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U.S. Sends Advisers to Iraq; Qatar's Role in Crisis

Aired June 21, 2014 - 16:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST, ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT (on camera): Of course, but also companies like Boeing. The company just sold 50 777 to a consortium including Qatar Airways.

(voice-over): Martin Reardon opened the first FBI office in Doha. He says it isn't just corporate America benefiting from a relationship with Qatar.

MARTIN REARDON, VICE PRESIDENT, THE SOTFAN GROUP: One of the largest U.S. air bases that the U.S. have outside the continent of the United States is here in Doha. It's huge.

BURNETT: It's so huge defense secretary Chuck Hagel signed a 10-year agreement to keep U.S. forces here. Qatar also was a key part of the negotiations with the Taliban to free American P.O.W. Bowe Bergdahl.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Earlier this week I was able to personally thank the emir of Qatar for his leadership in helping us get it done.

BURNETT: The five Taliban prisoners from Guantanmo Bay were welcomed in Doha with open arms. This isn't a surprise.

Qatar prides itself on its clout with the U.S. and extremists. This YouTube video is one of several showing fighters in Syria thanking Qatari donors for weapons. The brothers of Madam al Alsham is the name of the fundraising campaign. It contributes to humanitarian relief in Syria but this tweet last August from an Al Qaeda link militia is one of several from Al Qaeda supporters directing followers to donate to the campaign. Juan Zarate is the former deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism.

JUAN ZARATE, FMR. DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER FOR COMBATING TERRORISM: What you have is the resurrection of networks that had been suppressed post-9/11 but are being reborn in the context of Syria.

BURNETT (on camera): So how big of a player is Qatar?

ZARATE: Qatar is at the center of this. Qatar has now taken its place in the lead of countries that are supporting Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda- related groups.

BURNETT: (INAUDIBLE) is a fund-raiser for the (INAUDIBLE) campaign in Doha. His current profile on Facebook's Whatsapp, a social media platform requests donations equal to 1,500 U.S. dollars to prepare a fighter by arming, feeding, and treating him.

We called out (INAUDIBLE) when we were in Doha. He wouldn't meet with us but he denied the poster solicited money for weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He says he dno, no knowledge.

BURNETT: And when we asked why he used a picture of the planes hitting the World Trade Center on 9/11 in a tweet he replied the picture is everywhere on the internet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He told us that photo is all over the internet.

BURNETT: (INAUDIBLE) told us we couldn't donate to his campaign right now but would have to give to another charity approved by the Qatari government. He also wouldn't tell us how much money he raised but in one tweet last summer he asks Allah to bless the people of Qatar for donating the equivalent of $1.4 million.

We don't know where these funds went but according to the Qatari newspaper, Al Arab, at one point the (INAUDIBLE) campaign worked with Qatar's volunteer work center to raise money to help Syrian refugees. The work center was supervised by the Qatari government's ministry of culture. The minister declined our request for an interview.

(on camera): So how high up in the government in Qatar does the support for Islamic extremism these Al Qaeda links go?

ZARATE: Well these are decisions made at the top so Qatar operates as a monarchy. Its officials, its activities follow the orders of the government.

BURNETT: The emir, Sheik Tamin, is just 34 years old.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's the emir, he's very powerful. I mean, as President Truman said, the buck stops there.

BURNETT: The Emir was unable to meet with us while we were in Doha but we spoke with his sister who is on the "Time" 100 list of the most influential people about the family's massive charity donations.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember I was living in America when Katrina happened and Qatar was one of the first countries to donate $100 million to the U.S.. It's definitely something that's embedded or engraved in our national strategy and development.

BURNETT: That generosity is part of why world leaders eagerly embrace the Qatari royal family.

OBAMA: I just want to welcome the emir of Qatar and thank him and the people of his country for the friendship they've shown towards the United States.

BURNETT: General Jim Jones said Qatar has passed some laws against terror finance but it's not enough.

GEN. JIM JONES: They probably are a little bit more towards, you know, supporting people that we are a little bit less than thrilled with.

BURNETT (on camera): The Treasury Department said Qatar is one of the most permissive countries in the world when it comes to allowing funding for things like Al Qaeda. Your family is so powerful here, do you think there's more that you can do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, Qatar's doing a lot, but the networks that you're discussing requires a group effort and I think it, you know, one country, whichever country it is, can't do it alone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Erin Burnett with some excellent reporting there out of Qatar. Thanks.

Let's bring back our panel, CNN military analyst Rick Francona, international terrorism expert Robert McFadden, Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University historian and professor and Josh Rogin, senior national security correspondent for the "Daily Beast."

Rick, first of all, is the U.S. being played by its so-called allies in the Middle East or are they just covering themselves from attacks at home?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, it almost looks like they're playing both ends of this but we've had this off-on relationship with Qatar for years. And Qatar has been very generous to the United States in terms of military support. (INAUDIBLE) You know, the central command headquarters in the Middle East is in Qatar.

We have a huge, sprawling base there. And they provide a lot support for us and that's politically difficult for some of these countries to do. So, on one hand they do that. On the others, they host Al Jazeera which many people believe is very inimical to U.S. interests. So it's really kind of a two-sided deal.

FEYERICK: Right.

FRANCONA: I think we tolerate each other.

FEYERICK: OK. Interesting. And obviously they want to protect their own interests and to do that they've got to befriend some of these groups. I'll bring in Josh Rogin, just quickly. Josh, you were there a couple of weeks ago, what is the feeling towards what's going on in Iraq and specifically with regards to ISIS?

JOSH ROGIN, SR. NATL. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, "THE DAILY BEAST": Yes. Some great reporting there by Erin. I was also in Qatar when she was there and what I learned is that this is not just a Qatar problem, of course, it's Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as well and the problem really here is that private donors working either with the tacit support of the government or maybe the government looks the other way, these private, wealthy individuals are the ones really supporting not just ISIS but also groups inside Syria. They really believe that they need to fight against Bashar al Assad by funding these groups because the west won't do it. They see this as a sectarian war between Shia and Sunni that spans the region and there's been a lot of pressure by the U.S. on these governments to rein in these donations, by tightening up money laundering laws, taking a closer look at all these charities and these governments have been doing a little better. The problem, of course, is now ISIS doesn't need these donors anymore. They used them for years. They got plenty of money and now they just take what they want. So it's a bit like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted. So it's a very complicated picture. The officials in these countries do want to be western looking. They also want to support Sunnis in trouble. Sometimes those two goals jive and sometimes they don't.

FEYERICK: It's fascinating because talking about the situation over there it's as if you are playing chess on sort of three levels because there's so many different moving parts. ISIS, why - they have an immediate interest, they go in, and they take over these local towns. They get the support of Sunnis because that means you're kicking out the Shia group which is al Maliki, but then the Sunnis don't necessarily stay loyal to ISIS. So, Robert, why not?

ROBERT MCFADDEN, INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM EXPERT: Yes, if looking - and this is difficult - some bit of a silver lining on the road ahead, ISIS unlike Sunni extremist groups have a terrible track record once they gain territory and its treatment of the local population usually doesn't end well. In fact, ISIS has been pushed out of some areas like (INAUDIBLE) in Syria because of its very brutal and even bizarre form of Islam that it practices.

So, now in the immediacy of the blitzkrieg going into Iraq, it's been talked about some of the Sunni tribes and it speaks to the disaffection with the al Maliki government and how really it is sectarian. They have latched on to the momentum of ISIS. And they aren't necessarily allies. Like, for example, remnants of Saddam's military force known as the (INAUDIBLE) Army, really more secular in orientation, but Sunni. Right now it's an alliance of convenience. That will be interesting to see how that plays out as time goes on.

FEYERICK: OK. Julian, I want to get to you.

JULIAN ZELIZER, HISTORIAN & PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: In the U.S., they say politics is local and I think there's something to that in this situation.

FEYERICK: Right.

ZELIZER: And ultimately the point of vulnerability might be can they govern and if they can't win the support over the long term of the local population, that was the premise of the surge in 2007 and 2008. That might be how you can ultimately turn people against ISIS.

FEYERICK: All right. We have so much to keep talking about, but right now President Obama says that the U.S. military alone cannot fix Iraq. So, what is going to fix Iraq? He explains in his exclusive CNN interview coming up straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) FEYERICK: With the crisis growing in Iraq President Obama says U.S. military efforts cannot work without a change in the existing government. In one interview with Kate Bolduan, the president said Iraq needs a political solution to unify the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We gave Iraq the chance to have an inclusive democracy, to work across sectarian lines, to provide a better future for their children. And unfortunately what we've seen is a breakdown of trust. There's no doubt that there has been a suspicion for quite some time now among Sunnis that they have no access to, you know, using the political process to deal with their grievances.

And, you know, that is in part the reason why a better armed and larger number of Iraqi security forces melted away when an extremist group is started rolling through the western portions of Iraq. So, part of the task now is to see whether Iraqi leaders are prepared to rise above sectarian motivations, come together, compromise. If they can't, there's not going to be a military solution to this problem. There's no amount of American firepower that's going to be able to hold the country together. And I made that very clear to Mr. Maliki and all the other leadership inside of Iraq.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): But by going in to the country to support this Iraqi government, to support Iraqi forces now, there's a real risk that you will very well likely be seen as supporting the Shiite side. Isn't that inflaming the tension further and thus doing exactly what ISIS wants?

OBAMA: Yes, actually not. Because the terms in which we're willing to go in as advisers is initially is to do an assessment of do they still have a functioning chain of command and is their military still capable particularly in some of the western and northwestern regions of the country, but what we've also said is in a joint operation center that we might set up in any advising that we may do, if we don't see Sunni, Shia and Kurd representation in the military command structure, if we don't see Sunni, Shia and Kurd political support for what we're doing, then we won't do it.

The terms in which we send any advisers would be dependent on us seeing that within the military and within the political structure that there remains a commitment to a unified and inclusive Iraqi government and armed forces.

BOLDUAN: No matter what happens in Iraq, can you realistically protect the national security interests of the United States without also going into Syria where this threat emanated from?

OBAMA: I think it's important for us to distinguish between a counterterrorism effort that is ongoing, dealing with Al Qaeda and the remnants that still exist in the Fatah, creating platforms, taking targeted strikes where necessary, gathering intelligence. All that work has to be done, would have to be done even if the crisis in Iraq wasn't occurring. And there's no doubt that the problem in Syria is one that we've been paying a lot of attention to over the last couple of years. As you see jihadists coming in from Europe and as far as Australia to get trained and then going back into their home countries.

This is something we've been deeply concerned about. Part of the reason we've been supporting a moderate opposition effort in Syria is to make sure that there are forces that are countering some of the gains that some of these extremist organizations have made inside of Syria. But that's different from whether we have the capacity, for example, to send our own troops in to Syria. That's different from, you know, some of the decisions that we are making with respect to how do we pull Iraq together.

BOLDUAN: Finally, do you really believe in your gut that this change can happen, that they can unify in Iraq?

OBAMA: I think we'll know soon enough. They don't have a lot of time. There's a timetable that is in place under their Constitution. The good news is that so far at least all the parties have said that we want to abide by the constitution. You had the preeminent Shia leader inside of Iraq, grand Ayatollah Sistani, saying we need to follow the constitutional order and form a government quickly. So they had the chance.

But, you know, ultimately what I think the vast majority of Americans understand is, is that we can't do it for them, and we certainly can't redeploy tens of thousands of U.S. troops to try to keep a lid on a problem if the people themselves don't want to solve it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Well, catch Kate's entire interview with President Obama Monday morning on "New Day." My panel is standing by. They'll all weigh in on the president's comments, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: So, let's be frank. CNN's one-on-one with President Obama did leave some people scratching their heads specifically what was it he was talking about. Obama's big picture plan for Iraq requires Iraqi leaders to step up to the plate.

Our commander in chief got elected in part by promising to end the war in Iraq. Now Obama says that Iraq must come up with its own political solution. Is that even possible? First, though, I want to talk to Julian Zelizer and ask you how will this define Obama's presidency, the moves he makes right now?

ZELIZER; Well, after many years speaking about health care, this in the end might be a very important issue and moment for how we remember the presidency. He was elected on the promise that President Bush made a mistake in Iraq that this was not the right war and the second part of that promise is he would fix it. He would get us out of there and he would make the region better.

If things collapse right now, even if this was not his war, even if this was not his fault, it will still be something politically that people remember. Iraq falling apart, becoming a fundamentalist state. He understands the stakes are incredibly high. Democrats paid a big price when China fell to communism in 1949. And they heard about it for decades. And I think that would be the same situation. If he solves this, though, he comes out looking like the president who had a solution politically that the Republican predecessor didn't have. So a lot I think is riding on this.

FEYERICK: Four key words "if he solves it." Now, there are certain things he did not say and that is he was going to send in those military advisers. We know that. But maybe not. Colonel, how do you interpret what he was talking about and you, too, Robert?

FRANCONA: He said if we don't see the inclusion, if the army command structure doesn't include the Kurds and the Shia and the Sunni, he says then we're not going to do this. I don't know what he meant we're not going to do. And this is what the advisers are going to do initially, they're going to see what the command structure looks like, what the leadership looks like and report back.

And if they report back, I suspect they're going to report that there is not the inclusion there because the general staff has changed in the last three years. Then what does the president do? Does he say, OK, No more advisers? No more air strikes at all?

FEYERICK: And let me just be clear on one thing - and Josh, I'm going to ask you to jump in but I want Robert to answer this question first. By sending military advisers right now, is this an attempt to stave off any incursion by ISIS forces into the capital? Is that what we're really looking at here?

MCFADDEN: Well, that would be a part of it, but as we spoke about in the previous segment. It's an incremental approach here in fact finding and truth on the ground. And then in forming the approach that Washington takes from there.

Now, the second part of that, though, most definitely is part of the intelligence requirements. What is the threat for ISIS Baghdad but U.S. interests as well. Spill over into allied countries around the area. That solves part of it. I mean, the U.S. had an extraordinarily complex situation with Syria. Now you have this situation inextricably tied with Iraq.

FEYERICK: Of course. And everybody is backing everybody, everybody is sort of in bed with each other. Nobody knows who to back. It's incredibly confusing. Final thoughts. Does the United States come out well after this? Yes or no? Colonel?

FRANCONA: No.

FEYERICK: Robert?

MCFADDEN: Potential for yes, but difficult.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard to see the yes. FEYERICK: It's hard to see the yes. And Josh Rogin there via satellite, what do you think? The U.S. comes out of this looking OK or not?

ROGIN: It's hard to see how the U.S. increases its power and influence in Iraq through this episode. It's not clear to me from that interview, which is a great interview, by the way, what leverage President Obama thinks we have over the Iraqis to get them to do what we want.

Let's remember they have another option which they are taking, it is Iran. Thousands of Iranian troops on the ground. Iranian Kurds force in operational control over battalion, Shiite militias joining the fight today as CNN reported from brave reporters on the ground. So why would they choose our 300 people in exchange for what we want them to do as opposed to the Iranians giving them thousands of people in exchange for nothing? And the other that was really interesting thing about President Obama's comments is that he said we must make a distinction between ISIS in Syria and the war against Assad and ISIS in Iraq and the war against Maliki.

FEYERICK: Right. And no one knows whether we can do that. All right. Josh, we need a roadmap. We need a roadmap and we need whatever we can get to find our way out of this situation.

Gentlemen, thank you so much. We appreciate all of your insights. Really informative. Fascinating, wish we could keep talking.

All right. Well, here's a quick happy story about regular citizens making their mark. (INAUDIBLE) is a U.S. airman from Washington state. HE was on his way back to his base in Texas when his car broke down in Utah. Well, one of Rowan's friends posted on Facebook "a U.S. servicemen needs help."

Several people in the area saw the post and got involved, really involved. Someone stored his car for free. Someone gave him a rental car for free and a local car dealer replaced the airman's engine also for free. Here's why -

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that it's time we as a nation served those that protect us.

STAFF SGT. ROWAN COASH, U.S. AIR FORCE: It was absolutely amazing. The overwhelming support that I got, I really don't know how to put it into words.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And with their help, Staff Sergeant Coash made it back to base on time.

Well, I'm Deborah Feyerick, I will see you back here at the top of the hour. "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." begins right after this quick break.

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