully this will conflate them into one. We need to address this overall problem, not just the chemicals.

COSTELLO: Ok. The President is to address the nation tonight, Jason. And in light of what the Colonel just said, will the President make it easier for the people to understand exactly what's going on? Will he talk about the bigger picture in that region?

JOHNSON: Yes, I think so. And now it's going to be easier for him to do so. We're at the one-yard line here; I mean the President can say, "We're almost there. We've got everybody else on board." Now, all we have to do is make sure that Congress supports this action because it is a wider issue.

It's not just chemical weapons. It's also doing something about the flood of refugees. It's also finding the proper rebels to arm. We do know that they're al Qaeda elements. We do know that the Syrian revolution or the Syrian civil war right now is not really a coherent hold. So I think if the President sort of gives us a little bit of a history lesson that will assuage a lot of concerns in Congress and make this moving forward much easier and I've always felt it was a fairly coherent policy.

COSTELLO: Ok. So Ana, how important is the President's speech tonight, Ana? Because the world will be watching, not just people in the United States, the world will be watching for some coherent strong message from President Obama?

NAVARRO: I think it's very important because we haven't heard a coherent strong message from President Obama, or actually, his administration so far. I think the American people want to hear it. I think it's important for the stature of the United States worldwide.

Yesterday, I spoke to Congressmen who had been in that classified hearing, they told me they left there with more answers than questions. They told me that hearing could have been conducted by the keystone cops. So for once, there's got to be some clarity, some strategy. There's got to be strength, determination. And the President has got to make the case as to why this is relevant to the U.S., to the people of the United States of America. He hasn't done that yet. I hope he takes this chance tonight to do so.

COSTELLO: Retired air force colonel Rick Francona, Jason Johnson, Ana Navarro -- thanks to all of you.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

NAVARRO: Thank you.

COSTELLO: You can watch President Obama's remarks right here on CNN -- Special coverage beginning at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 52 minutes past the hour.

A fast-moving wildfire east of Oakland triples in size. Since Sunday it burns more than 3,700 acres. The fire near Mt. Diablo state park is on the 20 percent contained and threatens nearly 100 homes. The fire is also threatening transmission lines, communications infrastructure and Mt. Diablo's visitor center.

People in New Jersey are a step closer to enjoying more medical marijuana options. Governor Christie is expected to sign legislation approved by the state assembly qualifying children would also be able to consume edible forms of marijuana. The legislation stems from a New Jersey father's effort to find a treatment for his daughter's severe epilepsy. Apple is expected to unveil not one but two new iPhones today. The 5s is expected to come in new colors and have a faster processor. It's also likely the new gadget will have an improved camera. Techies think the 5s will also have a fingerprint scanner that would allow users to logon to their phone without typing in a password. Apple is also expected to unveil a cheaper model of the iPhone that would sell for less than $200 in some countries.

And country music star Vince Gill has some strong words for members of the Westborough Baptist Church, a group known for protesting outside of funerals of fallen service members. The singer confronted the group outside of a concert in Kansas City, Missouri. The protesters say they targeted Gill because he's divorced and then he got remarried.

Well, the confrontation was caught on tape. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vince Gill, what in the world are you doing out here?

VINCE GILL, COUNTRY SINGER: I just came to see what hate looked like.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More importantly, what are you doing with another man's wife?

GILL: I came out to see what hatred really looks like in the face.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't you know that divorce plus remarriage equals adultery. Jesus Christ said that.

GILL: Did he?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

GILL: You know what else he said? He said a lot of stuff about forgiveness, about grace -- you guys don't have any of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Believe me, Vince Gill went on from there and it got quite spicy and I think he won the battle. And by the way, Gill has been married to singer Amy Grant, as you know, for 13 years.

Today is the peak of hurricane season and so far we haven't seen any major storms. CNN's Karen Maginnis is in our Severe Weather Center. That's good news.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is good news. We still have the rest of the season to watch. And yes, we're in the peak time period when typically we would have seen at least one hurricane. You have to go back to 2002 before you see one that's even later.

Well, it looks like Humberto may be our first hurricane of the season, well off the coast of Africa. It has moved past the Cape Verde Islands on its way moving forward west-northwest at about 9 miles an hour now supporting winds of about 65 miles an hour. But we think during the overnight hours or possibly into early Wednesday morning, we might see it become our latest hurricane. And by Thursday, it should have supporting winds about 100 miles per hour.

And then quickly, as it begins to move towards slightly cooler waters, we'll see it perhaps downgraded then, as we head towards the weekend to tropical storm status.

Well, the spaghetti models, that's looking at all the different models that tell us what they estimate the system will do. They all generally keep it on that north-northwesterly track and then moving towards the west and then kind of weaken it to tropical storm strength but that's not to diminish it.

We've still got a lot to talk about and a lot of ocean to cover. And not to give up on what used to be tropical storm Gabrielle that just kind of fizzled out but now it's back again -- tropical storm Gabrielle supporting winds of 40 miles per hour. It looks like it will move right over Bermuda going into early Wednesday morning.

So batten down the hatches if you're watching us there. You're going to see pretty heavy surf and maybe two to four inches of rainfall and we'll see some higher gusts around 50 miles an hour. So the potential there is pretty good but still keeping it at tropical storm intensity -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Karen, thanks so much.

And thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone, I'm Ashleigh Banfield. And it is Tuesday, September 10th -- and a busy day.

We're going to start with breaking news: Syria accepting the Russians' plan to turn over its chemical weapons to international control. This is absolutely a dramatic turn of events causing President Obama to put a bit of a pause in the bid to attack Syria for launching an alleged chemical attack on civilians last month.

Russia's proposal came yesterday, as Mr. Obama was preparing to make his case for a military strike against Syria to the American people. In a prime time address tonight, he's planning to continue that effort. It starts at 9:00 Eastern and CNN is going to bring it to you live.