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Summit Concludes in Wales; Iran Signed Off; NATO's Response to ISIS; U.S. Forming Coalition Against ISIS; Cease-Fire Took Affect Two Hours Ago; Unresponsive Aircraft Flying over Atlantic

Aired September 05, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, the NATO summit concludes in Wales with fighting words from President Obama. He says now is the time to dismantle, degrade and destroy ISIS.

Right now, reports that Iran's supreme leader has signed off on a plan to cooperate with the United States to confront the threat of ISIS in the Middle East.

And one minute she was a loving British teenager. The next, a bride to an ISIS fighter. Now, her parents fear she will never return.

Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting from Washington. We start with the breaking news. From North Africa, about an hour -- about another U.S. operation targeting terror leaders in Somalia. Our Global Affairs Correspondent Elise Labott is joining us from the State Department. I understand a top, if not the top, Al Shabaab leader in Somalia was killed by a U.S. air strike. Is that what you're hearing?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. The Pentagon just announced, moments ago, that the leader of Al Shabaab, Ahmed Godane, was killed by a U.S. air strike on September 1st. Now, the U.S. had been looking for him in some time. If you remember, in January, there were some air strikes, some drone strikes, trying to kill him. And he -- one of his top commanders was killed but he was not. And so, this week, the U.S. government was trying to be very clear, wanted that DNA evidence that, in fact, he was killed. And they're calling this, Wolf, a major symbolic and operational loss for this group.

BLITZER: Yes, the president, at his news conference in Wales just moments ago, he specifically mentioned that this top Al Shabaab, Al Qaeda-related terrorist was killed by the U.S. Was this a separate strike or the strike that we had been reporting on over the past few days?

LABOTT: It's the same strike we've been reporting about all week. It was this major meeting of top commanders of Godane and his top commanders of the group. The U.S. officials said they had a target of opportunity that doesn't come along very often, and they went for it.

And so, the question has been all week, wolf, why Al Shabaab and not ISIS, for instance. The answer was, look, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We had this target of opportunity and we went for it. And now, the leader of this Al Qaeda-related group is killed. Wolf, the question now is, what happens to Al Shabaab? Even in recent months, there's been a kind of debate in the group. While Godane was instrumental in moving Al Shabaab towards Al Qaeda, that affiliation, trying to expand its reach outside Somalia, some of his deputies, including one of the gentleman that they suspect could be his replacement who goes by the name Karauti (ph), has more of a (INAUDIBLE) ideology of ISIS.

And so, now that ISIS is kind of the flavor of the month, the question is, will Al Shabaab move away from Al Qaeda more towards an ISIS-type ideology? I think it's a little too soon to tell. But, clearly, the U.S. officials will be watching that very closely -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Did they say how many other Al Shabaab terrorists were killed in this latest U.S. air strike?

LABOTT: They only talked about Godane, but we understand, from U.S. officials, that it could have been several. But I think they wanted that DNA of Godane to make sure. They said -- they said they really wanted to go after the head of the group. But there is some reporting indicating that some of his lieutenants were killed as well.

BLITZER: All right, Elise Labott at the State Department. Thank you.

Let's get now to that NATO summit. It has just wrapped up. The next moves by the allies to confront the terror group, ISIS, was unfolded as was the crisis in Ukraine. The United States lining up NATO allies to form what's called a core coalition against ISIS. NATO agreeing to form a spearhead force to protect member countries. All this in response to Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

At a news conference right at the end of the NATO summit, you saw it live here on CNN, President Obama said, the dismantling of ISIS will be systemic and methodical.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are going to achieve our goal. We are going to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL, the same way we have gone after Al Qaeda, the same way that we have gone after the Al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia where we released, today, the fact that we had killed the leader of Al Shabaab in Somalia and have consistently worked to degrade their operations. Now, we have been very systemic and methodical in going after these kinds of organizations that may threaten U.S. personnel and the homeland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's go to our White House Correspondent Michelle Kosinski. She's joining us now from Cardiff, Wales. Did the president, Michelle, achieve what he was hoping to achieve as far as lining up a coalition to fight ISIS, to deal, I guess, in a unified manner with Ukraine as well?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, they got that done. They were saying that that was one piece -- you know, when critics were pushing and pushing President Obama to lay out a strategy -- and, by the way, those calls are still out there. I mean, secretary of state, John Kerry is being called before the House Armed Services Committee this month to lay out a strategy because people feel like there's been some back and forth.

But the president said, well, step by step, here's what we're going to do, and, at the NATO summit, let's organize this coalition among our European partners. So, that's what they did today, through secretary of State, Kerry, and also secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, with these 10 nations together. And the president said there wasn't resistance there, that everyone seems to be on board, seeing ISIS as a significant threat and saying that there is significant support there.

The thing is, this is still in the preliminary stages. We don't know exactly what anyone else is going to contribute. We just know that there is unity there. We've been hearing it over the past couple of days, coming not only from President Obama but also from the U.K. Although, they stopped short of saying they are going to contribute air strike. I mean, no one else has really contributed that yet, up to this point.

And when asked directly, U.K.'s prime minister, David Cameron, you know, he was asked, well, are you getting closer to air strikes? And he said, sort of vaguely, we are getting closer to doing all we can to squeeze ISIS out of existence. So, there's nothing concrete as to what each country's going to do, at this point. There is just the formation of this coalition.

Next up, of course, is the regional coalition and that's going to happen now that this summit has ended with secretary of state, Kerry, going to the region -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So, the coalition will provide, I suppose, military support but they're also looking for other support as well, diplomatic, political, economic, designed to go after ISIS, is that right?

KOSINSKI: Yes, I mean, we knew that there was a military component, but we don't know what the details will be or how this coalition will play out, in terms of who's going to do what concretely. What we've been hearing, from the White House, is that each country will make its own commitments. Some will be only humanitarian aid, some will be equipment, some will be militarily. Now, whether that means contributing to something like air strikes or whether it means training and equipping an army on the ground, that's what remains to be seen.

It was Kerry who really laid out the goals of this coalition today in an address he gave in a statement that was put out, saying what they want to accomplish, at least, will be the military component, dealing with the foreign -- the foreign fighters and also tracking their movements. That's one way that we may see a real effect on that issue.

So, that's one way that we may see a real affect on that issue because that's one of the biggest fears, not only for European countries but the United States, the flow of these foreign fighters, the fear of them coming back to the homeland. So, one of the big goals of this coalition is to share information and try to track these fighters so that, you know, all of these nations can get a collective handle on that -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Michelle, thanks very much. Michelle Kosinski traveling with the president at the NATO summit in Wales.

The top two issues on the NATO agenda were, of course, Ukraine and ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Let's get to both those issues. Right now, our Dramana Karadsheh is in Baghdad. Diana Magnay is in southeastern Ukraine. Diana, the fighting has been especially intense around various areas not far from where you are. The cease-fire technically took effect just a couple hours or so ago. Are you hearing gunfire? What's the status as far as your eyewitness account is concerned?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's been quiet ever since that cease-fire went into effect a couple of hours back. In fact, for half an hour before that, it was all very quiet. But before that, for a good stretch of the day, really, there was very, very intense shelling all along the 40 kilometer strip, really, between Mariupol, where I am, Ukraine's fourth largest city, and the Russian border. And, yesterday, the rebels seemed to approach very far towards Mariupol and were, really, shelling pretty much the outskirts of the city or at least very close to the checkpoints around the circumference of the city.

Today, what seems to have happened is that the Ukrainian forces managed to push them back somewhat. And they really were battling over that strip. And we shot some video, that you'll see, which shows the smoke billowing up over the horizon. But, certainly for now here in this region, the cease-fire does seem to have -- to be being respected. We heard that shortly after 6:00 p.m., up in the Donetsk region just north of Donetsk, the city itself, there were explosions. But, generally, things have been quiet. Let's hope it stays that way -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, certainly, let's hope it stays that way, indeed. As you know, Diana, the deal also includes a prisoner exchange, although the Ukrainian President Poroshenko referred to them as hostages. How many people are we talking about here on both sides?

MAGNAY: Well, the interior ministry has said before that there are some 400 Ukrainian troops or members of the volunteer battalions who are being held by the rebel forces. That doesn't include a group who were surrounded in the city of Ilovisk (ph) last week, a particularly ugly episode in this conflict. And we still believe that there are still others being kept prisoner there who would add to that number. And that's because it's in the nearby town, when we talk to rebels at the checkpoint there. They were very, very cagey about whether they still had prisoners, and we felt it would appear as though they did. And so, it's 400-plus, I would say.

And the Ukrainian interior ministry hasn't given any data as to how many it has. It calls them detainees anyway and hasn't given any numbers. But, certainly, the details on this peace plan are pretty sketchy. There are 12 points. We don't know what those -- all of those points are so far, but, certainly, a bilateral cease-fire and a prisoner exchange and that the cease-fire should be monitored by the OSCE to make sure it's detained.

But, remember, Wolf, the last one in June failed after 10 days. And people, certainly the ones that I've spoken to, since 6:00 p.m., don't hold out that much hope this one will last.

BLITZER: The OSCE, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Diana Magnay, be careful over there. Thanks very much.

Let's go to Baghdad right now. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is joining us. Jomana, yesterday, Iraq's president, the new President Ahcurd (ph), told our Christiane Amanpour he asked for assistance from NATO countries, but hadn't yet made a formal request. What are you learning about when Iraq plans to do that, what kind of help it actually wants from the NATO alliance?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you know, Wolf, we are in the final days here of that government formation process, that constitutional deadline for the prime minister-designate, Al Baghdadi, to form that government is coming up early next week. And we're hearing from Iraqi officials, they're optimistic and confident that they will have an exclusive government, they say, in the coming days. So, we will likely see a formal request come when that government is confirmed and it's in office.

Now, of course, they know, Iraqi officials here have made it clear, they understand that having an inclusive government is a key condition for the United States and other countries to provide them with more support.

Now, what they want, we've heard, Wolf, over and over again from Iraqi officials, saying they want more training, more equipping, arming their troops, and support with things like surveillance and air strikes. But the one thing they do not want is boots on the ground. They say they do not want a repeat of the U.S. military presence here.

And, if you recall back in 2011, U.S. officials were insisting, at the time, the U.S. military were insisting that they were leaving, and leaving behind a capable and ready Iraqi security force that will be up to the task to stand on its own here. And as we have seen, they have been put to the test of the past year and really failed.

So, they do realize here, the government does realize, that more needs to be done. As we heard the president of Iraq say yesterday, the military is going to be -- is going to need rehabilitation, more than anything. So, right now, they will take any help they can get, pretty much.

BLITZER: Yes. It's so depressing that the Iraqi military has utterly failed over the past six months in dealing with this ISIS threat. Jomana Karadsheh, thanks very much. Be careful over there in Baghdad.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: Major breaking news we're following right now. We understand NORAD is tracking a small plane, and that plane is now described as being unresponsive as it flies over the Atlantic Ocean. Barbara Starr is over at the Pentagon watching this story. Rene Marsh is here with me. Rene, what do we know?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know, as we speak, Wolf, two F-15 jets, they were trailing this general aviation aircraft. The problem is the pilot is not responsive. Air traffic control trying to communicate, however that individual is not speaking back to air traffic control. Possibly this is a situation of hypoxia. Perhaps this pilot is unconscious due to a lack of oxygen. We don't have those details, at this point. But we do know whoever is in the cockpit is not communicating with those on the ground. It is unclear how much fuel is left in this plane.

But at this hour, we know that it is over the Atlantic Ocean and is headed for Cuba. And we know that both NORAD and the FAA are continuing to track this plane, at this point -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And based on the statement that we have now received from Petersen Air Force Base in Colorado, the NORAD headquarters, this plane departed Rochester, New York, was on a flight plan headed to Naples, Florida. And, now, it's not responding at all. Do we know how many people are on board that plane?

MARSH: We do not. We don't know details as far as who may be on board. We know that it appears that this flight left Rochester around the 8:00, 8:30 hour this morning, and it was supposed to land in Naples around 2:05 p.m. So we know that is the flight plan. Why this pilot is not communicating, we don't know.

But we just saw a similar situation just this last weekend. We had a general aviation plane fly into restricted airspace here in Washington, D.C. Same situation, pilot not responsive. We know that fighter jets were following and tracking this plane. Eventually, unfortunately, it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. So similar situation just within days of each other, but we're watching this one.

BLITZER: And when we say general aviation, we mean a private plane, not a commercial airline or anything along those lines.

MARSH: Right.

BLITZER: All right, it's a light business and utility aircraft that we're told.

Let me go to Barbara Starr over at the Pentagon.

Barbara, this plane moving I guess closer and closer towards Cuban airspace. That could be a problem.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is really an extraordinary situation. U.S. military officials say the plane's trajectory, its path right now, is heading towards Cuban airspace. Those two F-15s trailing it will not, of course, enter Cuban airspace. They will turn off well before any risk of going into Cuban airspace. But what we are told at this hour, using the U.S. Coast Guard, a U.S.

Coast Guard channel of communications, the U.S. military is communicating to Cuban authorities what they believe is going on with this plane. This is a Coast Guard method of communicating with Cuban authorities because, of course, the U.S. has no formal diplomatic relations with Cuba. The Coast Guard channel is usually for refugees at sea. Boats stranded at sea. That kind of situation. This is a very quiet channel of communication that the two countries maintain for safety at sea. But at this hour, it is being used so the U.S. military, through the Coast Guard, can tell the Cubans what they believe is going on.

Interestingly, the two F-15s picked up the trail of this plane, we're told, at about 25,000 feet in altitude. High, we are told, high altitude for this type of aircraft. Another indication that this plane and the pilot may be suffering from hypoxia. They don't know how much fuel. So the key question right now, if this is what we're dealing with, will the plane potentially crash into the Atlantic Ocean? Will it actually enter Cuban. airspace? And what will the Cuban authorities have to do to deal with it? How will they track it? How will they try and keep it from crashing obviously into any populated areas in Cuba?

Wolf.

BLITZER: Barbara and Rene, to both of you, I assume the U.S. government, through various channels, the U.S. does have a diplomatic interest section in Havana, is communicating all this information directly to the Cuban government in Havana. So they see two F-15s following a small, private plane about to enter Cuban airspace, the Cubans will not be alarmed. But how does that work, Barbara?

STARR: Well, it is our understanding that it is being done right now through the Coast Guard to Cuban maritime authorities because they have this existing relationship about events at sea. They know each other. They know how to deal with each other. And to properly communicate with each other we are told. But, again, it's mainly our understanding been for maritime events at sea in the past when, you know, Cubans take to the sea and try and go in small, non-secure boats to Florida, when the Cubans see something going on, as you say, Wolf, and they're not sure what it is, it's been a method of communication.

But it is really quite extraordinary to think about the fact that we are talking about what they're communicating right now is U.S. military information from those two F-15s about what they are seeing with this small business jet. And that's why I say, you can count on the fact the F-15s will turn back well before they get to Cuban airspace. Nobody, you know, wants any misunderstanding about this situation.

And, sadly, it could all get resolved one way or the other fairly soon. They're not sure how much fuel the small plane has on board. It's come all the way from New York to Florida. It's now turned out over eastern Florida in the Atlantic headed for Cuba. How much fuel will it have left before it goes down somewhere, Wolf.

BLITZER: Rene, we're showing our viewers this map. You can see, it's heading towards Cuba, right. Do we know how far away from Cuban airspace this small, private jet is right now?

MARSH: We don't. We don't have that exact figure at this point. We just know that it is headed that way. We know that the U.S. military, at this hour, in conversation with Cuban authorities, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard. We are getting a little bit more information about the type of plane. We know seven seats on board. We know that this is a fixed wing single engine plane. So, getting those details. But again, to your point, we don't know how many individuals are actually on board this plane.

BLITZER: Usually a plane like this would have a pilot and a co-pilot, not just one pilot, right?

MARSH: Perhaps. You know, it's really unclear as to, again, the number of people on board. And, still, even though we're hearing that most likely this is a situation of hypoxia, we don't know what this situation is and why this pilot is not responding to authorities at this point.

But to Barbara's point here, this plane would have had enough fuel to get from point a to b. Rochester to Naples. And at this point, we don't know how much fuel is left. And so you have this situation where, if this plane is flying and this pilot is unresponsive and it remains over the Atlantic Ocean, those are variables that you just don't want to have here where, you know, you may run out of fuel right over the Atlantic.

BLITZER: And NORAD, the North American Airspace Defense Command, announcing just moments ago that two U.S. Air Force F-15s are following this small, private plane en route from Rochester, New York, to Naples, Florida. But the pilot, no communications coming out of that plane right now. It's heading towards Cuban airspace.

Let's take a quick break, resume the special coverage right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: We're following the breaking news. A small, private plane, supposedly en route from Rochester, New York, to Naples, Florida, is now flying over the Atlantic Ocean but there has been no response from that small plane's cockpit. Two U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter jets are now chasing that plane, but it's ominously moving closer and closer towards Cuban airspace right now.

Rene Marsh is watching what's going on. You're getting new information. Set the scene for viewers, Rene, who might be just tuning in.

MARSH: Right. So as we speak to you, Wolf, again, those F-15 jets, they are trailing this private plane. We don't know at this point why the pilot is unresponsive, but that is the situation. This plane is over the Atlantic Ocean. We do not know how much fuel is left. We know that this plane took off from Rochester, New York, earlier this morning, around 8:30 this morning, and it was supposed to arrive in Naples, Florida, a little bit after 2:00 p.m. this afternoon.

But now we have this situation where, for whatever reason, the pilot is not communicating, and we have the jets following, as well as the FAA monitoring this situation. We know that it is en route or heading in the direction of Cuba.

But, you know, this is interesting, because we just saw a very similar situation just this past weekend, and that situation did not end well, in which, again, the pilot, unresponsive, fighter jets, they were tracking this plane until the point in which it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. Hoping that that is not the scenario that we see here. But as we speak, they are still tracking this plane, still flying over the Atlantic.

BLITZER: And this is a small Socata TBM-700 light business and utility aircraft. That according to NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command. And that's why they launched these two F-15 fighter jets to chase this plane since there's been an unresponsiveness coming out of the cockpit.

Joining us on the phone right now is Ted Soliday. He's the executive director of the Naples Airport.

This plane was en route from Rochester, New York, to Naples. What can you tell us, Ted?

TED SOLIDAY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NAPLES AIRPORT (via telephone): Well, I think what I've heard you saying already, you've got just about everything we know. We do know that it's a TBM-700, as you mentioned, and -- which is a single engine light aircraft. We do not know the people at this point and what their condition is and why they would -- it appears on radar that they're still at altitude. I know that they've been flying for almost five hours. That's a long time for that aircraft. So, again, as your one announcer mentioned, we hope it doesn't end in a very negative situation.

BLITZER: Usually when a plane like this takes off from Rochester, New York, they've got a manifest, how many people are on board, the pilot, the co-pilot. Have you gone through that yet, Ted?

SOLIDAY: Well, we don't have that information. That would be in the FAA's domain. We've contacted our tower to see if they have anything. We don't have any information like that on it.

BLITZER: The -- you don't know if there was one pilot or two pilots? We know it's a seven seater. It's a small plane, right?

SOLIDAY: That's correct. It's a very small plane. I think it's actually a six-seater, but some people maybe could say seven seater.

BLITZER: It's either a six or a seven seater. Usually, if they've been flying now for five hours, I don't -- what is the normal time they would have in a plane like this in term of the fuel? How long could a plane like this flying at 20,000 or 25,000 feet stay in the air?

SOLIDAY: Well, you're asking me to really speculate. It's a good little airplane. It's a turbo prop. It depends on how hard it had to work to get up there and how many people it really does have on board. But once it gets up that high in altitude, it can cruise at a good speed and with low fuel, you know, use, so it can cruise very well. I was speculating just before you came that five hours is a long time for that airplane.

BLITZER: Yes, I suspect five hours is approaching the limit. But we'll find out soon enough. Ted Soliday, executive director of the Naples Municipal Airport, which was the destination of this small plane. Thanks very much.

Barbara Starr is getting new information over at the Pentagon.

What are you picking up, Barbara?

STAR: I am, Wolf. I've just heard back from NORAD with the latest information. They are telling us that the two F-15s have broken off now. That they are no longer trailing the aircraft. And this, of course, is because the aircraft, this unresponsive aircraft, has now entered Cuban airspace. So the F-15s would have broken off before entering the 12-mile airspace of Cuba. Of course, airspace is 12 miles. Your national airspace is essentially 12 miles off your coastline. The F-15s would not enter Cuban airspace, of course. So they broke off.