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Obama And Merkel In News Conference; Discussions Ukraine Crisis; Won't Prejudge If Sanctions Will Work; Iran Needs To Decide On Nuke Deal; Sanctions On Russia Need To Remain In Force; Russian Actions A Threat To European Peace; Visit With Netanyahu Would Break Protocol; U.S. And Germany Determined To Destroy ISIS; ISIS Releases New Video Of British Hostage; 56 Airstrikes Against ISIS In Three Days; UAE Rejoining Coalition Against ISIS; Hostage's Relatives Holding Out Hope; Kurdish Forces Pave The Way For Mosul Battle; Kurdish Forces Pave the Way

Aired February 09, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

We've been watching the President of the United States and the chancellor of Germany speaking out on several critically important issues right now. First and foremost, the escalating, very dangerous situation in Ukraine. We just heard the President say that that option of the U.S. providing military equipment, lethal aid as it's called, to Ukraine, that's on the table. It's being considered but President Obama insisting he has made no decision, no decision, at least not yet. The chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, making it clear she opposes any such military equipment going to Ukraine, at least for now

Let's go to our Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta. He was there. He still is, I believe, in the East Room. Are you still in the East Room, Jim?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I still am.

BLITZER: Give us your analysis -- give us your analysis of what we just heard on the situation in Ukraine from the President and the chancellor.

ACOSTA: A much emptier East Room, Wolf, here at the White House. But, yes, you heard the President and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, spend a lot of time, during this press conference, trying to portray a united front when it comes to this issue of Ukraine and Russia.

But I think if you read between the lines and listen very carefully here, Wolf, these two leaders are on very different places, right now, when it comes to this key question of arming the Ukrainians. You heard the German chancellor saying that she is very much against that idea. But the President saying that that option remains on the table. It's something that his national security team is looking at right now. And it's an option that stays on his desk until after, at the very least, these talks that are going to be taking place on Wednesday Belarus.

And it's interesting to know, Wolf, the President was sort of doing on the one hand and on the other, through many of his remarks, saying that while it's still an option on the table, he said that the prospect for a military solution in Ukraine he said quote -- is, quote, "low." So, really sort of dashing any expectations that a lot of people have up on Capitol Hill that, perhaps, the President is going to go in really forcefully with a lot of military weapons for the Ukrainians.

But, at the same time, the President acknowledged and even though he said that these sanctions that have been applied on Moscow and on the Russian economy have had an effect. He acknowledged, during this press conference, as he has in the past, that they really haven't changed Vladimir Putin's calculous. And so, you know, it's interesting, the situation that the President and Angela Merkel find themselves in. The President said in the past, he doesn't see himself as somebody who's playing cold-war chess with Putin. But Putin has sort of maneuvered these two leaders into a position where they're now on very separate pages when it comes to this question.

A couple of other, I think, things we should take note of, Wolf, during this press conference. There has been some talk as to whether or not the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, might cancel, postpone, change this upcoming speech to Congress next month. The President was asked whether or not he would like fellow Democrats to do that. He didn't quite answer that question but he did say that he would not invite Angela Merkel -- although he says he loves Angela Merkel, he would not invite her to the White House if she were two weeks away from an election.

But he tried to say, to the members of Congress up on Capitol Hill who are actively pushing this issue of new sanctions on Iran, what's the rush? Is what the President said about that. And he said -- you know, I think he did tip his hand somewhat, in terms of this looming deadline for a framework agreement. He said, if they were not close to a framework with Iran and when it comes to the nuclear program, he didn't see a usefulness of a -- of a delay or prolonging those talks if they doesn't transpire in the near term, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes.

ACOSTA: So, you know, it's nice to have a Friday news conference because, a lot of times, these issues can be sorted out before a Friday. On a Monday, there's still a lot of work to be done on all sides on a lot of these very important issues -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, and, as you point out, the President seemed -- at least I'll point out, seemed to take an indirect swipe at the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that Angela Merkel wouldn't even ask for a meeting with the President of the United States two weeks before an election in Germany, suggesting why would the prime minister of Israel want to even come to Washington two weeks before Israel's scheduled election exactly two weeks after that March 3rd scheduled address before a joint meeting of Congress. We'll have more on this part of the story coming up.

I want to get back to Ukraine. Our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger is with us. What do you think of the way the President handled this clear difference of opinion --

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

BLITZER: -- that seems to be emerging between Angela Merkel and President Obama?

BORGER: I think that both of these leaders like each other an awful lot. They went out of their way to describe their differences not as major threats no any alliance between the two countries. President Obama said, if we have tactical disagreements. And the word tactical is really important here because it's very different from strategic. But we have tactical disagreements. That doesn't mean that we're any less united.

And I think she gave a clear signal, and I think this is important to the President, that if he did send arms to Ukraine, that she would not complain about any unilateral moves by the United States to do what it might have to do. So, I think they were kind of dancing around it, as they do, because the President hasn't made any final decision here. But I think they've agreed that they might have to disagree in the end.

BLITZER: You were just there, Jim Sciutto, in Ukraine. You traveled with the secretary of state, John Kerry. He was there sitting in the front row. You spoke with high ranking Ukrainian officials. How are they likely to react to what they heard from the chancellor and the President?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Frankly, I think disappointment. You have -- there is a real sense and a desire for urgency from Ukraine officials and even the western diplomats involved and on the ground. I did not hear urgency in that press conference. I heard a description of the seriousness of the situation on the ground. But on the question of new sanctions, the President said, we will continue the sanctions as they are. Give diplomacy a chance.

On the issue of arming Ukraine, although there is a clear difference which I think is significant with Germany, no rush to make a decision there either. And that's, at the same time, in the same press conference where the President and the German leader described this as not just a threat to Ukraine but to Europe. The peace in Europe. A threat to NATO. You heard that from Angela Merkel, saying that the inviolability of borders is something that has kept the peace in Europe. Russia is violing (ph) that -- so, you have all of that, a threat to Ukraine and the whole region on our allies.

And, yet, well, listen. We have to talk this through. We haven't made a decision. We haven't made a decision on that. I will say, though, that the public disagreement there, an acknowledge of disagreement with the Germans on arming, does seem to indicate, it's hard to say and the President said he hasn't made a decision, that he's at least prepared to make a decision that differs with America's chief ally in the region. And that could be significant.

BORGER: And she might be prepared to live with it.

SCIUTTO: Right. Right.

BORGER: I mean, and that -- and that would --

SCIUTTO: And would have to be, frankly.

BORGER: Exactly. Exactly.

BLITZER: You know, very quickly, Peter, on the other important issue -- another important issue that came up in the news conference, these negotiations with Iran to end its potential for having some sort of nuclear weapon. The end of March, there's a deadline. The President seemed to say they're not going to extend the deadline. Maybe they'll have a little cross the Ts, dot the Is or whatever. But they need a framework agreement by then. He also made it clear that he has a serious disagreement, right now, on the worthiness of these entire negotiations with the prime minister of Israel.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, and, I mean, on the prime minister of Israel, I heard from -- you know, the reason Congress doesn't conduct foreign policy, the President does, is because there are a lot of other things going on. And, you know, we were going to have the first visit of the Afghan prime minister and the new Afghan president to the United States, right, at the time of Netanyahu's speech. They're going to delay the trip because they think Netanyahu's speech will overwhelm everything else. So, there's a sound reason why Congress doesn't just get to make the -- call the foreign policy shots. And this is an example of where, you know, the United States has something else going on that was important that this speech to congress has interrupted.

BLITZER: Because this is a -- obviously, a very, very sensitive issue right now. I guess the Israelis, Jim Sciutto, at least the government of Israel, the government or prime minister, Netanyahu, he thinks it's, basically, a waste of time and the President doesn't.

SCIUTTO: Well, that's the thing. But you have seen an increased public debate in Israel. And you've seen and we've all read it about the possibility of maybe changing plans, et cetera. And there was another interesting comment from the President there, which is a bit of a -- you know, a very public jab at the Israeli prime minister, saying, well, I suspect that Angela Merkel would not even request --

BLITZER: Right.

SCIUTTO: -- a D.C. visit if her election was coming up.

BORGER: Well, that may be because the President is not as popular as he -- as he used to be back home in Germany. But --

SCIUTTO: True.

BORGER: -- there was -- there was a clear indication --

SCIUTTO: But you know where that message was going with Netanyahu.

BORGER: -- that this was a game that was being played.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BORGER: Yes.

BLITZER: It's a -- it's a sensitive issue. I want to walk over to Jake Tapper. Jake, you know, this -- all of this is happening right now, the crisis with Ukraine, the war involving ISIS right now. And you heard the President say, at one point, the goal is to destroy ISIS. We didn't hear him use that phrase degrade and ultimately defeat or destroy. He immediately went in and said, the goal, right now, is to destroy ISIS. The world has been outraged, he seemed to be suggesting, by that brutal murder of the Jordanian pilot.

On top of Ukraine, on top of Iran, there's a war going on in the Middle East right now with ISIS. There's a lot going on.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And one of the Kurdish leaders, I believe it was Borazoni (ph), saying to "Al-Hayat," the Arabic language newspaper, that the borders in the Middle East are being redrawn with blood. It is a very, very gruesome and ugly battle over there. And there are those -- we heard from the former acting director of the CIA last week saying that they cannot -- ISIS cannot be defeated unless there is ground force, a ground force level of about 100,000. There are calls for 10,000 American troops to go there and lead, although the President has said there will not be boots on the ground. And there are generals drawing up plans right now trying to figure out how ISIS can be defeated and destroyed, not just degraded.

BLITZER: Yes, this is a serious war that's going on in the Middle East. There's another war going on in Europe in Ukraine right now. There's a lot going on right now. I want everyone to stand by. Much more of the breaking news coverage coming up right after this.

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BLITZER: We now turn to the war on ISIS. Jordan and the U.S. coalition, they're unleashing more air strikes on ISIS targets. And the terror group releases new hostage video. It shows the British hostage, John Cantlie, in the city of Aleppo, Syria. In the recording, Cantlie says the video is, quote, "the last film in this series." Those are chilling words, considering the recent brutal actions by ISIS.

Jordan says its military has conducted 56 air strikes over the past last three days and the capabilities of ISIS have been degraded by 20 percent, that according to the Jordanians. The Jordanians stepped up their attacks after one of its pilots was burned alive in a cage by ISIS. The United Arab Emirates is reaffirming its solidarity with Jordan and reengaging with the coalition. The UAE had suspended its involvement but it set to squadron an F-16 jet fighters to accompany Jordanian pilots on their missions.

And relatives of an aid worker taken hostage by ISIS, they are still holding out hopes she's alive. Isis claims 26-year-old Kayla Mueller was killed in a Jordanian air strike. But the group has offered absolutely no proof of that. Her parents have sent a message urging ISIS to contact them privately. At least a dozen coalition air strikes have been targeted in or around the Iraqi city of Mosul. On the ground, anti-ISIS forces are trying to weaken the terror group's hold on the city. They are paving the way for an expected fight to try to regain control of Mosul, the second largest city of Iraq. A city of nearly two million people. But Kurdish forces say they need better weapons, they need a lot more help from Iraqi fighters. Our correspondent Phil Black reports from the front lines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, alert, watching. Their enemy is close. A commander points out a factor complex only a short distance away. He says ISIS is there. We hear small rounds fly overhead and Kurdish fighters respond. The exchange is no threat to this fortified position. What the fighters do fear is the darkness of night, fog, mortar rounds and armored vehicles converted into massive suicide bombs. They say ISIS makes use of them all.

We traveled north with Peshmerga, past the ruins of abandoned villages ISIS once controlled, and climb to the top of Mount Zartec (ph). ISIS also held this position and its commanding view across a wind plain. The fighters point out the towns and villages, factories and roads all still occupied by ISIS. And in the hazy distance, its greatest prize so far, the city of Mosul.

Overhead, that circling aircraft is a constant presence. We hear regular thundering explosions from the direction of Mosul.

BLACK (on camera): That's an air strike in the distance. They seem to be hitting every few minutes. Is that normal?

BLACK (voice-over): He says aircraft have been hitting the area around Mosul very hard for several days. Trenches and defenses stretch across the countryside. Kurdish officials call it phase one of the campaign, containing ISIS, stopping its fighters advancing again. Phase two will be very difficult, retaking Mosul.

BLACK (on camera): These Peshmerga fighters say they are willing to join any effort to free Mosul from ISIS. But the timeframe for that sort of operation really isn't up to them. It comes down to the Iraqi government in Baghdad and its efforts to rebuild, retrain the Iraqi army, the same military force that ran away and abandoned Mosul when ISIS first came charging through this region.

BLACK (voice-over): The Peshmerga don't want to take Mosul alone because it's an Arab city and because the Iraqi army has better weapons. As proof, they show us this historic artillery piece. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: England. England.

BLACK: It's from England?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BLACK: How old?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 1941.

BLACK: It was made in 1941.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BLACK: That's very old.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe made in 1941 in England.

BLACK (voice-over): Not surprisingly, ammunition for this relic is hard to source. They have just 20 precious rounds left. From this vantage point, it's easy to see the progress these fighters have made in the battle against ISIS, but also the great challenges still looming on the horizon.

Phil Black, CNN, on Mt. Zartec in northern Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The fate of an American aid worker taken hostage by ISIS is uncertain. Coming up, how significant are the air strikes being carried out by Jordan right now? Expert analysts are standing by. We'll be right back.

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BLITZER: Welcome back.

The fight against ISIS is clearly intensifying, but the fate of an American aid worker taken hostage by the terrorist group remains uncertain. Let's get some perspective on both of these angles from our experts. Joining us, our terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank and retired Lieutenant Colonel James Reese. He's a CNN global affairs analyst, former Delta Force Army officer.

Guys, thanks very much.

I want to show our viewers some new video that we've just received. This is video from ISIS. It shows the British hostage, John Cantlie, in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CANTLIE: Hello, I'm John Cantlie. In the last film in this series, we're in a city that has been at the heart of the fighting since summer 2012.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: In the recording, Cantlie says the video is the last film, as you just head, in the series.

Paul Cruickshank, what do you make of this? This is pretty chilling.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, it is because, you know, if it is the last film, there's obviously going to be a concern about his status. We know that ISIS have executed, beheaded, murdered a lot of other western hostages. Cantlie is sort of the last one we know who's with them. So there's obvious concern about his status. He'd been forced to appear in a series of propaganda videos. This latest one in Aleppo. But he is also forced to appear in Kobani, in Mosul as well. So not clear if ISIS is going to carry on forcing him to appear in more videos, perhaps a new series of videos, or perhaps behead him like they beheaded all the others, Wolf.

BLITZER: Paul, remind or viewers who John Cantlie is.

CRUICKSHANK: He's a -- he's a British reporter who was taken into captivity in Syria. He's been held by ISIS. He was taken into captive at the same time as James Foley, the American journalist. But unlike Foley and the others, he's been used as a sort of ISIS spokesman in these propaganda videos, clearly forced to do this by the group.

BLITZER: And, Colonel Reese, let me get your analysis because those words, when he says I'm John Cantlie in the last film in this series. We're in the city that's been in the heart of the fighting since September 2012. He's referring to Aleppo. When you see that, what goes through your mind?

LT. COL. JAMES REESE (RET.), CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I agree with Paul on his -- on John's safety. That's number one. But number two, what I really see is, ISIS continuing to show them as a nation state. That's number one.

Number two, they're attempting to drive that wedge and continue to drive that wedge between ISIS and their Sunni backing and the Iranian Shia backing. Right now they're trying to show, hey, we're the ones in here, we're the Aleppo. You know, we're helping everybody. The Assad regime is not. And again, it's a slap in the face of us, the U.S. and the Obama administration, with these series of red lines that we did not take care of in Syria. So it's an incredible piece of cinematography.

BLITZER: Colonel Reese, do you accept this -- the latest comments coming in, not only from U.S. officials but others that ISIS is on the run right now, that they may be losing?

REESE: I think ISIS is losing in Iraq. That is - I do agree with that. Mosul, they are isolated up there. Their supply lines have been cut off. But as you just said in your previous showing here, the lines have been redrawn and they will continue to be redrawn. And when this is all said and done, what we see as the map today will not be of tomorrow. But in Syria right now, even though the Jordanians have really picked it up and they're putting a wallop on ISIS right now, Syria still is a safe haven and that will be a major thorn in our side here until we come up with a policy on what we're going to do with Syria.

BLITZER: And, Paul, the ISIS, they've provided - and I want to be precise -- absolutely no evidence that Kayla Mueller, the American 26- year-old aid worker, they say she was killed in a Jordanian air strike, they've provided absolutely no evidence to confirm that, to back that assertion up, right?

CRUICKSHANK: Wolf, that's absolutely right. Zero evidence from ISIS. And they put out no more releases on this since Friday when they made that claim. A couple of ISIS outlets made that claim. But no evidence that she was indeed killed, which has obviously given the family some hope that she could still be alive.

BLITZER: Let's hope she is alive. Thanks very much, guys. Don't go far away. President Obama is setting the strategy for taking on Russia, saying that Vladimir Putin's decisions are bad for Russia, bad for the world. We're going to get much more on the issue of the U.S. arming the Ukrainian military. That's coming up.

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