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New Day

Battle for Tikrit Intensifies; Boko Haram Pledges Loyalty to ISIS; Five Suspects Arrested in Nemtsov Killing; Emotions Raw After Unarmed Teen's Death

Aired March 09, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It appears that the leader of Boko Haram is pledging his support to the head of ISIS. It gives ISIS an arc of allegiance from one coast of North Africa to the other.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son has never been a violent person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was unarmed. That is going to make this all the more complicated.

SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN: She needs to step up and state exactly what the situation is.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The policy of my administration is to encourage transparency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a small baby in the backseat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Upside down in her car seat for up to 13 hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ran up and climbed in the ambulance with the child.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, March 9th. We do have major action in Iraq going on right now. Troops advances in the battle for Tikrit this morning. This has been a two-week campaign to get to this point.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: This as the head of Boko Haram, Nigeria's terrorist group pledges allegiance to the Islamic State. ISIS continuing the push into Iraq destroying century's worth of history in the past. This morning, the top general for the U.S. military heading to Iraq.

So let's get right to CNN's senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman, who is outside of Tikrit, Iraq, with all of the breaking details. Good morning, Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Alisyn. We're just one mile to the east of Tikrit. And what we've seen this

morning is a steady advance by Iraqi forces. It's a combination of these paramilitary forces plus special forces, as well as Iraqi police.

First, they fired rockets into the distance in the direction of Tikrit. And just about an hour ago, they moved en masse toward the city. Now what you see behind me, of course, is oil fires that have been set by ISIS fighters. It's an attempt to sort of obscure the view of the Iraqi aircraft in the area.

We did see two Iraqi helicopters flying overhead in that direction. Now while we were here, we got to meet the head of the Hasdashavi (ph) paramilitary force who told us, yes, it's no secret that Iran is helping these forces, that they have advisors on the ground. As a matter of fact, I had an opportunity to speak with some of them. He says they have provided assistance and support in a way, in his words, the Americans have not been able to do.

Once again, we see the large role being played by Iran in supporting the Iraqi forces. But speaking with the commanders here, they stress that the fighting is being done by Iraqi forces and that they are surprised, in fact, that they've been able to make such good progress driving ISIS out of this area. In fact, they've covered an area of about 40 miles just in the last three days pushing toward Tikrit.

And as we were driving on the road here, what we saw were ISIS vehicles completely destroyed. There were bodies by them, some of them in pieces. So it does appear that the Iraqis are making good progress in heading toward -- toward Tikrit. And the commanders here say it's just a matter of days before they can liberate the city -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Ben, wow. Incredible pictures behind you. Incredible story that you're telling. Do you know how much of a role Iran is playing in fighting ISIS there?

WEDEMAN: In terms of the actual fighting, it doesn't appear that they're really sort of on the front lines. They're very close to them. They have advisors here. We've seen video handouts where you see Iranian advisors around a map, front line speaking Farsi, the language of Iran. And as I said, I did speak to some here. One was a doctor, but the others I'm not quite sure. A lot of advice. There is help in terms of ammunition and weaponry. But it does appear that the actual fighting is being done by Iraqi forces -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Excellent update. Stay safe. We'll check back in with you.

Also this developing story: the Nigerian terror group, Boko Haram, now swearing allegiance to ISIS. What could this unholy union between two bloodthirsty groups mean to the war against terror? Let's get to CNN's senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon. She is live in Istanbul, Turkey.

What do we know this morning, Arwa? ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Boko Haram most

certainly benefits from that pledge, especially in terms of boosting its own credibility. There has been some pretty intense fighting happening in Nigeria.

To add to that, a recent offensive by Nigerian and Chadian troops into northeastern Nigeria. This part of a new coalition made up from the Lake Chad-based nations, focused specifically on the fight against Boko Haram. They still do pose a very significant threat to security and stability in northeastern Nigeria.

But this allegiance has allowed for certain progress to be made against them. So Boko Haram benefits in terms of bolstering its own credibility, its own status amongst its followers by pledging allegiance to ISIS. ISIS also benefits in part because now it is able to extend its footprint even further into the African continent. And this is something that senior U.S. forces offered. When we were in Chad, they were saying that they were really trying to prevent.

And when we look at what ISIS does when it takes over territory, this is not just about the destruction of individuals. It's not just about the havoc and the horrors that are wrecked upon a society and the people living within it.

We also turn back to what ISIS has been doing in Iraq. Destroying not just lives, but ancient civilizations, most recently bulldozing various parts of the Assyrian city of Nimrod that was built 3,000 years ago. So Chris, we have an entity here that is destroying lives but also destroying the very fabric of civilization.

CUOMO: And that's the question, about exactly what is their goal that they have. Arwa, thank you very much. We'll check back in with you.

Let's bring in General Mark Hertling. He's a CNN military analyst and the retired Army former commanding general for Europe and the Seventh Army. And Mr. Michael Weiss, the co-author of "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror." It's good to have you both.

General, so this is, we're told, a very critical point in this campaign against -- to take back Tikrit. Why? What has it taken to get to this point, and how close are they to achieving your goal?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, you've got -- well, good morning, first of all, Chris. You have about 20,000 soldiers, Iraqi soldiers outside the city of Tikrit. They fought up from Samara, which is a Shia, holy city to their south. They're heading toward Mosul and the supply lines opening up from Baghdad to Mosul.

Tikrit is critical. It's the capital of Saladin province. Again, I say there's been about 20,000 Iraqi forces. Two-thirds of those are either Shia militia or just some folks from Baghdad. Only about a third are actually fighters from the Iraqi army.

It's important because the al Quds force, led by Soleimani, is there, giving advice, giving assistance. And you only have about between a thousand and 2,000 ISIS fighters in the town of Tikrit. So there is overwhelming odds. They have attempted to take this city before. They have had difficulty doing that because of leadership issues. But now, taking Tikrit and turning it over is critically important to the overall campaign of the Iraqi government.

CUOMO: Quickly, what does it mean to have our top general, Dempsey, on the ground there? What is the role? What does it mean?

HERTLING: Well, I think he's trying to persuade -- I know General Dempsey well. He's trying to persuade the Iraqi government that it is important to regain territory against ISIS, but what's more important is what happens after that territory is regained.

After this fight for Tikrit is over, the battlefield is cleared, as Ben Wedeman was there, what happens next? What kind of political issues are resolved? How do you hand back over to the Sunni tribes, to the provincial police, to the provincial government to make sure that the Sunnis feel included in this whole operation?

CUOMO: Right. Now, that -- the general is laying out the innocuous version of what the past might suggest, Michael. What has happened in the past once you go in and take control back of an area? What is the concern?

MICHAEL WEISS, CO-AUTHOR, "ISIS: INSIDE THE ARMY OF TERROR": Well, since this campaign got underway, what happens is these Shia militia groups, which are really the vanguard fighting for -- as the general's saying...

CUOMO: We're saying Iraqi forces, but really...

WEISS: Yes, look, two thirds of them are a consortium of militias. Some of them, by the way, designated U.S. terrorist entities that have been bundled in. These are the groups that were killing American soldiers, blowing our guys up.

So for General Dempsey to say, you know, Iran could play a positive role in Iraq, this is extraordinary to me. He was the commander of the First Armored Division in Baghdad. He saw with his own eyes what these militias were doing in the capital of Iraq.

In the past six, seven months, what has happened is these groups go into towns and villages. They flush out ISIS, but then they commit ethnic cleansing against the Sunnis or Pegrans (ph) or they tell the Sunnis, "You can't return to your homes." In some cases, I've seen videos from groups like Hatif (ph) Hezbollah, Asay Bohuk (ph). These -- these videos mirrored what ISIS has been doing to their fellow Muslims, too. It's just we're not seeing it. It's not being advertised.

So this is why I think U.S. officials are very concerned about what happens in Tikrit. Tikrit is Saddam Hussein's birthplace, right? It's his home town. So if you listen to what the militias' rhetoric suggests today, they're fighting on behalf of a Shia jihad. They have pictures of Ayatollah Khamenei. They consider this an Iranian-style holy war. And the fear in, even amongst Shia politicians in Baghdad, is that

they have unleashed this genie that can never be put back in the bottle again.

CUOMO: Now General, I mean, that's the thing. Are we looking -- are we taking a look ahead to the past, which is where the American forces last time, but this time it's advisors go in, regain territory, but either -- whether it's the purpose or the potential to control the situation is not there for the Iraqis, and you wind up having the same problem down the road, which is that people are very upset about how they've been discriminated against?

HERTLING: That's the critical piece, Chris. And I agree 100 percent with Michael. Having been in Tikrit and seen the kind of extra- judicial killing and harassment that goes on between Shia and Sunni, what will be important -- and this is one of the reasons General Dempsey is there -- is to see what happens next. Where does this end? It's not just the battlefield that's important. And in fact, General Dempsey has also said the battle somewhat looked like a traffic jam on the interstate around Washington. It was not a pretty sight, but they're winning. Twenty thousand against a thousand. What happens next, not only in fighting with IEDs, houseborn (ph) IEDs, snipers, but also the political action that takes place next.

CUOMO: Right.

HERTLING: That's where the fighting begins.

CUOMO: The irony is you wind up beating one enemy but creating an entire generation of new enemies by how you treat the people who live there. Right?

HERTLING: Well, look, I mean, the guy leading the ground offensive, Qasem Soleimani, this is a man David Petraeus referred to as evil. And because of the war that he was waging against U.S. forces, there's a famous letter, I think in 2006 or '07, Petraeus wrote to Bob Gates, defense secretary, saying, "I'm considering very strongly telling the president of United States that we are at war with Iran and Iraq, and whatever the consequences of that, you know, entail, it doesn't matter." And Qasem Soleimani is an enemy of the United States.

CUOMO: So you have that component. And then you have the, well, but ISIS is still the worst thing to be worried about on the ground, which is most recently evidence by their destroying of cultural artifacts. It's not because, you know, we love art, simply. It's that they seem to be trying to destroy or erase culture. Right?

WEISS: I think it's also just a scorched-earth campaign. As they lose terrain tactically, they want to -- they want to sort of say that, "If we can't govern or we can't control this territory, no one can." Burning oil fields, well, guess who did that? Saddam Hussein when we kicked him out of Kuwait. Right? It's no coincidence to my mind a lot of guys in the upper echelons of ISIS have a background in the Ba'ath Party or in the Saddam Hussein regime. Military officials, intelligence operatives. They have a very codified system for what they choose to destroy,

versus what they choose to sell on the black market. So any works of art, pre-Islamic sculpture, they consider to be worshipped objects. That gets powdered. Trinkets, gold coins, Mesopotamian baubles, these things can be sold for money.

I think there's also a pragmatic value here. How do you -- they apparently razed the temple in Hatra (ph). You've seen the opening scenes of "The Exorcist"? This is where this was filmed. How do you smuggle the temple out of Iraq to make a fortune? Right? So if you can't profit from it opportunistically...

CUOMO: You destroy it.

WEISS: ... you just smash it, yes.

CUOMO: Michael Weiss, thank you very much.

General Hertling, as always, appreciate the perspective here -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris. Now to Russia where authorities formally charged two of the five suspects in the killing of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. Authorities say a sixth suspect blew himself up as police tried to arrest him.

CNN's Matthew Chance joins us live from Moscow with the latest. What do we know, Matthew?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, thanks so much.

Well, a series of very dramatic developments over the weekend with what police are saying is a major breakthrough in their case to investigate the killing of Boris Nemtsov, that prominent opposition figure in Russia. Five people now in custody. Four of them, I have to say, have protested their innocence.

But one of them, who's been named as Zaur Dadayev from Chechnya has apparently confessed to the killing. A sixth suspect was also in the process of being detained or being accosted by the police, at least in, Grozny, the Chechen capital when a fire fight broke out with the authorities, and he detonated a hand grenade that killed him. So that's another sort of twist in this much -- very thickening plot when it comes to finding those responsible for this.

So on the face of it, it seems that there have been some breakthroughs. There certainly have been arrests. There's even been a confession. But opposition figures here in Russia are casting some doubt. They're being very skeptical about the legitimacy of this investigation. The idea that this was a -- not a political killing but one done for religious purposes, as has been floated, both by the investigators and by political figures who know the people who have confessed to this killing or have been detained.

And so that's something being rejected by opposition figures, as well, saying this is merely an attempt by the Kremlin to put distance between the killing of Boris Nemtsov and the Kremlin.

CAMEROTA: Matthew, thank you.

All right. Back here at home, emotions are raw in Madison, Wisconsin. An unarmed biracial teenager was shot and killed by police, a white police officer. Protestors took to the streets. They are demanding answers.

Our Rosa Flores is live in Madison, Wisconsin, for the latest -- Rosa.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

You know, the frustration and the support is growing. And also the memorial that you see behind me here for the family of Tony Robinson. Take a look. Beyond that memorial, one of the things that really stands out is the fact that there's a crime-scene tape. There's a police officer. Because think about this: this incident happened on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (voice-over): Charged protestors unloading anger and frustration at police officers guarding this Madison, Wisconsin, house turned crime scene.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Innocent black children.

FLORES: This is where unarmed 19-year-old Tony Terrell Robinson was shot and killed by police Friday. No one is allowed inside, except for Kathleen Bufton. She lives a thin wall away from where the gunshots rang out.

KATHLEEN BUFTON, NEIGHBOR: ... right here on this wall of the kitchen.

FLORES: Bufton says she was in the kitchen when she heard a scuffle next door, then pounding on the door she says.

(on camera): Was that the police?

BUFTON: Yes. And he forced the door open.

FLORES (voice-over): What she didn't know, according to police, is that there were multiple calls into dispatch regarding Robinson, including an alleged battery incident.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look for a male, black, light-skinned, tan jacket and jeans, outside yelling and jumping in front of cars.

FLORES: Police say Officer Matt Kenny responding, heard a commotion inside the home, and forced his way in and then gunfire.

BUFTON: You could really hear it. I mean, right here, I mean, nothing went through.

FLORES: Police say Robinson attacked Kenny, provoking the officer to use deadly force. But Bufton has her doubts.

BUFTON: I wonder if it was a white person, if they wouldn't have got shot; they would have got Tased.

FLORES: Her thoughts echoed by Robinson's family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I think the cop shot him because he was afraid of him.

FLORES: This is not the first time the 45-year-old officer used deadly force. Officer Kenny was exonerated for an incident that took place eight years ago.

The police chief says he's working to regain public trust.

CHIEF MIKE KOVAL, MADISON, WISCONSIN, POLICE: We need to start, as any healing or reconciliation would, with an "I'm sorry."

FLORES: But hundreds gathered throughout the weekend, demanding more than apologies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: And as you're taking another live look here, you see that it's Madison police here at the scene.

Now I want to point out this. That they are only securing the scene, because in the state of Wisconsin, when a police department is involved in an officer-involved shooting, they don't get to investigate themselves, Chris. They -- that investigation is in the hands of the state DOJ.

CUOMO: Which is a meaningful distinction that people have been calling for in other cases. Let's see how it plays out here. Rosa, thank you very much.

A fraternity at the University of Oklahoma shut down and for very good reason. A video came out this past weekend, showing chapter members joining in a racist chant, saying among other ugly things, that black people -- and that's not the word they used -- would never be admitted to the fraternity. The university has not announced any action yet. But the national headquarters of SAE, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, that's the fraternity. They disbanded the chapter immediately. A protest rally will be held this morning on the university's campus.

CAMEROTA: Well, in Alabama, some 80,000 people marching Sunday to mark a turning point in the U.S. civil rights struggle, the 50th anniversary of Selma's Bloody Sunday. Legendary figures of the movement joining President Obama and former President George W. Bush in a separate march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge Saturday. The brutal 1965 police assault on civil rights activists spurred the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: ... for that story, highlighted by the one that Christina did. All right. Hillary Clinton, something a little bit lighter here.

Hillary Clinton obviously yet to publicly address the controversy about her e-mail. However, "Saturday Night Live: did. The brilliant Kate McKinnon as Hillary, defiant and cool as ice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATE MCKINNON, CAST MEMBER, NBC'S "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Those e- mails are clean as a whistle. This is not how Hillary Clinton goes down. I mean, what did you think my e-mails said? "Hi, it's Hillary. I really screwed up on Benghazi today." Please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: The whole segment, she is so good. She's my favorite on "SNL." But the whole -- the whole thing she does is fantastic.

CAMEROTA: It is.

PEREIRA: Got to watch it in its entirety.

CAMEROTA: She can go from Justin Bieber to Hillary Clinton. She really runs the gamut...

PEREIRA: She really can.

CAMEROTA: ... in impersonations.

CUOMO: Maybe there's not that big a difference.

CAMEROTA: All right. Meanwhile, we showed you the angry protests on the streets of Madison, Wisconsin, over the shooting death of that unarmed teenager at the hands of a white police officer. Some people compared this case to Ferguson. So what really happened in the seconds before that gunfire? We'll take a look.

CUOMO: Speaking of Hillary, will she finally speak out about the e- mail scandal? We'll tell you why one of Hillary Clinton's supporters says, she better.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Outrage this morning in Madison, Wisconsin, over the fatal shooting of an unarmed biracial teenager, Tony Robinson, by a white police officer.

Let's talk about this with Reverend Everett Mitchell. He's an attorney and pastor of Christ the Solid Rock Baptist Church. He is involved in community efforts to reform police practices in Madison. Also retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Bell. He was responsible for changing the law in Madison about investigations into police shootings after his own son was killed by police in 2004. Gentlemen, thanks so much for being with us on NEW DAY.

Glad to be here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Good morning.

CAMEROTA: I want to start with you, Reverend, about the details that we know about the shooting before it happened.

What we've heard through authorities is that a 911 call came in that a black male was yelling and jumping in front of cars. Another call came in to 911 saying the same suspect was trying to hit and strangle a couple of people. So police went to the address. They showed up. They said at that point, Tony Robinson tried to assault the officer who ultimately shot him. Are people in the community telling a different version of events than that?

REV. EVERETT MITCHELL, ATTORNEY AND PASTOR, CHRIST THE SOLID ROCK BAPTIST CHURCH: Pretty consistent with what we're hearing in the community. A lot of the friends that were with him that evening have said similar things about what happened. One of the things that's kind of confusing right now is what's -- we don't have a lot of details. We weren't allowed to be able to talk to some of the witnesses initially. So we don't have a lot of details happening right now. So we're trying to wait to hear more after this investigation to see what really happened and what was going on with Tony during this event.

CAMEROTA: Because Mike, if that's the case, saying that he was merely an unarmed biracial teenager doesn't tell the whole story. If he was a threat, if he was a threat to those around him, if he was a threat to the officer, then it makes more sense for the police officer to use, perhaps, deadly force.

LT. COL. MICHAEL BELL, POLICE REVIEW PROCESS ADVOCATE: We have some question marks about that, because the officer apparently was outside and there were no eyewitnesses in the house. And a lot of people are thinking that maybe the officer was a little bit reckless. Because backup was only 30 seconds away. And this could have been handled in a whole different fashion.

CAMEROTA: Mike, I want to speak with you for a second. Because as we said, your own son was shot and killed by police in 2004. And since then, you have become an advocate, and you've even changed the law in Wisconsin to have more impartial investigations after something like this. I know that you spent time last night with Tony Robinson's family. Can you tell me what you told them and what that interaction was like?

BELL: Well, I met with the family. I met with the mother and father. And they were overwhelmed with grief. And you can tell that they haven't been getting a lot of sleep. And -- and they need lots of support right now. I as a parent have gone through what they're going through. You're trying to understand what's going on. They haven't seen the body of their child. They're -- everybody's contacting them. It's a whole new atmosphere for them. So they really need a lot of support right now. And that's what has to happen here for them in the community.

CAMEROTA: Reverend Mitchell, this feels as though it's part of a trend. But maybe that's not the right way to look at this. I mean, when -- what happens is these names become household names. We think of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice. But are they all connected?

EVERETT: I think -- I think you have to see the same connection. I think you -- these young, unarmed African-American men that are gunned down by police at this time, they're all connected. And I think what we're seeing now is a resistance from the community saying, this is enough. We have to do something different. And what people have said in this community is that it can't happen in Madison. What happened in Ferguson can't happen in Madison. And what we saw on Friday night, what happened in Ferguson can happen. And what we're trying to -- trying to get a message out to the communities throughout the nation and say, if it can happen in Madison, Wisconsin, it can happen anywhere. And we have to begin to do something about that.

CAMEROTA: But again, Reverend, if someone -- if police are responding to reports of a violent suspect, what do -- what are you both suggesting they do?

EVERETT: Well, I think like Mike said, you know, backup was 30 seconds away. There was no imminent danger. There was no threat to anyone in the neighborhood. No one was in the house. If Terrell was in the house, the officer could have waited, at least for backup, before he went in with his gun drawn into the home at that time.

BELL: We've been calling for independent review of these types of incidences. And that's something that's going to be important here. Because training is not going to change, unless we can understand what the real cause of this incident was.

And with police investigating themselves and a D.A. who's closely associated with the county and that police force reviewing this, a change is not occurring. And that's why we're calling for an independent review by law professionals, just not law enforcement. And that's the next step to make this process whole.

CAMEROTA: The part of the reason that people feel as though all of these cases of young unarmed black teenagers are connected is because of the statistics. Let me put those up for you.

African-American men make up 13 percent of the population, yet 26 percent of all of the police shooting victims. So it feels as though something is wrong, and it is disproportional. Reverend, do you believe this was a racial incident?

MITCHELL: I don't think it's a racial incident. What I think it is, is bad police practices. And like Mike said, training that we have to deal with.

One of the things that, you know, we're saying is that not all police are bad, and we're not anti-police. We're (UNINTELLIGIBLE) group in this community. We're saying we want to work with the police.

But the idea is that when you have one bad apple; and that one bad apple has a gun, it can cause lives to be hurt. And we're going after systems that protect bad apples. And so that's what we're fighting for right now. We're trying to say we need to make some changes. Today, demonstration why we need to make some changes. We're too angry. We can't lose any more lives. We can't lose any more lives like this, and some changes have to be made right now.

CAMEROTA: Reverend Everett Mitchell, Michael Bell, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

Thank you.

We want to know what you think about all this. You can tweet us @NEW DAY or you can go to Facebook.com/NewDay and we will read your comments. Thank you. Let's go to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Another big story this morning, Alisyn. ISIS is killing people but also culture. They're bulldozing ancient cities and destroying priceless art. The worst part is why. We're going to reveal the plan ahead.

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