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New Day

Interview with Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Ohio; Obama Says the U.S. Will Not Be Intimidated; A Look at How the U.K. is Handling the Threat of ISIS

Aired September 03, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: They were hurting the Russian economy, but they sure are not slowing Vladimir Putin. So, what can be done to turn his direction?

REP. MARCY KAPTUR (D), OHIO: Well, sanctions are long term. We need short-term actions that help the Ukrainian people defend themselves, and against the Russian military, that is a very great hope. But I do believe with a bill that I've introduced, along with Congressman Gurlock of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a bill that would allow military supplies to be provided as well as intelligence capabilities.

I think that that's something that we should support. We have equipment coming out of Afghanistan. I think it would be very easy for this to happen. The Ukrainians have to fight their own battle, again, against Russian forces without intelligence. It's very, very difficult, and my goodness, they didn't even have equipment to stop tanks that were coming over their border.

So, Europe left them defenseless. The NATO structure was not effective in terms of allowing nations like Ukraine to easily come into a security umbrella. I think we need that new security umbrella. I think it will involve nations like Estonia, obviously nations like Poland and hopefully Ukraine.

There was always a division in Ukraine as to whether or not the political parties there wanted to support accession to NATO. There was also a reluctance on Europe's part to take on some of the economic and military and social challenges of Ukraine, but this is one of those moments in history where that kind of decision has to be made.

BOLDUAN: This is a moment in history. It sure absolutely feels like it this morning.

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, thank you very much for your time. Thank you very much.

KAPTUR: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: OK.

The video of Steven Sotloff's beheading, we're going to continue to talk about this. It may hold clues to the man who killed him and another American journalist James Foley what. Can be learned from that video? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back to NEW DAY. Here's a look at some of your other headlines. Another American has been infected with the Ebola virus. The missionary group SIM USA announced Tuesday that one of its doctors in Liberia had tested positive for the virus. CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden who is just back from a visit to the region warned Tuesday that this outbreak is gaining momentum and becoming harder to stop every day.

Human tests of an experimental Ebola vaccine begin in Maryland. This week, a group of three healthy volunteers are the first to get this vaccine.

Apple says the hacking that resulted in celebrity nude photos being leaked online was not due to a breech of its iCloud storage system. The company says it appears that individual accounts were targeted.

In the meantime, Home Depot is investigating a possible large-scale data breach following reports by security firm of stolen credit and debit card information being posted for sale online.

Beginning today, all of the 7,700 CVS stores nationwide, they will be tobacco-free. This move fulfills a pledge that the company made back in February that includes changing its corporate name to CVS Health. Customers that are looking to buy cigarettes will now find only products designed to help them quit smoking. CVS is the second largest drug store chain in the U.S. behind only Walgreens.

All right. Let's talk weather with meteorologist Indra Petersons. She's keeping track of the weather forecast for us.

It's too early to look to the weekend.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

PEREIRA: We're approaching autumn. Are we starting to see things change a little bit?

PETERSONS: It's getting a little better, but I'm hearing a lot of complainers, especially out of the Northeast. I mean, it was difficult yesterday. A lot of widespread showers were out there.

But today, more kind of concentrated, down to the Southeast, jet stream still stays well to the north and severe forms isolated around Minnesota and maybe the Dakotas there.

So, here's the pattern on the tail end of the cold front that brought the heavy rain around the Ohio valley yesterday. That's kind of heading down to the Southeast. So, that will bring more widespread showers. High pressure builds into the Northeast. So, a much better day in store for you.

Meanwhile, into the Midwest, another storm by the end of the week will bring a return of more of those showers. But today, again, only one to three inches in the southeast. That will be your hot spot other than where the severe weather is. What everyone has really been talking about is, yes, the heat.

Look at all these record breaking temperatures. We're talking triple digits in the Northeast and down to the Southeast and even back in through Texas so everyone is wondering when is this going to get better, right? It should feel like fall, but the temperatures still five to ten degrees above normal.

What do we need? We need a cold front to finally cool off. We're not going to see that until Thursday or so starting off from Minneapolis. We'll see the cooling and then by Friday, yes, maybe we'll start to see more towards the Ohio valley and temperatures knocking that back down.

But not until the weekend itself do we see the jet stream still kind of sag back where it should be bringing that heat and retreating back down to the Southeast. So, we'll feel a little bit better, just in time, I may add, towards the weekend -- guys.

BOLDUAN: All right. Indra, thank you so much.

U.S. intelligence officials are analyzing the ISIS video showing the execution of Steven Sotloff and perhaps trying to match it to the James Foley killing video. What are they hoping to learn? That's next.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, a daring rescue operation as England tries saving their citizen from a similar fate. What happened? We're going to tell you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: President Obama lashing out at ISIS this morning over the beheading video that's emerging overnight of American Steven Sotloff, the president vowing justice saying the United States' objective is to degrade and destroy the terrorist group.

This new video shows Sotloff being killed by an ISIS fighter cloaked in black. He appears to be the same person who killed James Foley last month.

What can be learned from this video?

Joining us this morning to talk about what we might glean from these horrific videos, Gary Berntsen, former director of operations at the CIA. Ghaffar Hussain, he's the managing editor of Quilliam, a think tank dedicated to reducing extremism.

Gentlemen, I'm glad you could join me today to talk about such a bleak, bleak subject. We're revisiting this yet again, another journalist beheaded. Horrifying to watch, horrifying to know about.

Gary, I want to start with you. Beyond the horror and barbarity of this video, what strikes you the most about this video? What stands out to you?

GARY BERNTSEN, FORMER DIRECTORATE OF OPERATIONS FOR CIA: Well, first off, sort of when you talk about analyzing the video, you're depending on how it was introduced into the media. There are ways that you can do, some technical forensic to see maybe what type of camera it was done, time and date stamp. There are things like that that may be able to ascertain.

Of course, they're going to do that and then they're going to add that, you know, what they learned from the video to all the other intel out there, the human -- the humint, the sigint, the overhead, all these things to sort of come up with a picture to sort of, you know, glean what they can from that.

PEREIRA: Back up. You drop some lingo on me there. Break it down for me so that I can understand that. They're going to look at which --

BERNTSEN: Humint, we're talking human intelligence.

PEREIRA: Yes.

BERNTSEN: Human intelligence, signals intelligent, overhead, satellites, drones, all of those things. All of these things will be put together with that photo as they attempt to ascertain where this act took place and who the people that were involved.

PEREIRA: Ghaffar, I want to ask you. What can we learn about this? You hear about some of this intel and you want to look at the background. There are things you will pay attention to, that the analysts will pay attention to.

We know they are on the move. ISIS is not sticking to one spot. They're on the move.

HUSSAIN: Yes. ISIS controls a landmass the size of the United Kingdom. This is a very well-financed organization that controls a lot of land, a lot of territory both in Iraq and in Syria so they can be in any number of places holding these hostages. I think we do need to look at bigger picture.

PEREIRA: Okay.

HUSSAIN: Obviously as much as we need to focus on we want to help these particular hostages, the key here is to roll back ISIS as an organization. Reduce the influence in the region, support Iraqi and Peshmerga forces that are fighting ISIS directly with air strikes and with weaponry support and intelligence and anything else that can be helpful to them. I think we need to focus more on that. It's very unlikely in my opinion that we're going to track down this individual or we're going to find a building where these hostages are being kept and rescue them in a daring raid. I think that's highly unlikely to happen.

PEREIRA: Last time around we heard officials in the U.K. say we are going to get him, we are going to search him out. I understand what you say, that you have to zoom out and look at the bigger picture and that is obviously what's going to be done, but in terms of the significance of this, this -- this brutality, this beheading, help us understand the messaging that ISIS is trying , and Gary, I'll get to you in a second. Help us under, Ghaffar, the messaging, and you're having to deal with it on your end of what they are trying to terrify the world with.

HUSSAIN: I think this is their way of trying to put pressure on Western audiences, to say, look, we are going to behead your citizens in this very brutal almost erratic fashion in order to make you put pressure on your government to not intervene in the region. I think that is from their point of view that's their plan. And obviously they live in a war zone. These are blood-thirsty jihadists. For them a beheading with a blunt knife is no big deal for them. Obviously its horrific, for them it's no big deal. So, that's what they hope to achieve with this video.

I think they also hope to show capability, to show that they are a strong organization, they have a plan b, et cetera, and that obviously attracts more recruits and more support from the people that they are targeting. I think, in my opinion that's going to backfire. I think these videos will actually strengthen the resolve of people both in America and the U.K. to say, look we really need to take these guys on. We can't afford not to take these guys on. This is our problem. They are killing our citizens. Before that they were killing innocent women and children from the Yazidi community, from the Shia community, from the Christian community - -

PEREIRA: Right.

HUSSAIN: - -in northern Iraq and this is a group that is focused on global domination. They will hit western targets eventually anyway.

PERIRA: And Gary, to his point, the fact is you are poking, if you will, a sleeping bear. They have got to understand that U.K., the United States, other countries around the world are not going to stand for the senseless and brutal and barbaric killing of journalists or anybody else for that matter and that they are going to strike right at the core of the organization.

BERNTSEN: Clearly the murders of these two journalists have been done to intimidate, humiliate and discredit U.S. national leadership. The result though is going to be -- and I agree with the other guest. It's going to strengthen the resolve of the U.S. I mean, the U.S. has a lot of internal divisions, but this one thing we will all agree on is defending our citizens and taking on groups that are killing our people. So, I think that their strategy is going to backfire, and ultimately it will end up in that group's destruction.

PEREIRA: Well, we certainly know there are other journalists being held, other hostages being held by ISIS and other rebel groups. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me and looking at this tape and sort of analyzing what authorities are going to be looking at. Appreciate it this morning. We're going to take a short break. Another life threatened by ISIS terrorists, this one of a national -- a British national. We're learning the U.K. tried to rescue him but failed. How is Britain going to respond to this newest threat? We'll take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: This morning the life of another hostage is in the hands of ISIS, hangs in the balance.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BOLDUAN (voice-over): In the new video in which American Steven Sotloff is beheaded, a British citizen is also threatened by the executioner in the video, and this morning we've learned from British officials that an unsuccessful attempt was previously made to rescue that captive. British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to hold an emergency meeting today on the ISIS situation. A lot going on, clearly. Joining us now to discuss all of this is Sir Edward Garnier, a member of the British Parliament. Sir Edward, thank you so much for your time.

SIR EDWARD GARNIER, MEMBER OF BRITISH PARLIAMENT: Of course.

BOLDUAN: It's horrible that we have to be speaking under these circumstances. As I just mentioned in the video, showing the horrible execution of Steven Sotloff a British citizen was also threatened, but now we're learning that there was an unsuccessful attempt to rescue the British hostage. What do you know of that effort? What can you tell us?

GARNIER: Well, very little. There's a little of a lot going on in the internal discussions in government which don't get out either to members of Parliament or to the public at large let alone the media. But clearly from my own experience in government during the time of the Libyan excursion the government and in alliance with your own government, the United States government of course is cooperating both on intelligence and also no doubt in relation to special forces activities, but all that's going on is not all that we see.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely right. I mean, what this really does is bring into very sharp focus what a huge threat ISIS is. We often talk about it here in the United States to American citizens, but also in the U.K. The prime minister has said as much, and he is now pushing for a major crackdown, a change in policy really, a major crackdown to try to stop, stem the tide of support in ISIS cracking down on passport holders. Do you support that move? How is it being received?

GARNIER: I do. What we must not do is have a promise. We're dealing with an asymmetric problem. We're not dealing with a military enemy with a uniform and tanks and so forth which we can recognize as we used to recognize in the Second World War, or the Korean War or any other, if you like, conventional war. We're dealing with essentially a collection of psychopaths who take pleasure indeed in executing people on video and taunting us with what they have done.

We don't need to descend to their level, but what we do need to do is to make sure that our own citizens, British citizens, don't go across to Syria and to northern Iraq in order to become radicalized, in order to commit acts of terrorism, and we need to make sure that those whom we can keep out of our country, both your own and ours, are not permitted to return. We are -- because we are a civilized nation, just like yours, we have to abide by civilized norms and the rule of law. We cannot render people stateless who have only one nationality. Nonetheless, all of these things will contribute towards inhibiting a radical activity and terrorist activity in our own countries, but more importantly I think we need to make sure that the people of Iraq and the people of Syria defend themselves against these psychopathic tyrants.

BOLDUAN: Well, and that also gets to the role of NATO. I want to get to that in just one second, but on this topic one estimate -- I've heard from a couple of experts that there are some 500 British citizens that are over fighting with ISIS at this point. Those numbers obviously squishy because they change all the time. Very simply, how did it get so bad in Britain?

GARNIER: Well, it's not that bad in Britain. It's very easy to exaggerate from outside. Britain carries on. The United Kingdom carries on. It is a resilient and buoyant economy.

BOLDUAN: Of course.

GARNIER: It's a resilient and buoyant social and cohesive country. But, of course, just as in any other country be it in France, or in Germany or in Italy there are the odd lunatic who goes abroad to be seduced by the enthusiasm of the moment. Once these people go abroad, if we can capture them and arrest them and bring them back to this country for trial, assuming they are British citizens, all well and good. These people need to be locked up for a very long time, but if they go abroad and get themselves killed, well I'm afraid, good riddance. We don't need them back here and we certainly have no sympathy for them if they go abroad and get themselves killed. Many of them will be. Many of them are idiots, naive who go across there in hoping to find some great cause to support but they end up, as I said at the outset, associating with a collection of psychopathic tyrants.

BOLDUAN: Just a moment ago you talked about the need to help the citizens of Syria and of Iraq to be able to defend themselves, and that also gets to a perfect point, especially this week where David Cameron will be hosting the NATO summit. What is the role of NATO, do you believe, in taking on ISIS?

GARNIER: Well, NATO is the West's only and strongest defense organization. Your president is in Estonia right now having discussions over there, and the NATO summit will take place in Wales in the United Kingdom starting tomorrow. They will have to look at the big geopolitical problems that we face, both on the Russian- Ukraine border but also in the Middle East, and I think the Middle Eastern problem is almost more intractable. I'm afraid there will be more deaths, I'm afraid there will be more bad news from the Middle East before we clear this thing up, and it may not be cleared up for many years to come. But essentially what we need to do is to provide the defense support to the Iraqis and the -- the Kurds in order that they can have the military fight in them to defeat ISIL at home.

BOLDUAN: It seems like that is going to be a protracted effort to say the very, very least. Sir Edward Garnier, thank you very much for your time. GARNIER: Not at all.

BOLDUAN: Of course.

Alright. From ISIS, the fight in ISIS in Iraq and Syria to what is going on on the ground in Eastern Ukraine. We're following a lot of news this morning let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We will not be intimidated. Justice will be served.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A second American journalist, Steven Sotloff, brutally behead by ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The executioner appears to be the same individual who we saw in the Foley video.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this is a real moment where the president can show that leadership.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president is either in denial or overwhelmed, I'm not sure which.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russia must admit that it is a party to the conflict and take genuine steps that will lead to a de-escalation of the conflict.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning, welcome back to NEW DAY. We are following major breaking news on two fronts this morning. First, President Obama speaking out after ISIS beheads another American. He is vowing that the terror group will pay. The government confirmed overnight that the video of Steven Sotloff's murder is authentic. The president says the killers will feel the long reach of the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

OBAMA: Overnight our government determined that tragically Steven was taken from us in a horrific act of violence.