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New Day

Hagel to Be Grilled on ISIS; U.S. Goes on Offensive Against ISIS; Is Arming Syrian Soldiers a Good Idea?; New Audio Gives Up-Close Look At Home-Grown Terrorist

Aired September 16, 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: Beyond Iraq, what will an air campaign against ISIS inside Syria look like? The challenges facing any U.S.- led coalition. They're big. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Thirty-three minutes past the hour. Let's give you a look at headlines.

And we start with ISIS. The Senate Armed Services Committee will grill Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Joint Chiefs chair, General Martin Dempsey, today on the ongoing threat from ISIS. In the meantime, President Obama's plan to train and equip Syrian rebels in the fight against ISIS, appears headed for quick passage, with Republican leaders in Congress helping to push it along.

There is one snag, House Republicans say they require the White House provide a detailed plan for arming and training Syrian rebels, before they give the go-ahead. A vote is expected tomorrow.

Breaking overnight. A terrible story, 500 migrants feared drowned in the Mediterranean Sea. The International Organization for Migration says that their boat was deliberately rammed and sunk by the very traffickers who were transporting them. The victims from the Middle East and Africa boarded the ship in Egypt over a week ago, about 3,000 migrants have lost their lives attempting to cross the Mediterranean to enter the European Union.

New details this morning in the fatal shooting by a young black man by police in Saratoga Springs, Utah. CNN has learned that the victim, 22-year-old Darrien Hunt was arrested in January for domestic assault and child abuse. Prosecutors say he was shot after he lunged at police with a samurai sword. Hunt's family, though, claims the sword was merely a toy and that he was killed because he was black. They say an autopsy shows Hunt was shot six times from behind.

An apology from Urban Outfitters, the retailer under fire for selling this -- a vintage one of a kind Kent State sweatshirt decorated with holes and a red, blood-spatter pattern. In 1970, four people were killed, shot and killed at Kent State during protests on the school's campus. Urban outfitters insist the shirt's appearance was caused by discoloration and natural wear and fraying?

Kent State officials say the company's decision to market the shirt was, quote, "beyond poor taste."

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Key question -- was it the only one like it?

PEREIRA: I believe it was. They've come under fire for other controversial shirts.

CUOMO: But if they made a lot of shirts that looked like that --

PEREIRA: Right, with blood spatter and holes.

CUOMO: Then they've got trouble, but if it's just one, then it's an indiscretion. I think that's the way it will play out, but we'll have to find out what the facts are.

Speaking facts, weather is about facts in it.

So, let's get to meteorologist Indra Petersons, keeping track of the latest forecast.

I like the matching black pattern, very strong, team NEW DAY.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you think we actually check this in morning. No, I don't think so.

All right. Let's talk about what's going on. We have Odile out there. And I do have to mention, still a tropical storm. And now, it is expected to affect the southwest.

Look at the moisture pulling into the Southwest. That means we have the threat for flooding and remember it was just a week ago that we saw some heavy rains out towards the Phoenix area. The concern is these places could still be seeing more heavy rainfall over the next several days.

Into the Northeast, another line of storms, take a look at the showers making its way into the region, all of this expected to be pretty light, only about an inch or so. If you're down into the southeast, you're goes to be looking at more scattered showers, thanks to a stationary front.

Temperature-wise, look at the contrast across the country. It feels like fall, it's going to stay that way over the next several days into the Northeast with highs in some 60s and some 70s, meanwhile, if I take you across the country, a lot of concerns especially out towards southern California today. Temperatures in the valleys, they're going to be 100 degrees. You're going to add the humidity, we talk about Odile, out there, with that moisture, it will make it feel like 110 degrees, a lot of wildfires across the region. There's a lot of concern with that as well.

It's a kind of like, where do you want to be across the country as it feels pretty good in the Northeast when you talk about what's going on out in the west.

BOLDUAN: My goodness. Thanks, Indra. There's a lot to look at right there. CUOMO: The country on fire.

BOLDUAN: On fire.

A new phase in the battle against ISIS. The U.S. military is now on the offensive. Hitting the terror group close to Baghdad.

So, what happens next? What are the pitfalls for this increased engagement?

CUOMO: And an American who may be a key part of ISIS. CNN has obtained recordings of him talking with fellow militant -- you will not believe some of the codes they used. Peanut butter and jelly? That means a call to jihad. Those recordings, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: We have breaking news for you overnight. It does seem as though the war against ISIS has begun. The U.S. military is taking the fight to the terrorists near Baghdad. This is the first time that it is an offensive more as opposed to just protecting U.S. positions.

The Pentagon confirms the bombing was offensive in nature, by the way. It's the first strike in the president's strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIS.

The question, what comes next? Why is it effective? How long is it going to take? Where does that it go from here? Isn't the real threat Syria?

Lots of questions -- lucky for you, we have CNN military analyst and lieutenant colonel, Rick Francona.

Rick, thank you for helping us through this.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Thanks, Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Let's get right after it, OK? So, this is the situation, this is where it's going on. 20 miles we're told southwest of Baghdad. That is relevant also frightening. How did they get so close? And what do we know about the success?

FRANCONA: Well, as ISIS came down the Euphrates Valley. They wanted to take this area down here. What we saw them is they went south around Baghdad, almost like they were trying to encircle it.

This is still a Sunni area here. But what it does is it cuts off Baghdad from this Shia area to the south. It's very smart move on the part of ISIS. They've been there for several weeks. A lot of fighting going on down there.

Yesterday in response to an Iraqi army request, U.S. put airpower in there and were able to stop ISIS. This is the first time we've seen that kind of coordination.

CUOMO: So, this was the right place to strike, not just because of proximity, but because of the tactics?

FRANCONA: Yes, this was an Iraqi unit under stress. They were being almost overwhelmed by ISIS and they called in for American air support. This is how it's supposed to work. This is how we're going to turn back ISIS in Iraq.

CUOMO: The easy way, doing it from above.

You said a couple of things that will might escape people, but are really important. Why are they here? It's a Sunni area. What do they want to do? They want to cut off the Shia.

That matters, they're not just terms of some far-away place, you have to remember all of this going on here is because this Sunnis were disenfranchised. ISIS is largely a bunch of angry Sunnis, and remember, when he says, when Rick says they came all the way down here? A big reason they got here is because these people who are the Sunnis in these areas, didn't fight the way they usually do.

Isn't that true?

FRANCONA: Not only didn't fight, they joined in the fight. There's a lot of disenfranchised Iraqi army officers in the area, that when they saw the opportunity to join a successful operation, they joined, because -- it wasn't they were signing up for the radical theology of ISIS. They were signing up because it was an anti-Shia organization and it was their opportunity to get back.

So, it was a really smart move, and you can see what they're trying to do. They're trying to eventually this is the goal, to take Baghdad.

Right now, they're using Raqqa as their temporary capital. But the caliphate will be headquartered in Baghdad and they're trying to take these valleys, and control the water, the border crossings and the oil fields.

CUOMO: So the news is, the bombing has started, seems to be effective. The reason is matters is because you have to understand what's going on here with ISIS. They're getting a free pass basically down here. That dynamic has to be changed. That takes to us where it's really coming.

Now, Rick just referenced Raqqa and that's because Syria is the real battleground. This is where they're coming. All of this color you see, that's the Islamic State. They're here, now here's the risk. The thing that's being sold to the American people right now is we're going to arm the Free Syrian Army, sounds great, free. They're only here. Tell us what the real complication is. What do they want?

FRANCONA: They've actually refused to join the coalition. The colonel in charge of the Free Syrian Army says his goal is to go this way, to Damascus, not this way toward ISIS. We want him to do that, he wants to do this. There's a real problem.

If this is going to be our boots on the ground, I don't think it's going to work and they've take a real beating. Look at where they've been bunched up into this area. The Syrian Army is coming up from the South, ISIS is moving to the West.

CUOMO: Right.

FRANCONA: It's a real, it's not the ideal situation for us to have boots on the ground.

CUOMO: But it's being sold to the U.S. - -

FRANCONA: It is.

CUOMO: - - as that. That this is the best way to do it. Rick has been trying to introduce this idea of what I call the quadrangle of pain in Syria, right? Because you have Assad, bad guy, remember the president wanted to bomb him about a year ago. You have two rebel groups, you have the Free Syrian Army and this al Nusra group. Forget about al Nusra for a second. ISIS is the fourth. The only person that's really fighting out of these four against ISIS is Assad. They're not fighting Assad, these guys that we want to arm. How is that going to work?.

FRANCONA: Well the problem is unless the Free Syrian Army is willing to take on ISIS, it's not going to work.

CUOMO: But they're not right now.

(CROSSTALK)

FRANCONA: And they said they won't.

CUOMO: You may wind up arming guys who don't do what you want, and now have your weapons.

FRANCONA: Well, if you go to them and they say we're going to give you money, weapons and training if you guys will fight ISIS, what are you likely to say? Sure.

CUOMO: Sure.

(CROSSTALK)

FRANCONA: They're going to go this way. That's pretty cut and dry. The problem is, who is going to take ISIS? This is going to work. The strategy is sound, it will work in Iraq because you've got the Peshmerga in the North. You've got the Iraqi Army in the South. And they're going to move up this way and this way and that will work.

The problem is, what do you do once you get past this border? Who's going to operate up here? We have yet to hear one country say they're willing to put troops on the ground in Syria, including the United States.

CUOMO: You know and when we go through the list of the countries who say that they're going to help, nobody's saying that they're going to fight, except the Kurds, the Peshmerga who are up here, who also arguably gave ISIS a little bit of a free pass until they get what they want up there. And again, where does it lead us to? The conclusion, which is what

you've been saying all along. I don't know how this gets done without U.S. boots on the ground. Unless you somehow cut a deal with Assad, which would be no small irony. Not that we haven't done something like that in the past.

FRANCONA: It's at some point do you approach your former enemies? Do we talk to the Iranians? Do we talk to the Syrians? We still don't know how this is going to work. I think we've got a good handle on what goes on here. I think we're still trying to find our way in Syria.

CUOMO: Right. And why it matters. I know when you hear it, it's complicating to me. It's not complicating to Rick, because he's an expert in it. But why would we talk about it? To get you in the weeds, to confuse you as you start your day? No, because you're being sold a plan right now of action that is based on a lot of conditions that we can't control. And you have to know that because we all care about our fighting men and women and there's a better chance than not they wind up doing the fighting that right now we're told near they're not going to do. Rick Francona, thank you very much.

And of course we also have the extension of this threat. We're worried about ISIS, not just because what they're doing over there, but what they could be doing here. And there are chilling new audio tapes recorded by the FBI, capturing an American believed to be working for ISIS, plotting attacks and covering his tracks. You're about to find out how an American jihadist really operates and, of course, he's not the only one. It is must-hear audio straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Incredible new audio this morning gives an up-close look at a suspected home-grown terrorist.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN (voice-over): Ahmad Abousamra, a U.S. citizen from Boston who is suspected of coordinating the online propaganda efforts of ISIS. He was caught plotting terror attacks on tape in 2006. The new audio that's been released providing a disturbing look at how an American jihadist operates. We're get more on this from Deborah Feyerick.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Boston man wanted for questioning in connection with ISIS and its grisly propaganda spoke frequently with friends about waging jihad against America and U.S. troops. Ahmad Abousamra, pal Tarek Mehanna, and others often spoke in code according to court documents. Culinary school was code for training camps. Peanut butter and jelly code for jihad. Listen as Mehanna talks to another English speaker apparently in Somalia who tells him to come fight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, right now I'm in a culinary school and I just made peanut butter and jelly.

MEHANNA: Right, right. FEYERICK: The phone call recordings were introduced at Mehanna's

terror trial. Other court records show Pakistan was referred to as "P-town," Yemen was the "YMCA," and the FBI was referred to as Bob or Brian. Listen again to Mehanna asking his unidentified friend for an email address.

MEHANNA: Do you have like an email or something that you're checking, or just the phone?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, actually I'm not even on the internet. Trust me.

MEHANNA: Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no way I'm going to be on the internet.

MEHANNA: Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not that there isn't some here, but where I am right now, no.

FEYERICK: Prosecutors say Mehanna and suspected ISIS fighter Abousamra traveled to Yemen together in 2004. Initially telling U.S. authorities they were going to check out schools. Prosecutors say they were unable to find a training camp in Yemen. However, Abousamra allegedly traveled to Fallujah in Iraq in February 2004 during U.S. fighting there.

Two years later Abousamra was studying computer science at the University of Massachusetts in Boston when FBI agents questioned him about his travel. He left weeks later and fled to Syria. His buddy, Tarek Mehanna, never traveled there, though his other friend encouraged him to wage jihad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come immediately.

MEHANNA: Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED: But look, look, I'm not kidding. I'm going to give you an advice and I have to let you go real quick. Dude, come now.

FEYERICK: Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN (on camera): Fascinating look into a jihadist. Alright. Thanks so much, Deborah Feyerick, for that.

CUOMO: We're following a lot of news this morning, so let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president believes it's important to strike while the iron is hot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. military has conducted air strikes against an ISIS position near Baghdad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From the black plumes of smoke behind me, it has been the scene of an intense battle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Adrian Peterson back on the football field this coming weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe he deserves to play while the legal process plays out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The NFL record, especially under commissioner Roger Goodell is abominable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 29-year-old Ali Mohammed Brown, the prime suspect in a killing spree stretching from New Jersey to Washington state.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You could prove that this was a terrorism offense.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning, welcome back to NEW DAY. Breaking overnight, for the first time the U.S. is going on the offensive against ISIS, bombing targets near Iraq's capital, hitting a convoy of militants.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (voice-over): This is the first step, and now comes the next stage of the president's plan to degrade and ultimately destroy the terror organization. What will happen with these bombings? How effective were they? We're going to take you through it this morning. But of course, the main target is going to be what happens in Syria.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (on camera): That will be the lead-up. That's what we have to follow most closely. Let's bring in Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with the latest on this. Barbara, obviously we're hearing about this close to Baghdad. Let's talk about why ISIS had positioned themselves there and what we know about the success of the attack.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. This is just a few miles southwest of Baghdad, so the first thing that everybody should notice is that's where ISIS is. They have now gone around Baghdad and they are south of the capital. That puts them in a very different position than we have seen.

It may well be a Sunni area that they're in. The people that support them to some extent. But they now are working to encircle the capital by all accounts. This is now something very much that everyone is watching and the U.S. reacting with this new offensive targeting. That's what the Pentagon is calling it. Offensive targeting.

It's an expansion of the mission. Very different than what we have seen over the last several weeks. This air strike was called in, on an ISIS position because Iraqi forces on the ground were coming under fire. They called for help, the U.S. rolled in with an air strike on an ISIS position.

Until now, we have only seen U.S. air strikes for two reasons. Protection of U.S. personnel and assets or humanitarian relief missions. Now expanding the mission to protecting Iraqi forces on the ground as they go against ISIS. So by the Pentagon's own definition, an expansion of the mission, they're calling it offensive targeting. And what everyone is watching is very simply this: what will the next steps be? When will those steps be taken? When and will, will the U.S. actually go and begin air strikes inside Syria? That's the next step that everyone clearly is watching for. Chris?

CUOMO: Barbara, good use of the word steps because the anticipation is about being on the ground, boots on the ground. That's where this fight is going to be determined. Thank you for the reporting. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Lets get straight over to the White House now with senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta. Jim, what are you picking up at the White House on this?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sure.

BOLDUAN: This signals a new phase of the president's strategy, but what else are we learning?

ACOSTA: That's right. Later this morning, Kate, we're going to get a chance, a glimpse really, of the man President Obama has tapped to coordinate the global coalition against ISIS. That is retired General John Allen. He'll be here at the White House in a couple of hours.

As for that air strike operation Southwest of Baghdad that Barbara was just talking about, senior administration officials say expect more of that to come, but U.S. and coalition forces will not be signaling what or who will be targeted next and when.

As for those administration efforts to build that coalition, one official said several countries could issue press releases today announcing what they're prepared to do. But the White House is indicating that instead, the public will see something of a roll-out of the coalition in its various roles over the coming weeks, especially around the president's trip to the U.N. next week. They say that will be a critical trip for the president.

As for those air strikes that are expected to come on ISIS in Syria, a senior administration official said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would be making a big mistake if he intervened. Any attacks from Assad's forces on U.S. war planes during those air strikes would prompt an American military response, according to senior administration officials. And of course later on this morning as well, Kate, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey will be briefing lawmakers of the Senate Armed Services Committee. That will be a big hearing later on this morning, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. They'll be facing some tough questions on the administration's strategy against ISIS.