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New Day

Steven Sotloff's Mother Pleads for His Release; Interview with Former U.S. Amb. to Iraq James Jeffrey; Concerns of Ebola Outbreak in West Africa Continue; Ukraine Says Russian Troops Now Fighting Directly

Aired August 28, 2014 - 07:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Shirley Sotloff desperately appealing directly to the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, eight days after the militant group threatened to execute her son. In the nearly two-minute statement, Shirley demonstrates her knowledge of Islamic history, culture and morality.

SHIRLEY SOTLOFF, MOTHER OF STEVEN SOTLOFF HELD CAPTIVE BY ISIS: I've learned a lot about Islam.

MARQUEZ: Trying to persuade Steven's captors to release him, appealing to the same religion ISIS says justifies its violence.

SOTLOFF: I've learned that Islam teaches that no individual should be held responsible for the sins of others.

MARQUEZ: She even addresses Baghdadi by his self-appointed title of Caliph, a possible strategic move playing to his stated authority you.

SOTLOFF: You, the Caliph, can grant amnesty. I ask you to use your authority to spare his life.

MARQUEZ: Sotloff hoping for a homecoming similar to Peter Theo Curtis, the American hostage released this week.

PETER THEO CURTIS, JOURNALIST FREED FROM SYRIA: Total strangers have been coming up to me saying, hey, we're just glad you're home. Welcome home.

MARQUEZ: Curtis is now at home with his mother in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after spending nearly two years in captivity held by a different jihadist group in Syria.

CURTIS: I say a huge thank you from my heart, from the bottom of my heart.

MARQUEZ: This as we're learning about more Americans on the other side of the fight. Reports that Douglas McAuthor McCain, a Minneapolis native killed and fighting for ISIS over the weekend isn't alone. According to a Syrian coalition fighting against is, another American also fighting alongside the group was killed. He has not yet been identified. (END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Our thanks to Miguel for that report. As this ISIS threat spreads, so, too, does the urgency to battle these terrorists. The U.S. looking to form a coalition to possibly join this fight entering with military action. U.S. officials say there are some countries lined up as candidates, but many of these countries with capable militaries have concerns of memories of the 2003 Iraq invasion fresh in their mind. We go straight to White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski with more on this coalition building. Good morning, Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It seems like we've gotten to the point that we're pretty much hearing the same kinds of things for about the last two weeks, right. But equally evident are the deep complexities involved in making a decision like this. And what the White House is saying it's doing right now is considering the options available, gathering information and, in its words, enlisting international partners to be a part of whatever this effort will be exactly moving forward.

Yes, that includes the expected partnerships, Britain and France, and, of course, we know the U.K. has already been involved in trying to find the killers of American journalist James Foley. But the U.K. says they have not been asked at this point to conduct air strikes by the U.S. Just today the French president was talking about the region and the concerns that terrorism will spread.

But what the house has been emphasizing lately is the importance of regional partnerships in this. For example, to encourage Sunni tribes to band together and fight ISIS. John?

BERMAN: Michelle, thanks so much. That cooperation in Iraq, the question is will that cooperation translate to Syria as well. Michelle Kosinski at the White House, thanks so much. Alisyn?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: For more on building that coalition let's bring in former ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey. Mr. Ambassador, thanks for joining us.

JAMES JEFFREY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Thank you for having me, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Before we get to the coalition, I want to share some breaking news that we've just learned. ISIS has set fire to oil wells near Mosul as Peshmerga fires were moving closer, and now the fighting is closing in around those strategic oil fields. What do you think the U.S. should do about that?

JEFFREY: Those are the Zuma fields, Alisyn, and I know the area. The U.S. forces are actually providing air support for the Kurds as they move forward. This is part of the campaign that the president announced, and it's a good thing that we're on the offensive against these guys up in the north.

CAMEROTA: OK, very good. Let's talk about the coalition. Which countries do you think would be willing to get on board with the U.S. in terms of air strikes in Iraq or Syria?

JEFFREY: It is very hard to say who will get on board with us on air strikes. But the point is we only need other countries to bomb with us for political reasons. We have enough military capability ourselves. What we need is, as you mentioned earlier on your show, the political support by the Sunni Arab states to peel off these Arab tribes, these Sunni tribes, in Iraq and also in Syria. We need people who can work with us on the Syrian resistance, and that's going to be a long haul, but it's something that we can do because everyone is afraid of ISIS at this point.

CAMEROTA: And what about Syria itself? Do you think there will come a time where we are forced to collaborate with them because they want ISIS gone, we want ISIS gone.

JEFFREY: Absolutely not. The Syrian government is another terror organization. It doesn't threaten us directly, but it threatens the people of the region, the very people that we want to form a coalition with. It's very, very important that we not get in bed with the Syrian government, because for countries like Saudi Arabia and Turkey, it is the enemy as much as ISIS. That's why this is so complicated and why we have to start as we're doing in Iraq before we bite off bigger challenge in Syria.

CAMEROTA: You would think that every country in the world would be willing to partner with us to fight is. No one wants is to gain a toe hold anywhere, but do you think that President Obama is encountering reluctance?

JEFFREY: He's not encountering reluctance such as we saw in 2003 when many countries simply thought it was wrong to invade Iraq. Everybody is rooting us on and cheering American air strikes. Whether they are willing to do this themselves, given their own constitution and legal restraints, and whether they want in the case of the countries in the region to directly antagonize ISIS, that's another question. This is something we've faced ever since the Korean War in 1950. When we take the lead, countries do follow, but they don't follow to the degree that we would like because they know we'll do the job with or without them.

CAMEROTA: CentCom tells us that the U.S. has conducted more than 100 air strikes across Iraq in the past few weeks. Do we know if it's made any dent in ISIS?

JEFFREY: It has made -- in terms of ISIS' forces, 100 air strikes are not going to do very much. We see this. These are mainly on one or two vehicles per strike. But what it is doing is when you combine air firepower with ground maneuver, and in this case with the Kurdish forces and some Iraqi special forces, you get strategic results, such as retaking the Mosul dam and moving on these oil fields in Zuma. That's the importance of these air strikes, not how many Humvees or trucks have been hit and how many ISIS soldiers have been killed. They have plenty of those. What they don't have is terrain that is strategic that we can take away. That's what we're trying to do.

CAMEROTA: As you know, the president justifies the air strikes to begin with to protect the Yezidis who were trapped on that mountain top, and they were being slaughtered by ISIS. Now that they have been rescued there are other ethnic minorities who are also obviously being persecuted by ISIS. How long do we keep doing this?

JEFFREY: That's a good question because this is just a justification that covers the deeper reality. Alisyn, we're in a war with ISIS. They certainly think, as we saw with the Foley video, that they are in a war with us. They are in a war with the entire civilized world. And it's time and the administration is taking the first steps to put together a coalition as best we can and get down to the work of driving these guys back.

CAMEROTA: And Mr. Ambassador, are they a regional threat or a threat to the U.S. homeland?

JEFFREY: They are a threat both to the homeland and to the region, but their threat to the region is so great and so compelling and right in the center of region, this is an Afghanistan off to the side, that it threatens our core interests directly in the region, our allies from Turkey to Israel, and, again, finally, the homeland.

CAMEROTA: Ambassador James Jeffrey, thanks so much for all the great information. Nice to see you.

JEFFREY: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's go over to Michaela for headlines.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thanks so much, Alisyn. Seven minutes past the hour. The FBI is investigating coordinated cyber-attacks on JP Morgan Chase and other major banks, possibly from Russia. Experts say this hack was sophisticated. Hackers were able to break through bank and security and steal information from accounts. A U.S. official told CNN the extent of the damage and the source rather still is not clear, but the timing certainly raises suspicions given U.S. sanctions against Russia. We'll keep following that story for you.

More than 1,500 people have now died in West Africa's Ebola outbreak that has sickened more than 3,000 people, many of them just in the past three weeks despite hopes that the virus was slowing. The director of the centers for disease control, Tom Frieden, is sounding the alarm and telling CNN that the situation is far worse than he had feared.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, DIRECTOR OF CDC: The world cannot isolate Liberia and West Africa. That won't help, and it will make it harder to stop the outbreak, and ultimately it will increase the risk in other places because every day this outbreak goes on, it increases the risk for another export to another country. So the sooner the world comes together and helps Liberia, Liberians and West Africans to stop it, the safer we'll all be.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PEREIRA: A CDC employee was flown back to the United States after being exposed to Ebola. The agency says he is not sick, but they will monitor him for three weeks and watch for symptoms.

In Indiana, a violent explosion at a BP refinery. According to local stations, folks as far away as two miles could feel the blast. A fire department official says BP's in-house fire department was able to douse the fire which was reportedly ignited when a compressor exploded. One worker was taken to hospital as a precaution but was later released. According to "The Chicago Sun-Times," interesting coincidence, maybe. Wednesday also happened to be an explosion at that refinery in Whiting, Indiana, in 1955 that killed two people, so kind of crazy that it would happen on the same day.

CAMEROTA: Scary.

BERMAN: Incredible how much water they were dumping into there.

CAMEROTA: And didn't seem to make a dent.

BERMAN: I know, crazy.

All right, we're going to delve into this new video dealing with a mother pleading for her son. Also crisis in Ukraine, the president of Ukraine saying this is an invasion. Russian troops have invaded his country. We're going to have a live report from Moscow with some analysis into what exactly this incursion means.

CAMEROTA: And, as were you saying, John, that mother desperate to free her son from ISIS. Could a video message from Steven Sotloff's mother be the key to getting him out alive? We'll talk to Christiane Amanpour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, breaking news this morning, and it is an alarming headlines. The tensions escalating in Ukraine after an apparent surge in fighting with separatists being aided by Russian soldiers. Ukraine's president says this is an invasion. The Russian military is invading. The prime minister of Ukraine now calling for an immediate U.N. Security Council meeting to address what is an increased presence at a minimum by the Russian military now being confirmed by the rebel groups fighting alongside them. The latest fighting centered around a key coastal town located right on the sea. It's believed to be rich in that area with gas and minerals. Phil Black live in Moscow with more. Phil, we've heard rumblings from Ukraine in a long time, and there's a lot of misinformation here, but this time this seems different this morning.

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is much bigger, John, than the incursions Ukraine has accused Russia of before. It's much greater in scale, as they describe it.

They talk about the Russian military now being directly involved in fighting Ukrainian government forces in two key locations, near the large key city of Donetsk and, as you mentioned there, also by the coast on the Sea of Azov. That's a key location and it's also one where there has not been significant recent fighting, so it is opening a new front in this conflict.

Now, if this is true, this could be the Russian move that Western governments have been warning about for some time, a move to directly intervene to try and change the momentum on the ground because of recent Ukrainian government gains in the fighting. They looked poised for almost an outright military victory. At times, they have been concerned that, as that increases, the greater the chance that Russia could then potentially intervene.

We've heard from a rebel leader interviewed by Russian state media today acknowledging that, yes, there are Russian soldiers on the ground fighting in Eastern Ukraine, but he says they're all either veterans or on vacation, spending their holiday time in the east of the country. It could explain why there are thousands of Russians there. It would not explain why there's a large-scale presence of Russian military hardware in the region, John.

BERMAN: Sort of an invasion holiday. Phil Black in Moscow for us. Thank you so much.

All right. This does feel different, as Phil was saying. The U.S. is reacting this morning. Want to go straight to the Pentagon. Our Barbara Starr is there. Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. The Pentagon waking up this morning to a very different situation. A U.S. official telling me a short time ago that intelligence now indicates there are indeed about 1,000 -- up to 1,000 Russian troops in this area of Southern Ukraine that Phil just described. They are about 12 miles inside the border, fighting with Russian weapons -- so this is not middle men, these are not people on vacation, there are not separatists -- regular Russian troops fighting with Russian weapons that have also moved in.

A short time ago, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine tweeted this, and I want to read it to you. It sums up where we stand. The ambassador saying, the U.S. ambassador saying, quote, "Russian-supplied tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and multiple rocket launchers have been insufficient to defeat Ukraine's armed forces, so now an increasing number of Russian troops are intervening directly in the fighting on Ukrainian territory."

We also know that U.S. intelligence indicates the Russians have moved in a number of long range anti-air weapons. That will keep Ukrainian air forces out of the sky. This comes at a very awkward time for President Obama. He is scheduled to travel to the NATO summit in Wales next week. The situation with Russia was topic number one on the NATO summit; now it remains to seen what steps Washington and the other capitals will take next. John.

BERMAN: Russian troops with Russian weapons, direct involvement in fighting in Ukraine, alarming. Barbara Starr at Pentagon, thanks so much. Alisyn? CAMEROTA: All right, for more on all of this, let's bring in Nicholas Burns. He's the former ambassador to NATO and professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Mr. Ambassador, thanks so much for being here. Ukraine says that, as we speak, they are experiencing a bona fide invasion from Russia. What do you think is happening at this hour?

AMBASSADOR NICHOLAS BURNS, FMR. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Well, it's an ominous turning point and "The New York Times" is calling it a stealth invasion because Putin and the Russian government continue to deny that they have fighters inside Ukraine, that they have advanced air missile defense systems, and that they've got artillery, but all the evidence points to the fact that the Russians have been there for weeks.

They have been firing at Ukrainian positions and, of course, what the Russians are concerned about is that the Ukrainian military forces have made tremendous progress in fighting against the Russian separatists over the last month or so. They're trying to reverse that trend. They want to keep Ukraine -- Eastern Ukraine, that is -- in a state of instability so that they can have a measure of control. It's a very, very negative turning point

CAMEROTA: You say that Russia is denying that they're sending fighters, though Ukraine says that they have captured ten Russian forces. Russia says that these are people on vacation, that they're basically freelancing there, that they weren't sent by Russia. What do you make of that?

BURNS: It's just not believable, but it is out of the playbook of President Putin. He's a former KGB officer. He's used to and favors covert operations. He's used to saying one thing and doing another.

There was a remarkable briefing at State Department yesterday when the State Department spokesperson effectively accused the Russian government of lying about what it's doing. That doesn't happen very often in international politics. It's happening now because it's plain for everyone to see that the Russian government is using its forces inside Ukraine to try to counter the recent offensive by the -- by Kiev, by the Ukrainian government.

I think this does raise, as Barbara Starr, your reporter, said at the Pentagon, some stakes for the United States. President Obama will be at the NATO summit in Wales next week. This may be reason now for greater U.S. and European sanctions against the Russian government to drive up the costs economically to President Putin for what he's doing.

CAMEROTA: And let's talk about that. What can the U.S. government do? Sanctions have been under way in some form or another, so what does it look like to raise the stakes?

BURNS: The U.S. can do two things. The first is to push the European governments, especially Germany, towards new economic sanctions. The Russian economy is integrated with that of Europe and the rest of the world; it can't afford more powerful sanctions. That's really the best weapon that the U.S. and Europe have.

The other thing that the United States can do is now to consider arming the Ukrainian government and delivering more sophisticated weapons to the Ukrainians so that they can fight back. Because what's at stake here is that Ukraine is just trying to protect its own sovereign territory, and we have now a major country in Europe, Russia, effectively coming over the border, an outright violation of international law. It's not possible that the United States can just stand aside and do nothing, and it's not. And I think there has to be serious consideration given to that second option, arming, in a more serious way, the Ukrainian military forces.

CAMEROTA: About that second option, has the U.S. been helping Kiev, and to what level?

BURNS: To a very limited extent. Most of the Western assistance to Ukraine has been economic, and that's badly needed because the Ukrainian economy is on the ropes. But they also need sophisticated weapons to fight back.

I think President Obama has handled this in an effective way. There's no question that the United States is not going to enter this fray militarily. We shouldn't. We don't have a legal or political or moral reason to do so. But we do have an interest in helping a major state in Europe, Ukraine, defend itself from outright aggression, and I think there will be more talk about that in advance of the summit meeting at NATO next week.

CAMEROTA: Boy, this NATO summit is happening at an intense time. I mean, between the Middle East, between what's happening in Ukraine, it feels a little bit like the world's blowing up.

BURNS: Well, I think there are a couple of major issues for next week at the NATO summit when President Obama is there. The first is Russia --what can we do to deter any further Russian incursions into Ukraine? The second, of course, is ISIS and the need for some of the European countries, the NATO allies, to help the United States to beat back the ISIS forces through the air strikes. And I think, third, they're going to have to think about the Afghan mission because, as you know, the NATO forces are scheduled to leave by the end of 2016. Does that make sense now that we've seen Iraq destabilize with the departure of the American troops? Shouldn't we leave at least some troops in Afghanistan to protect the Afghan government there?

So it's going to be a very consequential summit meeting next week for President Obama and the other NATO leaders.

CAMEROTA: That's a lot to tackle. Ambassador Nicholas Burns, thanks so much for previewing it with us.

BURNS: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Great to talk with you.

Next, a mother's desperate video message to ISIS begging terrorists to spare her son. Will this work? Christiane Amanpour is going to join us to talk about it after the break.

And we're learning more about the American turned ISIS fighter. When did U.S. intelligence first get wind of Douglas McCain?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOTLOFF: Steven is a loyal and generous son, brother and grandson. He's an honorable man and has always tried to help the weak. As a mother, I ask your justice to be merciful and not punish my son for matters he has no control over. I want what every mother wants, to live to see her children's children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's Shirley Sotloff. An emotional plea to ISIS there, the mother asking the militants to release her son who is right now being held hostage. Steven Sotloff's life threatened directly in the video where American James Foley was executed. The Islamic extremists say that Sotloff's fate depends on what President Obama does next in Iraq.

I want to bring in Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent and host of CNN International's "AMANPOUR". Also a mom. And, Christiane, hearing that plea from the mother there is just remarkable.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's tragic. It's really tragic, because she knows very well that it's happened to another son, the son of the Foley family. She's seen her own son in that video and she's desperate. Obviously, these families have been trying behind the scenes with many government agencies to try to get their children released, those who are in fact held by ISIS and a number of other extremist groups, and this is a last-ditch attempt presumably.

It is, in fact, according to hostage negotiators and those who work in attempting to get these captives released, quite rare for a parent to make this direct, overt video plea to the terrorists. But it is a last-ditch attempt and she's going to do everything she possibly can to try to get her child set free.

BERMAN: It's understandable. I mean, I would do everything I possibly could, too. And she appeals to this man, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the head of ISIS. She gives him respect. She refers to him as caliph, and she also brings up religion. I want to listen to one more part of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOTLOFF: Since Steven's capture, I've learned a lot about Islam. I've learned that Islam teaches no individual should be held responsible for the sins of others. Steven has no control over the actions of the U.S. government.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: How do you think this will play, Christiane, not just inside ISIS but in the region?

AMANPOUR: Well, I think in the region, it'll play absolutely fine, because most people in the region know that what's being done, overtly, in the name of Islam is not about Islam. They know that. Most people in the region are against that kind of fanatic extremism.

But whether it actually makes an impact on those who are actualyl the fanatics is another matter. She's clearly done her homework. She clearly understands and knows how to talk and how to try to appeal to them. What she's trying to do, again, according to what we hear and according to these experts, is sort of obviously not aggravate the situation but try in a way, in a gentle way, to shame them into ceasing and desisting from a barbaric act. And that is what she's trying to do.

BERMAN: And this is just one piece of this incredibly complicated chessboard going on right now. You have a war inside Iraq. You have a war inside Syria. You have a hostage crisis right now. You have a White House deciding what to do, not just in Iraq and Syria.

This morning, Christiane, based on your conversations with people in the administration here and also on the ground in Syria, where do things stand?

AMANPOUR: Well, mostly based on my conversations with the players on the ground in Syria, I have been told by the new leader of Syrian moderate opposition forces, the Free Syrian Army, FSA, that in May, in this spring, this past spring, they went to Washington. They spoke to President Obama and members of his Cabinet. They spoke to Congress.