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Iraqi Prime Minister Appeals for U.S. Aid to Fight ISIS; Interview With Sen. James Risch of Idaho; Unidentified Manned Aircraft Lands at U.S. Capitol Building; Hundreds Killed in Yemen Fighting. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired April 15, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

LT. COL. JAMES REESE (RET.), CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: And we, as Americans, if we tell the Iraqis that says, hey, you can't allow the PMU or some of the Shia militias to get involved, which were, you know, the Badder Corps (ph), very critical in Tikrit with the federal police that did a great job in Tikrit, but if we force them out it could be a major, you know, impact on securing some of the major cities. I also had the opportunity to talk to some guys that I know in the military there and some of the leadership in the embassy and one of the things they're trying to help the Iraqis do is, try to connect the tail at the end. The head is out there fighting but the Iraqis are having problems with their logistics and their trains and getting those -- getting that equipment pushed up. And they're trying to help them with those pieces but we can't do it for them. The Iraqis got to figure that piece out. I'm getting the support up to the front lines and if they don't they're going to fail.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: All right. Thanks very much.

It's an awful situation over there. Seems to be deteriorating by the hour as we speak.

Guys, thanks very much. James Reese, Bobby Ghosh, always good to get your perspective.

Still ahead, more perspective. Senator Risch about to join us. He's been meeting here in Washington with the Iraqi prime minister. And the Iraqi prime minister has been appealing for U.S. aid.

Senator Risch, come on in. As soon as we come back from our commercial, we'll discuss what you heard from the Iraqi prime minister.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:35:02] BLITZER: The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi is here in Washington. He had his first official visit with the president on Tuesday. You see him in the Oval Office. He's talking to lawmakers on Capitol Hill appealing for more U.S. military economic support, military support in the fight against ISIS.

Meanwhile, Iraqi residents are fleeing in huge numbers right now from their homes in remade, elsewhere in the Anbar Province. Only about 70 miles or so from Baghdad. As you can see, a wave of people. They are trying to escape on foot. They're trying to escape a few thousand ISIS fighters who have moved in. And the Iraqi military at least right now fully incapable of dealing with the ISIS fighters.

The Idaho Republican Senator James Risch is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joining us now.

Senator Risch, thanks for coming in.

SEN. JAMES RISCH, (R), IDAHO: You're welcome.

BLITZER: You're a member of the intelligence committee and you came here to our CNN studios directly from a meeting you and other members have had with the Iraqi prime minister. Did he make a compelling case to provide another $200 million in U.S. economic assistance to Iraq and to provide military hardware including apache helicopters, tanks, other sophisticated weapons to that military?

RISCH: Well, Wolf, the piece you just did makes a compelling case for the fact that there are no good answers here. There are no good choices here. It's the least bad choice that you have to make. I think the photography that you have shows what a human tragedy is going on in remade. I heard the prime minister, less than an hour ago, say, personally, that if it hadn't been for U.S. air power in Tikrit, they would have failed in Tikrit. Your description of the Iraqi military, I think is a broad generalization. It is certainly accurate as to some of units. Many units maybe even most units. They do have some fighting forces. Their control and command is spotty at best and they're going to have a very difficult time doing what they need to do in remade.

BLITZER: Because, you know, a year or so ago, a now thousand, not many, ISIS fighters went into the second-largest city in Iraq, Mosul, city of nearly two million people and there were huge numbers of Iraqi troops. You know what they did.

RISCH: They left.

BLITZER: They threw their weapons down, abandoned their hardware and ran away. They couldn't deal with a few thousand, you know, Iraq -- you know, ISIS fighters.

RISCH: That was the first challenge they had from ISIS right there or essentially the first major challenge.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: I say this, as you well know, after a decade of the U.S. building 400,000 Iraqi military personnel, training them, giving them the most sophisticated weapons, when the U.S. finally pulled out, they left a lot of stuff there for, all of which was MIA in the fight against ISIS.

RISCH: No question. I think the point to be made here, it isn't just training. You have to have fire in the belly, you have to have commitment and have command and control. And obviously that is grossly lacking and if that's -- if they're not willing to fight. They don't -- if they're not emboldened to fight, they don't have the right frame of mind to fight or the motive to fight, they'll do just what you said.

BLITZER: Are you going to vote in favor of providing the Iraqis with $200 million in U.S. funds, taxpayer money, for the next year as the Obama administration announced yesterday they want.

RISCH: We haven't crossed that bridge yet. We're discussing it. I always, always want to hear details about how that money is going to be spent. We've been through this before. I think the administration understands that we in Congress want substantially better accountability and answers about how are you going to keep track of this equipment than what we've been getting. We're discussing it and again, it's going to take U.S. Air power almost certainly Congress is not going to supply --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Your open mind on the economic and military equipment too?

RISCH: I have an open mind but I have to have a lot more and a lot better answers that what I have.

BLITZER: We invited the prime minister of Iraq to join us here on CNN. He's told us -- his people told us he's too busy right now.

RISCH: He does have a lot.

BLITZER: He presumably does, but he could speak out and talk --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Make his case as well to the American public. If he's asking for $200 million, make the case directly to the American people.

RISCH: What a better opportunity to do it than come on here on CNN and --

BLITZER: We're seen around the world.

Let's talk about the Iran compromise the Senate Foreign Relations Committee worked out, 19-0, unanimous. The administration says they'll go along with it for now. Are you happy with this?

RISCH: I'm not happy with it, but what I am happy with, Wolf, is that after this deal was struck and it was all about words, words matter, and pair graphs and sentences, after all was said and done what I'm going to get out of this and my colleagues is an opportunity to vote. As you know I've been a very critical of what the administration, how it started, how it's unfolded, where we are right now, and what is likely the final deal that comes up. I see some huge holes in that. I'm going to get a chance to vote on it. That's -- that's what --

(CROSSTALK) [13:40:13] BLITZER: That's important to you and to most of your colleagues, Republicans and Democrats. And we saw the Foreign Relations Committee yesterday, the fact that the sanctions haven't been lifted yet and Russia announcing a sale of missiles to Iran --

RISCH: Yes, S-300s.

BLITZER: -- what does that say?

RISCH: You know, that is something that is -- I know is very worrisome to the Israelis. We discussed this with the prime minister months ago, years ago actually, they were very concerned about those S-300s. That is a game changer. If they deploy those S-300s, it is much more difficult to get either at Natanz or at Delfor (ph), either one will be difficult to get at. You hope that doesn't happen, but there are not good -- there are to the good signs that isn't eventually what's going to have to be done.

BLITZER: Yeah. And that's the military option is used by the Israelis or U.S., presumably, it would be more difficult if the missiles were deployed.

RISCH: Not presumably. That is an actual fact.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens. It's a tough situation all around as you say. It's the least bad situation there. No real good outcomes of this right now at least for now. Let's see what happens.

Senator Risch, thanks for coming up.

RISCH: Thank you, Wolf. Good to see you.

BLITZER: Up next, aid arrives in the devastated capital of Yemen. We will go along, an exclusive look inside Sanaa. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: The breaking news, we're getting reports of a manned aircraft -- get this -- that has landed on the west front of the U.S. capitol building here in Washington, D.C.

Athena Jones is up on Capitol Hill. She's joining us on the phone.

We got a picture there. What happened? What's going on?

[13:44:33] ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hi, Wolf. I can tell you we were and stayed downstairs outside of the Senate Foreign Relations room where the Iraqi prime minister was meeting with members of the Foreign Relations Committee when suddenly we saw at least a half dozen capitol police officers running through the hallways speaking into their radios and aware something was going on. We found out landed a chopper on the end of the capitol. Unclear what size the helicopter was. We were speaking here a lot of security, as you can imagine, outside of the room where the Iraqi prime minister is.

We learned the capitol police did not know why the man landed a chopper there. There was what they call a security incident. The members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee were told that there was a security incident. We now know after a few minutes that the man was taken into custody, being questioned. They want to know if there was a mechanical issue.

It's not clear at this point if he is being arrested. We are not clear, I should tell you, Wolf, the reason was that this man landed the chopper here at the capitol. We understand it could be part of some sort of protest, but those are questions we still have.

Now at no point was the capitol itself evacuated. There were briefly in a lockdown mode. We could hear the police talking into their radios plans for a lockdown and plans to potentially get the Iraqi prime minister out of the building through some other means if that had been necessary. But now, the Senate sergeant at arms told me several minutes ago everything is under control, the man is in custody for questioning, they want to find out why he landed this helicopter here and so that is -- that is where things stand right now. I'm told from some witnesses on the scene it was a very small aircraft. A very small helicopter. It's been described almost like a bicycle with copter attached at the top. I have not seen it. We are still outside the Senate Foreign Relations Committee room where there's still quite a bit of activity but the situation is under control -- Wolf?

BLITZER: The fact that this small helicopter got through radar apparently, do we know if law enforcement authorities, U.S. Capitol police, others, federal, this is a no-fly zone area. You can't fly over the U.S. Capitol. You can't fly over these areas unless you have special permission. Clearly this pilot, this helicopter, did not have such permission. This pilot presumably is lucky to be alive right now because once a helicopter flies around the U.S. capitol like that, they don't know what's inside. They could easily haves just shot down that helicopter if it had been detected.

Do we know if there was any warning that authorities on the ground either local law enforcement or federal authorities had any indication, a helicopter was flying over the U.S. capitol like that unauthorized?

JONES: We do not know that at this point. We're told as soon as the aircraft landed the police were on the scene screaming at passersby to get back. Clearly a moment of commotion around here. People didn't know what was going on.

When we were speaking to one of the members of law enforcement here the sergeant at arms they said they had the report that a helicopter had landed but weren't sure how large of an aircraft it was. There was a lot of questions and for that reason a lot of commotion. We just happened to be outside of this room where the Iraqi prime minister was having a photo op and that's when we were able to witness so many officers running through the hallways and so there was a big moment of questions and commotion but we have a lot of questions still about why that person landed there, how he came to make it so far and what else is going on, what's going to happen to him -- Wolf?

BLITZER: They're going to have to do a major after-action review to determine when exactly did authorities discover this helicopter was flying. Did they only see it on the ground once it landed on the ground? Was there any indication while it was still hovering over the U.S. capitol, the front area of the U.S. capitol, any indications it was flying over? Was it too small?

If it wasn't detected that's going to raise enormous questions about security for the United States capitol area because this is, as I say, a no-fly zone. You can't fly over the area around the U.S. capitol without permission and clearly this guy did not have permission.

But everything as you say right now, the Iraqi prime minister up on Capitol Hill, meeting with lawmakers has that all gone back into normal procedure or is there still some commotion up there?

JONES: We believe that meeting with the Iraqi prime minister and other members is still going on. We only saw a few people leave that room. One of them the top Democrat on the committee, Ben Cardin, telling us they were told there was a security incident.

I should make sure everyone knows this person is not seen as a threat. The sergeant -- Senate sergeant at arms came over and told us that this person is not seen as a threat. But, of course, as you mentioned, Wolf, very, very highly unusual and it should not be possible for someone to come and land any sized aircraft on the West front of the capitol. There's going to be a lot of questions asked about how that was able to happen and what his purpose was. He is not a threat -- Wolf?

[13:549:56] BLITZER: This was a manned helicopter. A few weeks ago, there was a drone unmanned aircraft that landed near the White House that caused enormous considerations.

Now take a look at these live pictures take a look at these live pictures we're showing our viewers. It's Capitol Hill. You can see that helicopter, but it looks like some sort of robotic equipment. I don't know if you can see that, Athena. It's moving closer to get picture of what's going on. Clearly, there's concern what's inside that helicopter.

You say the pilot has been arrested and taken into custody for questioning, but they want to make sure there's nothing on that little helicopter that's near the front of the U.S. capitol, near the U.S. capitol. It looks like some sort of cameras are on that little robotic device there, taking pictures, trying to determine, make sure there's no lethal -- no bomb or anything like that on this kind of a helicopter.

This is a very disturbing development that's happening. For viewers just tuning in here in the United States and around the world, this happened only within the past few minutes. You can see a helicopter there. The propeller still caught in the wind a little bit. The pilot has been arrested, taken into questioning. Flew over the U.S. capitol unauthorized. This is a no-fly zone. We don't know why the pilot did this. Was there a mechanical problem? Was the pilot trying to make some sort of statement? We see this robotic vehicle now with cameras moving closer and closer to this helicopter to try to determine what is aboard this helicopter, if there's anything dangerous there. In the background, you can see people already standing there, not that far away. They're watching what's going on. I suspect law enforcement would like to see those people get away from there in case there is something that is potentially, could be aboard that helicopter. You see out of an abundance of caution. They've got this robotic vehicle with cameras and potentially other equipment, maybe even equipment that could destroy that helicopter.

This is clearly a potentially -- could have been a dangerous situation. Remember, this is restricted air space. The FAA does not allow aircraft to fly over the U.S. capitol. A lot of us remember, of course, what happened on 9/11 when there was a plane that was getting near the U.S. capitol, what went into the Pentagon, as we remember so vividly, not that long ago. So this is a disturbing situation here in the nation's capitol.

Athena, you have some more information on what you're picking up over there?

JONES: All I can tell you now is what the capitol police have been telling us, which is this gyrocopter, they're calling it, landed on the grassy area of the U.S. capitol and they're still investigating this matter. One person was detained. There are temporary street closers in the immediate area. Now we're waiting to find out more about why this person flew this aircraft over near the capitol building and was able to land and how they were able to do that. We still have a lot of questions we need to get answered -- Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Stand by, Athena.

We're going to continue the breaking new coverage. A mystery unfolding here in the nation's capitol. A helicopter lands near the U.S. capitol. We're told this is restricted air space. The individual did not have special permission to fly in this air space. We're going to continue the coverage.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:56:41] BLITZER: We're still following the breaking news here in Washington. A mysterious landing of a tiny, small helicopter on Capitol Hill near the U.S. Congress. We're watching the story unfold. This is restricted air space. Much more on this coming up. Stay with us. We're getting new information.

But I quickly want to turn to a deepening desperation in Yemen right now. Hundreds of people have been killed, collateral damage in the fighting. They're left to hope for a rare aid flight bringing much- needed food and medical supplies.

Our own Nick Paton Walsh went along on one of those flights. He got a stark look at what remains of the capital city, Sanaa, and its people. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bringing help shouldn't be this hard. The runway nearly all that's intact here after three weeks of bombing. A miracle the concrete was found for the planes to land.

(on camera): They have landed in a scene of devastation here. This really the only way in to the Yemeni capital, and it's being used for these vital supplies. This is a country where so many of whom do not have food or water and whose injuries are badly in need of medicine. This, from UNICEF, frankly, a drop in the ocean of help that's needed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WALSH (voice-over): And this is where it has to get. Little Zahra (ph), whose parents say she wouldn't stop crying since the bombing began. The dead here, and lying close, the only hospital they could be brought, where medicine is scarce.

(SIREN)

PATON WALSH: This is a large factory complex in Hadada (ph) where the bombs fell repeatedly in early April. One thing a bombing campaign can't avoid is to anger those it hits. And these are ordinary Yemenis, still, regardless of their sympathies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WALSH: "37 people were killed here," he says, "burned to death. This is a crime. What was the diesel storage facilities going to do for them?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WALSH: "All this is to ruin the Yemeni people," another says. "We say to the Saudis, this is the safety you're providing to the people of Yemen?"

Here in Banimatar (ph), a Houthi area near the capital, there have been two attacks, locals say. The United States is assisting in targeting. Saudi Arabia says it avoids civilian casualties, but the U.N. still says hundreds have died.

The locals say there were no military targets here as they pick through the remnants of their lives.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WALSH: "They came with bombs," he says. "Is this a Houthi?

Down here in the dust, the bombs do not win back territory for the government of departed President Hadi.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are dead bodies on the street. God rest their souls. WALSH: These scenes far from the world's helping hand. And on the

one aid flight we left on, we saw below how shattered this already broken country now is.

[14:00:00] Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Sanaa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thanks to Nick for that report.

That's it for me. The news continues next on CNN.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.