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Paris Terror Arrests Include Policewoman; Four New Arrests In Paris Terror Attacks; Dempsey Arrives And Iraqi Forces Advance On ISIS In Tikrit; Iraqis Could Take Tikrit From ISIS In Days; Iran Helping Iraqi Forces Battle ISIS; Boko Haram Pledges Allegiance To ISIS; ISIS Said To Have Destroyed City Of Hatra; Hillary Clinton May Break Silence On E-mail Uproar; ISIS Expands Reach; Hillary Clinton May Break Silence

Aired March 09, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in Paris, 8:00 p.m. in Moscow, 1:00 a.m. Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Some major new development today in the Paris terror attacks investigation. Four people have now been taken into custody. And those arrests apparently include a French policeman. French authorities tell CNN all four have been linked to Amedy Coulibaly. He's the gunman who killed four Jewish men inside that kosher supermarket during the January attacks in Paris and a policewoman in Paris the day before.

Let's jump right into this. Our Senior International Correspondent Jim Bittermann is joining us from Paris. Our National Security Analyst Peter Bergman is here with me in Washington. So, what are they saying, first of all, Jim, about the arrests of these four individuals today?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, probably the most surprising is the policewoman who was arrested because she worked at one of the top intelligence centers -- police intelligence centers to the east of Paris. She is thought to be -- and none of this has been confirmed by officials. But, unofficially, she is thought to be a girlfriend of an acquaintance of Coulibaly. And as the police have gone upstream with all of the various contacts that Coulibaly had, they discovered that, in fact, he was talking to this boyfriend of hers and that she had been talking to the boyfriend.

She admitted, some weeks ago, that she knew, in fact, the boyfriend and she knew Coulibaly. But she said there was nothing untoward about it. And, parentally, the police think otherwise because they picked her up this morning. She's being questioned now. She hasn't been charged with anything. The prosecutor has six days, up to six days, for questioning before he has to either release her or charge her -- Wolf.

BLITZER: What about the other three? Who are they? BITTERMANN: Well, one is her boyfriend. He was already in jail on a

drug charge, so he was just brought out of jail and brought over to the central (INAUDIBLE) here today to be questioned by police there. And then, the two others, we don't know. The prosecutor has not told us anything about it -- about them.

This is the second group of four, however, that have been picked up. There was another group of four that was picked up towards the end of last month, and they have all been charged with various bits of logistical support for Coulibaly, either supplying with weapons or cars or something else -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And, Coulibaly, of course, was killed in the aftermath of what he did in Paris at that kosher supermarket.

Peter Bergen, what do you think of this? It's sort of mysterious now. A policewoman has been taken into custody for questioning.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I mean, it's strange but it's not the first time. You know, she just might be somebody who just had the wrong set of acquaintances. I mean, the fact that they've taken her into custody, as Jim said. They haven't charged her with anything yet. They are questioning her. Once they charge her, we'll know what the actual -- if she's done anything untoward.

BLITZER: There have been a lot of people taken into custody since the January attacks by Coulibaly on that kosher supermarket. Has that -- has it developed, as far as you know, Peter, any major threads in this investigation as to the connection with international terror, ISIS, Al Qaeda, other groups?

BERGEN: As far as I can tell, we are where we -- pretty much where we were in the end of January which is Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula trained at least one of the brothers who carried out the attack on the satirical magazine.

BLITZER: That's the "Charlie Hebdo."

BERGEN: Yes.

BLITZER: Yes.

BERGEN: And Coulibaly was somebody who's self-identified with ISIS. I don't think there's evidence that he actually went to Syria that's emerged. So, it's sort of ISIS inspired with a little bit of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (INAUDIBLE.)

BLITZER: Let me let Jim Bittermann weigh in. Is that the latest information you're getting there in Paris, Jim?

BITTERMAN: Basically, yes. I mean, I think that the police feel like they've got a pretty good idea about the events themselves back in January. I think what they're looking for now is if there's anybody out there still who may have been linked to Coulibaly who might be contemplating perpetrating something else. And I think that's really what they're -- what they're doing here. Kind of going back stream on all of the contacts that he had, checking out all of his friends and what not to see exactly who else might be involved and who might still be out there contemplating something against the law -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Jim Bittermann, I know we'll stay in close touch with you. Peter Bergen, don't leave. There's more to discuss.

I want to get to the war against ISIS right now. A top U.S. military official arrives in Baghdad as Iraqi forces make significant strides on the battlefield. That's what we're being told. The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, he's now in Iraq. He's meeting with government officials and military leaders. He's there to get an update on the situation in Iraq and the fight against ISIS.

Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces and militias, they are said to be less than a mile from the presidential palaces on the outskirts of Tikrit. They're battling to try to regain control of that city from ISIS.

Our Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman is just back from the area around Tikrit. He's in Baghdad right now. Ben, what's the latest you're seeing, you're hearing on this effort to retake Saddam Hussein's birthplace, Tikrit?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we saw, Wolf, was that the Iraqi forces are definitely moving forward. In fact, they had taken 80 kilometers, 50 miles, of road to the east of Tikrit. And we saw that there was still a car smoldering that the Iraqi air craft had hit. Other cars that were hit with bodies strewn around it. And we watched as they pummeled the area around Tikrit and then sent their forces in. So, it definitely seems that ISIS is pulling back as fast as their cars can take them, probably concentrating their forces in Tikrit itself.

Now, while we were there, we saw that is has lit a lot of oil fires around the city in the hopes to obscure the view for Iraqi helicopters and jet fighters in that area. But it doesn't seem to be slowing them down dramatically.

Now, what we also saw while we were there, I had an opportunity to speak with men who appeared to be Iranian advisers with this Hushdashabi (ph), this paramilitary Shia organization that really seems to be leading the fight. I spoke to one. He said he was a doctor, a volunteer from Iran. Some of the others declined to go into the details of what exactly they were doing.

But Iranian advisers are definitely on the scene. And we spoke to the leader of the Hushdashabi who told me that, at this point, they believe after their success so far that they can drive ISIS out of the entire country without, in his words, the help of the international coalition. In fact, another of the leaders, commanders out there told me that four Iranian advisers on the front are better than 400 American advisers in the green zone -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, even if ISIS is defeated from the U.S. perspective, Iran and its Shiite-backed militia allies could emerge as the big winners in Iraq. So, one of the reasons why the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, he's there. What do we know about this visit? He's meeting with top Iraqi military and political leaders.

WEDEMAN: Well, we understand the Americans are really looking ahead, looking beyond what's going on today around Tikrit, which they accept is, in a sense, an operation that the Iranians are going to claim some credit for. Sort of their goal is to focus Iraqi military minds and forces on the effort to retake Mosul which, of course, is way down the line, at this point, because the entire area around Mosul controlled by ISIS. So, it's a long-term planning effort.

And, of course, the problem is that given the sort of the sentiment on the ground, the feeling among many Iraqis, at this point, is that we can do it ourselves without the help of the Americans or anybody else. Maybe Mr. Dempsey -- General Dempsey is here to remind them, well, it's a bigger task than taking Tikrit to drive ISIS out of Mosul -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. Well, Mosul is the second largest city in Iraq. A city of nearly 2 million people. Tikrit, a lot, lot smaller than that although symbolically it is significant.

Ben Wedeman, thanks very much.

Meanwhile, ISIS is expanding its reach to other terror groups. Boko Haram has now pledged its allegiance to ISIS, that according to the audio message said to be from the group's leader. Boko Haram is the Islamist group based in Nigeria that has committed atrocities ranging from murders to mass kidnappings.

Our Senior International Correspondent Arwa Damon is joining us now from Istanbul. Arwa, Boko Haram's pledge of loyalty to ISIS, is that considered to be legitimate? What does it mean? Because I know you're just back from the region there in Chad. You were watching what's going on in Nigeria.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf, we did just come back from a recent trip to Chad where we went with the Chadian military to one of their front lines in Nigeria to get a glimpse of what the battle looked like against Boko Haram. During that trip, we also had the opportunity to speak with some U.S. Special Forces' commanders who are expressing their concern about a potential -- official alliance between Boko Haram and ISIS.

Now, at this stage, there's just an audio tape that has been released. We cannot independently confirm its authenticity. Although, analysts do say that they do believe it was, in fact, a leader of Boko Harran's voice on that tape.

What this means for Boko Haram, at this stage, well, it's the organization's attempt, perhaps, to gain even more credibility. The coalition that makes up the Lake Chad Basin, those nations have been making -- albeit slow, but they have been making progress, in some parts of northeastern Nigeria, against Boko Haram. Although, the organization does still maintain very much a capability to carry out horrific and massive attacks, as we saw in a marketplace in Maiduguri over recent days.

But when it comes to ISIS, this is also a clear indication, if in fact authentic, that its reach extend even further into (INAUDIBLE) -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Arwa, if you can still hear me, I want your quick update on what's going on, these ISIS assaults, on these historic ancient cultural sites. Reuters is now reporting that these ISIS terrorist, they have destroyed yet another ancient site in Iraq, the city of Hatra. What do we know about this?

DAMON: That is reported to have taken place over the weekend or in the last few days, Wolf. That, along with the ancient city of Nemrud. Both of those things announced by the Iraqi government. We have not seen images of it yet but reportedly ISIS bulldozing these ancient historic sites. We did see images released by ISIS of its fighters taking sledgehammers to artifacts in the Mosul museum.

UNESCO, at this stage, is calling this a cultural cleansing that ISIS is undertaking. The organization (INAUDIBLE) wiping out populations, terrifying populations. But, seemingly, doing whatever it can to eradicate rich cultural history whenever it has the opportunity the do that -- Wolf.

BLITZER: These are sick, sick people, indeed, destroying these historic artifacts in these ancient cities some 3,000 years old. Arwa, thank you very much.

Just ahead, the expanding reach of ISIS, how with the -- how will its affiliation with groups like Boko Haram affect the terror threat in the region, indeed around the world, including here in the United States?

And the e-mail controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton, it's heating up. Even her Democratic allies, some of them at least, are urging her to speak out. And we're now hearing she is planning to speak out on this controversy. Brianna Keilar standing by with new information.

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BLITZER: A new terror alliance. The group Boko Haram has now pledged its loyalty to ISIS. So what does this mean? Let's bring back our national security analyst, Peter Bergen, he's here in Washington, and Lieutenant Colonel James Reese, our CNN global affairs analyst, the former Delta Force commander. He's with us from Baghdad.

Peter, what does it mean now that it's pledging its allegiance, if you will, Boko Haram to ISIS? How big of a deal, little deal, is this?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It might be a medium deal over time. I mean right now it's not clear how - how that would be operationalized. It's not like there are a lot of Nigerians fighting in Syria or a lot of Syrians from ISIS going to Nigeria. And right now, as Arwa indicated when she - when you were talking to her earlier, Boko Haram is under some pressure from these various countries that are attacking it, Nigeria, Chad and other countries. And so the timing of this is interesting. They're not doing so well.

This is a way to say (INAUDIBLE), you know, we're with the biggest, baddest terrorist group in the world. And, you know, so it's worrisome and it's part of a bigger pattern where we've seen a dozen of these groups around the Muslim world pledge allegiance and about 18 others also say, hey, we support ISIS. So it's not alone.

BLITZER: What's the difference, Colonel Reese, if they pledge their allegiance to ISIS or they pledge their allegiance, let's say, to AQAP, al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, or core al Qaeda, Aymen al Zawahiri's group, the former group of bin Laden?

LT. COL. JAMES REESE (RET.), CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Wolf, you know, I was here back in December of this year, before this trip, and, you know, ISIS was all over the place. They had blitzed (INAUDIBLE) across and you know this as well as everyone back there is, it was the talk of the town. Things have changed here in the last couple of months very quickly back to the Iraqis. So from my perspective with Boko Haram, I'm not really sure why they're doing this and it doesn't show a sign of strength from any perspective. It shows a sign of struggle. But I also saw today that I think ISIS is starting to show some fracture lines here and so this might be an opportunity for them to kind of group up together to show more strength. But right now I think there's some struggles in both of these lines throughout Iraq and Nigeria.

BLITZER: Because I don't know if you saw the story in today's "Washington Post," colonel, that suggests -- the reporter they have in Iraq, that ISIS is starting to fray from within. Those were the words she wrote, fray from within because of defections, dissension within ISIS. Are you sensing any of that right now?

REESE: Yes, Wolf, I am. You know, I started coming here to Iraq in 2003 with the invasion with the U.S. forces. When I retired in '07, I started a company over here and I get the chance to come over here and see my employees. And thing have gone up and down through - you know, throughout the years. But what I'm seeing right now is today up in Tikrit, with Ben Wedeman, I was very impressed with the Iraqis. We can hear what's going on with (ph) ISIS.

We saw some of the dead ISIS, you know, bodies by the side of the road and now the blitzkrieg (ph) that the Iraqi forces are doing, along with the Iranian Kurds force advisers that are there. So - and what we've also heard from the Iraqis is, from some signals intercepted that they're getting, is that the, you know, that ISIS and Dich (ph) have told their people to shave their beards, cut their hair, try to blend in and get the Iraqi part of Dich (ph) out of there. And really the only ones that can stay because they really have nowhere to go are those foreign fighters that stay to conduct sniper operations. But it does not look good for them right now.

BLITZER: All right, we're going to stay in close touch with you, Colonel Reese. Peter Bergan, of course, as well. Stand by.

Meanwhile, a very different story we're following here in the United States. Pressure now mounting on Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state. She's getting ready, we're told, to break her silence on the uproar over her private e-mail account while serving as secretary of state. We're also learning new information about when she might be doing this. Stay with us.

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SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I think that she needs to step up and come out and state exactly what the situation is. I think at this point, from this point on, the server - the silence is going to hurt her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, that was not a conservative Republican. That was Senator Dianne Feinstein of California. She's the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, publicly urging Hillary Clinton to address the growing controversy surrounding her e-mails while she served as secretary of state. Earlier today in New York, Secretary Clinton, her daughter Chelsea and Melinda Gates, they unveiled a joint initiative between the Clinton and Gates Foundations to advance women's rights around the world. All eyes were focused on Hillary Clinton, but she did not speak out about the e-mail. Our senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar was there watching what was going on.

You're getting new information, Brianna. We're now being told, you're learning that the former secretary is planning to address this e-mail controversy as early as this week, is that right?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's what we're learning, Wolf. We've heard from sources who are familiar with her plans and familiar with the thinking of her team that they have come to realize that it's untenable for her not to address this. The controversy continues. It continued in force over the weekend and it's still very much the talk.

She was on stage three times so far. I believe this event is still going on. She was on stage three times, once for an introduction, once to talk about girls being involved in engineering and math and another time to talk about climate change. No mention of the e-mails so far today. We're actually told by a source that her team considered this as a possible event for her to address this issue that is very much dogging her at this point. The issue of using just a personal e-mail account while she was at the State Department and also having a server that houses those e-mail. However, they decided against it.

Part of the reason as you see Melinda Gates there on the stage with Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, this was a joint event between the Gates Foundation and the Clinton Foundation and they thought maybe this wasn't the best place to do it, that it would distract from the message about leveling the gender gap.

BLITZER: She's got some other events planned this week, but they probably would not necessarily be appropriate for this kind of discussion either. She could easily just call the news conference, invite reporters in and answer questions or she could do a one on one interview. We'd be obviously happy to interview her here on CNN. Those are easy things to organize, right?

KEILAR: That's right. And there is an event tomorrow, as you mentioned. It's a U.N. event. And that also seems like perhaps an odd place for her to address this. She had a chance on Saturday at a Clinton Global Initiative event. She didn't address it. So I think right now the point where her team is at is they're trying to figure out what the mechanism. You mentioned a couple of them there. Is she going to do an interview? Is she going to have a press conference? Certainly, I'll tell you, there are a lot of reporters, especially here in New York. This was a pretty big press pen there at this event today where she didn't say anything about the e-mails. So we're waiting right now to figure out exactly when and exactly how she addresses this.

BLITZER: All right, Brianna, we'll stay in close touch with you, as we always do. Thank you very much.

Forty-seven Republican senators, meanwhile, have now written an open letter to the leaders of Iran warning them about any nuclear deal they may sign with President Obama. We're talking to one of those Republican senators who signed that letter. That's coming up next.

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