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Wolf

Video Allegedly Shows Murder of Jordanian Fighter Pilot; Pilot allegedly Killed Before ISIS Swap Proposed to Jordan; General Austin Says Mission to "Defeat ISIS;" Jordan Seeks Revenge for Pilot's Death; France Rounds Up Terrorists as Another Solider Attacked with Knife.

Aired February 03, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting from Washington.

Want to update you on the breaking news we're following. ISIS militants released a video that appears to show the barbaric murder of a Jordanian fighter pilot. CNN has made the decision not to air the video or any images from it. It appears to show the pilot confined in a large cage and burned alive. Just a short while ago, President Obama reacted to this horrific news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just got word of the video that had been released. I don't know the details of the confirmations. But should in fact this video be authentic, it's just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organization. And it, I think, will redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of a global coalition to make sure that they are degraded and ultimately defeated. And it also just indicates the degree to which whatever ideology they're operating off of, it's bankrupt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The Jordanian F-16 fighter pilot, Moaz al Kasasbeh, was captured after his jet crashed in Syria in December. He ejected from that F-16. He was taking part in the U.S.-led air strikes against ISIS.

In the video messages last month, ISIS threatened to kill the pilot if Jordan didn't release a female would-be suicide bomber, Sajida al Rishawi. Jordan called for the release of the pilot in exchange for al Rishawi and demanded proof the pilot was still alive. But a banner on Jordanian television now says he was actually killed on January 3rd.

Barbara Starr is over at the Pentagon. She's getting more reaction.

Horrific news, Barbara. U.S. military officials are deeply, deeply upset, outraged, if you will, by what has occurred. BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.

General Lloyd Austin, the head of the U.S. Central Command, the part of the U.S. military that is leading the coalition, he has just issued a statement and I'll just read you in part. He says, "U.S. Central Command strongly condemns the savage murder of the Jordanian pilot." He talks about it being "another vicious act." And that first and foremost, the thoughts of the U.S. military are with the pilot's family.

General Austin also saying he has just spoken to his Jordanian counterpart, the Jordanian chief of defense staff. Now, that's important because of course the U.S. is going to want to do everything it can to keep Jordan in this coalition.

But that remains to be seen. King Abdullah of Jordan has been in Washington at this hour on his way home back to Amman. Obviously, he wants to be with the people of Jordan, consult with his government. And I think fair to say everyone is waiting to see what the next steps may be by the Jordanian government. Will there be execution of the prisoner, Sajida Rishawi, the woman that Jordan was offering to trade in return? She has been condemned to death for her role in previous bombing attacks in Jordan. Will there be other prisoner executions? All these things, potentially, we do not know, but potentially on the table, all of this putting King Abdullah in a very delicate position of showing solidarity with his people and with the family of this pilot, also wanting to still, by all accounts, that we know of at this point be part of the coalition.

Let's quickly get to one other point. Jordanian state TV saying that the pilot was actually killed on January 3rd, a very specific date. How would anybody know this? I think it's fair to say that U.S. and Jordanian intelligence has been very active in recent months trying to collect everything it can on ISIS in Syria, which is very tough because neither country has military personnel on the ground. What we do know is U.S. intelligence has been intercepting, eavesdropping, if you will, every ISIS communication it can. Perhaps they learned of the death -- the January 3rd death, allegedly, through intercepted communications. But also Jordanian intelligence services, some of the most capable in the region, they work with their trusted agents on the ground all over Syria, all over the Middle East. They have people that they talk to. It is possible that the Jordanian government at the very highest level had some tip that January 3rd was an indication of the date the pilot was actually killed. It's a very specific piece of information and really there's only so many ways either government would know that -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Barbara. We'll get back to you.

I want to bring back our terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank; our CNN intelligence and security analyst, Bob Baer; and our global affairs analyst, retired Lieutenant Colonel James Reese.

In the statement just released by General Lloyd Austin, commander of the U.S. Central Command, which is in charge of the entire Middle East, as you know, Colonel Reese, at the end of the statement, it says, "We stand with our Jordanian partners and together we will fight this barbaric enemy until it is defeated." Until it is defeated. In this statement, which I assume was carefully prepared, General Austin says the mission is "defeat them." The president often says "degrade and ultimately destroy." Take us behind the scenes at the U.S. military Central Command, Colonel Reese. On a statement like this, it's very blunt.

LT. COL. JAMES REESE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Wolf, it is. One of the reasons is the JAF, the Jordanian Armed Forces, are one of our closest allies there. And their soldiers, their airmen and soldiers there are fantastic. And we've worked closely with them through the years training, and they also helped us fight in Iraq in the early years. So there's a very special close relationship, especially with General Austin and his staff there.

This is something we have to watch. Right now, the best thing that I know General Austin is going to do is, Jordan is going to come up with an idea. Even tough there's passion flowing, they can't let their passion push them too far. Work with the coalition. But the coalition knows, at the end of the day, they need to defeat and destroy ISIS to make this go away.

BLITZER: Bob Baer, destroy ISIS until it is defeated, that's not -- they've got some pretty strong capability right now.

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Well, exactly. And they still have regional support. I know it sounds odd, but Turkey is not playing a straight game here. Boumeddiene, the "Charlie Hebdo" bomber, fled across the border. It's easy to get across that border. The Turks cut a deal with the Islamic State when they got their hostages back in Mosul.

We're also not getting cooperation from Iran. Iran is making a land grab in Iran giving support to the Islamic State. And there's Arab gulf money coming into the Islamic State.

The point now is this group is beyond anybody's -- conceivable in any way support them, politically, militarily, any way. We need regional cooperation. It's not just the Jordanians. Jordan is a small country. It will stick with us. It's the most capable army, capable intelligence service. But we need the rest of the region to destroy this organization.

BLITZER: Yeah. And that's obviously a lot easier said than done.

Paul, if in fact the Jordanian pilot, Moaz al Kasasbeh, if in fact he was murdered on January 3rd, why would ISIS hold up release of this brutal video showing him in a cage beaten and they poured gasoline over him and then they burned him to death, tortured him in this way? Why would nay wait a month to release the video?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: That's not clear. But it appears if it was on January 3rd, that was just 10 days after they captured him near Raqqa. Obviously, he was forced to eject from his warplane. Possibly this was timed for the visit of King Abdullah to Washington for sort of maximum embarrassment from the Jordanian point of view. But not clear why they waited a whole month to put this out. But this is a really quite elaborate spectacle that they put together, high-end production in terms of editing. So this is not a video they could have sort of turned overnight. It would have required several weeks to put together -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Yeah, it's very sophisticated. 22 minutes, in fact. And they begin by making the point that Jordan is involved with the U.S.- led coalition launching air strikes. And they make the propaganda point that they're simply killing a lot of Arabs in Syria and Iraq in the process. And then they go on at the end of the video, they show the pilot tortured, they show the pilot burned to death.

Stand by.

We're going to continue to watch the breaking news. Much more right after this.

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BLITZER: We're following the breaking news. The murder of a Jordanian F-16 fighter pilot, Lieutenant Moaz al Kasasbeh, shown in a video just released today by ISIS showing him burnt to death inside a cage.

We've just received a statement from the Jordanian military, a statement from the commander, general commander of the Jordanian Armed Forces. Let me read it: "They," referring to ISIS, "announced today the assassination of our heroic pilot on the day, January 3rd, 2015," meaning a month ago. "The armed forces announced the martyrdom of our pilot, Moaz al Kasasbeh, and we ask God to accept him. The armed forces mourn the martyred hero and emphasizes that his blood will not be wasted and its punishment of those who assassinated Moaz will be a revenge in the same level of the Jordanian tragedy."

That statement just released by the Jordanian military.

Joining us, our terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank; our intelligence and security analyst, Bob Baer; and our global affairs analyst, retired Lieutenant Colonel James Reese.

Colonel Reese, he says bluntly, the general commander of the Jordanian Armed Forces, there will be revenge in the same level of the Jordanian tragedy. So clearly, Jordan is now officially going public and saying they're not going to step back, they're going to seek out those responsible for the murder of this 26-year-old lieutenant, and they're going to go after them and do what they need to do in the same manner as the Jordanian tragedy. What does that say to you?

REESE: Wolf, one thing that's always interesting to me, the Jordanian Armed Forces have very similar values as the U.S. military. They fight for each other, just like we do. So it shows me that there's passion, there's anger running through the Jordanian Armed Forces right now. And they want to go right now and they want to go really try to make it a knock on ISIS of what happened here. But like I said, they've got some smart commanders there, CENTCOM will help council them and mentor them. And they'll come back with a plan to really continue to try to defeat and destroy ISIS. BLITZER: I'm sure there will be a joint U.S.-Jordanian operation.

The U.S. has certain capabilities, Jordan has certain capabilities. And together, they can be very effective.

Bob Baer, we're getting word that protesters in Amman, Jordan, are gathering outside the palace of King Abdullah. He's here in Washington but he's cutting short his visit to fly immediately back to Amman, Jordan. They're protesting, wanting revenge. I suspect that kind of protest on the streets of Amman and other cities and towns and villages throughout Jordan will intensify in the coming hours. And that could have a huge impact on what Jordan might do, right?

BAER: Yeah, Wolf, I think we'll see a sea change. This burning somebody in a cage is nothing to do with Islam. This is just pure barbarity, which these people reject in any -- as I said before, any sympathy toward sort of an Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, is going to die very quickly among these people, especially the tribes in Jordan who live by revenge. And they'll be pushing the king probably to get more involved in the war on the Islamic State, even using, at some point, commandos or whatever means the Jordanians have. So I think this is going to be a huge political boost for the king. The people are just so disgusted in Jordan by this.

BLITZER: They certainly are.

Paul Cruickshank, in this official statement from the Jordanian Armed Forces, talking about revenge, that is very important. Tell our viewers why the use of that word, "revenge," is so powerful in that part of the world.

CRUICKSHANK: Well, it's an eye for an eye. I think it indicates that the Jordanians are going to go after ISIS to a much more significant degree. They have significant intelligence capabilities in the region. Of course, this pilot comes from a prominent Jordanian tribal family from the south of Jordan, sort of very, very connected. So I think we're likely to see a very big backlash, as Bob was saying, in Jordan, but also in the wider region amongst Sunnis. I think this is going to be potentially a very powerful backlash against ISIS. This may have been a big miscalculation from ISIS in brutally, burning this pilot alive.

BLITZER: Guys, I want all of you to stand by because we have much more on top of this breaking news.

Unfortunately, there's other breaking news. We're following the murder of the Jordanian pilot held by ISIS. But also, we're following another breaking news story on another front in the war against terrorism, the latest attack on soldiers in France. More arrests in a sweeping terror investigation. We'll tell you what happened outside a Jewish institution in Nice in the southern part of France.

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BLITZER: Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, has just learned that Jordan's King Abdullah, who is here in the United States right now, cutting short his visit to the United States to fly right back to Amman, Jordan, has recorded a video message that will be broadcast soon on Jordan state television. The message, we'll discuss, how this is a time for the people of Jordan to stand together in the face of terrorism, the release of this video by ISIS showing the burning of that Jordanian fighter pilot, tortured and burning. We're going to get more on that coming up.

But we're also following other developments, including breaking news in France. The terror investigation continues. Now there's been yet another attack on French soil. Counterterrorism police have arrested eight more people in the race to round up terrorist suspects. Authorities say the eight have tIEs to jihadi cells in the suburbs of Paris and Leon.

Also, officials are investigating yet another knife attack on French soldiers in the streets of Nice in southern France. We just learned the suspect in the attack of the attack was on the radar of French intelligence. Those soldiers were just outside a Jewish community center in Nice, the southern part of France.

Let's get more from our senior international correspondent, Jim Bittermann.

What can you tell us about this? What was it, a knife attack, on these soldiers who were stationed outside this Jewish community center? Is that what happened, Jim?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Wolf. That's exactly it. The soldiers were on patrol outside the Jewish community center, also close to a big department store in Nice. Suddenly, this man came at them with a large knife, described various as a butcher knife -- something large in any case. One of the soldiers was wounded in the cheek and perhaps neck. And in subduing this perpetrator, they were -- another soldier was wounded slightly. So two slightly wounded soldiers. They, of course, captured the guy. The police have said now that his name is Musa (ph) Coulibaly, which is the same last name as the terrorist shot to death at the Jewish supermarket at the edge of Paris. Now, experts are warning that Coulibaly is a fairly common Malian name, so there may be no direct correlation with the attack.

But nonetheless, this Coulibaly had been on the radar of French intelligence officials, mainly because he took a one-way flight to Turkey on the 29th of January, so just a few days ago. He went to Turkey. They signaled the Turkish authorities. The Turkish authorities sent him back. He came back to France and they called him in for questioning. He was questioned, but they didn't hold him because they didn't have anything to hold him on except he had taken a one-way flight to Turkey. So he was released and was on the streets. Then suddenly, perpetrated this knife attack this afternoon in Nice.

BLITZER: I know they're investigating if there's any relationship between this suspect with the knife attack in Nice, whose name is Musa (ph) Coulibaly, as opposed to Amedy Coulibaly, the guy who went into the Jewish supermarket and murdered those four shoppers inside there before he himself was killed.

We're going to stay on top of this story.

Jim Bittermann watching what's going on in France.

We'll have a lot more on all the breaking news.

That's it for me, though. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is coming up next.

For our North American viewers, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin will start right after a quick break.

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