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New Video Shows Anti-ISIS Raid; Health Care Inside VA Getting Worse; NFL's Livestream Experiment. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 25, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour. And we are starting this half with dramatic new video just in to CNN this morning, purportedly showing the anti-ISIS raid that freed about 70 hostages and left an elite American soldier dead. In video released by the Kurdish government, which cannot be independently verified by CNN, gunfire, you hear it here, as soldiers move through this ISIS prison, and then a stream of men in bloodied clothes, the hostages, appear with their arms raised as a voice tells them to keep moving. CNN's senior international correspondent Nick Paton-Walsh is following the story from Turkey for us. And Nick, take us through what we are seeing and learning in from this video.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a very close-up view of what the Rudaw TV channel in the Kurdish republic say was of that particular raid itself. Now, it - still has to be authenticated by Kurdish officials as well, but it gives you a real sense of how close the combat was in there. Initially, you see the stream of prisoners emerge. This contains, according to U.S. officials, some Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi citizens and even, in fact, in the mix of those individuals coming out there, potentially U.S. officials say, people who were, in fact, ISIS prisoners - members of ISIS held in prison there because they were believed to be spies. And the videos goes on today and show what looks like Special Forces. You can't tell - in Kurdish, Peshmerga Special Forces or the handful of U.S. Delta commandos that were involved with them in the raid. But you do at one point hear what sounds like an American voice somewhere in the mix there showing potentially how close to the front the American soldiers eventually got there in an office with ISIS flag on the wall and then near - pursuing a prison cell and, in fact, at one moment you got an idea, too, of how lengthy the process had to be to rescue these 70 individuals because they actually start to searching them one by one. They don't know who these people are. They put them out of cells, but they have to be sure that they are not perhaps somehow infiltrated and might be carrying weapons or explosive devices upon them.

So, the amount of time in there clearly, pretty lengthy indeed as was the intensity of a combat. You can hear constant gunfire throughout this video, and it was filmed on the helmet's camera of some - what must be the Peshmerga fighters given the source originating of the video. But it gives you an idea, too, of quite what may have been a volley of gunfire that killed Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler, a veteran of U.S. commando unit - whose unite intervene when it felt that the Peshmerga at the end of the compound being overwhelmed. And U.S. officials say, in fact, it was that intervention that swung the far fight round to the aid of Peshmerga. They are bringing these prisoners out. But I have to tell you that footage and version events very much what we are hearing from U.S. officials and Kurdish officials who (INAUDIBLE) for that information.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, this is probably the third or fourth time I've watched this video and it is gripping. Nick, what have you learned about the timing of this raid?

[06:35:00]

PATON WALSH: What we are told by American and Kurdish officials, and the U.S. was very clear that they believe these individuals held on mass - may, perhaps, should be about to be part of one of those mass executions with familiar gruesome, as they are posted on high- definition on social media by ISIS. This is what one U.S. official had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLONEL STEVE WARREN, COMBINED JOINED TASK FORCE - OPERATION INHERENT RESOLVE: We knew the hostages would soon be murdered. We knew this, because we saw freshly dug graves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PATON WALSH: Now, that is presumably something they would have scene on drone footage or perhaps people on the ground and that is an indication, maybe, of how close to the end these 70 individuals were. Though I say, we are entirely dependent upon the U.S. and Kurdish officials for a breakdown of what they were after, what their target was. It is unusual, frankly, highly unusual for the U.S. Special Forces to be so close to the front line given the Obama administration desire to keep U.S. troops out of ground combat there. But this appears to have been sort of the outside edges of what the advice and assist mission U.S. Special Forces are doing with Peshmerga committed them to do and it resulted in the first combat casualty of U.S. Forces in Iraq since 2011. But a piece of video here, which gives you an idea of really how volatile, how furious the combat can be in times like this in a compound, which literally hours, minutes later was destroyed by U.S. aircraft.

BLACKWELL: Nick Paton Walsh, thank you for the details.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And you know, if we can pull that video back up, Victor. Because we are just getting word that the U.S. is, indeed, confirming this is the video of that raid on Thursday. And I want to bring in Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, because there are a lot of questions about this as well. But given your background, General Hertling, when you look at this video, what stands out to you first of all?

LIEUTENANT GENERAL MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, first of all, it is certainly a train and assist mission, Christi. It is a go-pro video on one of the helmets of the Peshmerga soldiers likely. You can hear American soldiers in the background continuing to train. They are not participating in the operation as much as they are giving direction to the Peshmerga. You are hearing them say stop that guy there, you've got to keep them flowing. So, those are the kind of directions that advisors - missions make.

The other thing you notice is it is a well-trained force. They are going in in what is called either a stack four or stack six. They are conducting according a clearing operation of that facility, and that is difficult to do when there is multiple rooms and they are moving fast because they have so many prisoners. The checking that Nick Paton Walsh just mentioned, they certainly are checking for things like suicide vests or suicide bombs, but one of the things they are looking for is what we call pocket literature, kind of information that might be on the individually soldiers or the individual fighters. You want to make sure they don't get rid of information that you can use later on to gather intelligence. So, you can see, people reaching in their pockets, pulling out things, just throwing them away or holding on to them.

So, these were all things that you garner from a raid like this or a hostage rescue like this that will provide better intelligence. You hear both American and Kurdish language being spoken in the background. You see things like the weapons that are being used are advanced weapons. They have not only scopes, but also flashlights on them. So, this is a Peshmerga counterterrorism unit taking advice from a good American Special Operations force unit.

PAUL: OK, well, I want to listen to Defense Secretary Ash Carter here, because he talks about the fact that there may be more U.S. assistance in raids like this. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASH CARTER, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We'll do more raids. Remember, we did, if you remember, the raid that took down Abu Sayyaf. We have this capability. It is a great American strength. It doesn't represent assuming a combat role. It represents a continuation of our advice and assist mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: The U.S. has said that it doesn't want to send troops back into combat, but when you look at this how do you decipher what is assistance and what is mission creep as has been ...

CARTER: Well, I would not - I would never use that word mission creep unless I had some real indicators of it, and this certainly isn't it. What we are talking about, and we have mentioned this before, Christie, about the difference between conventional operations and counterterrorism operations. This mission would have fallen into the counterterrorism piece. It is getting Special Forces, in this case, Peshmerga forces on the ground in a counterterrorism, in a hostage rescue situation. That is a counterterrorist role. So, you're going to have some special operators there because these are advanced techniques. This is a very difficult mission to achieve. And you also have the very fact that they are traveling from Erbil to Hawija, and I know Hawija very well, that is a horrible city. It's filled with former Baathists, a terrorist group called Naqshbandi.

[06:40:02]

ISIS will thrive in that area. So, you're talking about the distance between your real and miss city. You are going to need aircraft. You have 70 prisoners so you are going to need transport to get them out of there. All of these things require some type of equipment and kit that the Americans have, that the Peshmerga currently don't. So, you're going to see some American Special Operations forces going along with these kinds of missions.

PAUL: Very interesting. OK, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, always appreciate your insight and your information. Thank you for being with us.

HERTLING: Thank you, Christie.

PAUL: Absolutely.

BLACKWELL: Still to come a CNN exclusive. A disturbing report on the care of veterans at the V.A. are receiving. Surprising results from this new investigation.

PAUL: First, this week's culinary journey takes us to remote areas of Peru to meet Chef Martinez who travels to a small community above sea level to seek fresh ideas for his cooking. Look at where the chef gets his inspiration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: The Andes. Spanning seven countries, the world's longest mountain range was once the cradle of ancient civilizations. Known as the Masters of the Clouds, the Inka Empire spread along the West and Coast of South America, sculpting these landscapes into architectural and farming achievements. Peruvian chef Virgilio Martinez has spent years scaling the soaring heights of these mountainous region. After a short flight southeast to Cusko, Virgilio is traveling to the province of Acomayo. The trip will take him 3,500 meters above sea level to the indigenous community of Chowwiai (ph).

VIRGILIO MARTINEZ: I really love to see what is going on in this community. Getting to understand their own nature, which is very different than the way we do back in Lima.

PAUL: He's here on the culinary journey to learn about a dish that dates back thousands of years, the Hawatia (ph)

MARTINEZ (speaking Spanish)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (speaking Spanish)

CHILDREN (SINGING)

MARTINEZ: We are with Francisco, Dometilla and Pedro. But this is Francisco's place. And they want to show me what they have. It took us some time to be in this relationship with them, but now we are like - like friends, and for us it's good learning. Of course, we exchange habits and customs and ideas and philosophy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Watch the full show at cnn.com/journey.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:43]

BLACKWELL: We have a pretty disturbing follow-up to a CNN investigation concerning health care inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. According to new documents, wait times inside a lot of the V.A. health facilities across the country are growing longer. For the first time, a senior V.A. official is speaking about what is really going on. CNN's senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin has the story for us.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Christi, after the billions in emergency funding and all of the attention the V.A has gotten, it's hard to imagine, but according to our sources and now confirmed by the V.A. in many areas, the situation is not improving or even worse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Wait times are not getting better. Listen to what this whistleblower says is happening right now at the Phoenix VA. The same Phoenix V.A. where, last year, CNN uncovered the fact that veterans were dying while waiting for care.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reality is veterans are waiting months, three, six months at a time, sometimes more, for care at the Phoenix VA.

GRIFFIN: Like most of our sources inside the V.A., this whistleblower in Phoenix has asked we not reveal any identity.

(on camera): And are we talking about critical care? Who are these patients?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are patients that are waiting for appointments, everything from colonoscopies, to angiograms to procedures to remove tumors. These are specialty appointments that need to be seen immediately by the V.A.

GRIFFIN (voice over): This V.A. documents show just this past August in Phoenix, there were more than 8,000 appointments waiting more than 90 days. Sloan Gibson is the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, brought on last year to fix this mess.

(on camera): The Phoenix V.A., center of this whole thing, I'm going to let you look at that for just a second. And it shows more than 8,000 patients waiting more than 90 days for an appointment. Now explain to me what this is and if that is true, how could it be?

SLOAN GIBSON, DEPUTY SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: What you're looking at is something called an Open Consults report. That is going to include instances where care has already been delivered, but there may be some administrative issue that hasn't been corrected yet that allows the consult be removed.

GRIFFIN: Does it necessarily mean that 8,000 patients are not waiting 90 days?

GIBSON: I would say patently it means there are not 8,000 patients not waiting 90 days. Are there some patients waiting longer than they should be waiting? Yes, there are.

GRIFFIN: And how can you guarantee - I mean how could you make a statement so strongly that they are not?

GIBSON: I'm saying some of them are not.

GRIFFIN: Some of them are not? Do you know how many are not?

GIBSON: No, I don't know. I don't know for Phoenix and I can't tell you for the top of the VA.

GRIFFIN (voice over): And it's hardly limited to Phoenix. This internal draft memo leaked to CNN warns currently wait times are increasing significantly.

GIBSON: That's actually a slide deck that was prepared for me.

GRIFFIN (on camera): So you know very much about it.

GIBSON: Pending appointments over 30 days, plus the electronic wait list is almost 500,000 today. How can it be?

[06:50:00]

In the lesson that we've seen, in the location after location is when we improve access to care, whether it's by adding staff or space or productivity or care in the community, more veterans come to V.A. for more care.

GRIFFIN: What you're saying you're a victim of your own success?

GIBSON: I would say the challenge that we have is a structural challenge.

GRIFFIN: So when our sources, who are telling us, you know, the reality is the veterans are waiting months, you would say?

GIBSON: I would say we work every single day trying to find ways to make it better. I know, as you've shown right there, we have got veterans waiting too long for care.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: That admission, Christie and Victor, that in many areas vets are still waiting too long is a tough one to make. This new administration really struggling with just how to fix the V.A. health system. We will stay on it. Back to you. PAUL: OK, good to know. Drew Griffin, thank you so much.

It is a first for the NFL. A football game most people can only watch online.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: For the first time ever, an NFL game will be available only online.

[06:55:01]

PAUL: Is it livestreaming experiment, though. This is the thing. Is it a gimmick? Or is this what we are going to see? Is this it? This is what it's become, Andy Scholes?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: You know, I'm not buying it just yet.

PAUL: No?

SCHOLES: A lot of people still like to sit on their couch and watch the big television.

PAUL: Of course, they do.

SCHOLES: Football. But this morning's Bill Jaguar game in London, it's going to be streamed live for free. Solely on Yahoo! except if you live in the local markets, Buffalo and Jacksonville, then you can watch it on TV. This game is going to kick off at 9:30 Eastern. According to "The New York Times," Yahoo! paid around $20 million to stream this game online. This is viewed as an experiment by the NFL, you know, to gauge the appeal of American football internationally, because everyone can watch this, as well as to see how popular the game will be when it's distributed almost entirely online. Now, one thing you may notice if you tune in this live stream is, fewer commercials. The NFL senior vice president for media strategy and development says the game will feature one less commercial break per quarter which removes about eight minutes of advertising from the traditional game broadcast, so don't expect to see lots of commercials and don't expect to see this happening as more than a novelty for at least a while. The major TV networks, they own rights to most of the games until the early 2020, 2020s, plural, as I should say. But guys, what do you think? For me it is, I'm not there yet. I'm not there to just solely watch a game on my phone.

PAUL: No, I agree with that. I agree with that - people are going to watch it.

BLACKWELL: It's a social event. You want to shout with other people in the room and crowding around your tablet.

PAUL: That's what I was going to say. How many people can you get there? Andy, thank you. Appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: And thank you for starting your morning with us.

PAUL: Yes. So much more ahead in the next hour of your "NEW DAY" which starts after this quick break. Stay close.