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Hundreds of Americans Fighting for ISIS; Is ISIS a Threat to the Homeland; Dick Cheney Gives ISIS Briefing to Republicans; Secret Files Found on ISIS Laptop; ISIS Threatens Countries Around the World; Interview with Sen. Bob Casey

Aired September 10, 2014 - 13:30   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 back. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

Coming up tonight, on this the eve of 9/11, President Obama will outline his strategy for battling the terror group ISIS. You can see it live right here on CNN, 9:00 p.m. eastern. Officials tell CNN the president will say he's open to air strikes in Syria, though they also say that doesn't necessarily guarantee that that tactic will be used. The president is also expected to outline the threat from ISIS in the Middle East and right here at home.

That's something the former U.S. Ambassador to Syria and Iraq, Ryan Crocker, is also talking about with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN CROCKER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SYRIA AND IRAQ: They are more numerous, they are better armed, they are far better financed, they are better experienced, and perhaps most critically, there are several thousand of them who hold Western passports, including American passports. They don't need to get a visa. They just need to get on a plane. If we don't think we're on their target list, we are delusional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: A Colorado woman entered a guilty plea in court today for trying to help ISIS. 19-year-old Colorado native, Shannon Connelly, was accused of providing material support to the terror group. She was arrested in April at the Denver Airport after admitting to FBI agents she was going to Syria to marry a Tunisian man fighting with ISIS. She faces up to five years in prison.

That leads me to this CNN/ORC poll that shows 71 percent of Americans now believe ISIS has terrorists already inside the United States. Only 27 percent say no. Last week, the defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, acknowledged there are more than 100 Americans fighting in the Middle East right now with ISIS forces.

And as CNN's senior investigative correspondent, Drew Griffin, reports, there are similar concerns in Canada. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This city, best known for a booming oil business, early September snows and its gateway to the Canadian Rockies, is reeling with news two more of its sons have joined forces to fight with the radical Islamic group ISIS.

Brothers Gregory and Collin Gordon disappeared in 2012. And now through disturbing tweets, Collin Gordon confirms he has taken up jihad as an ISIS fighter. On August 21st, two days after James Foley was beheaded, Collin tweeted out under his new Twitter name, Ibrahaim Canadi, "The video of James Foley losing his neck is the perfection of terrorism."

How seemingly formal Canadian teenagers grow up to become 20-something Islamic radical fighters is a question that is becoming a national emergency, even more urgent as they show up like Calgary's Farah Shadon (ph) on YouTube videos burning passports and vowing to bring their fight home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FARAH SHADON (ph), CANADIAN ISIS MEMBER: This is a message to Canada and America, we are coming and we will destroy you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Canadian police estimate 130 Canadians have gone overseas for terrorist activities. 30 of them to fight in Syria. And families of local Muslim leaders in Calgary say five are connected to just this one downtown Calgary apartment building with a mosque on the ground floor.

It's where a recent convert named Damian Clairmont began worshipping in 2012 before he, too, disappeared.

(on camera): What did he sound like?

JUSTIN THIBEAU, FRIEND OF DAMIAN CLAIRMONT: Just normal, just as if he wasn't in Syria.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Justin Thibeau last talked to his childhood friend on December 23rd. Less than a month later, this former Catholic, Nova Scotia-born 22-year-old would be killed on an ISIS battlefield in Aleppo, Syria.

THIBEAU: I would be lying if I said I didn't see it coming because I knew Damian and what he was like. If he was there for reasons he thought true, there's nothing that could have stopped him, except death.

GRIFFIN (on camera): Damian Clairmont's mother says her son tried to commit suicide the day after his 17th birthday. He was troubled when he began converting to Islam in 2011. And suddenly, he began to drive. The religion grounded him, she said, but that all changed when he began attending Calgary's moderate downtown mosque. Damian Clairmont joined a secretive prayer group.

(voice-over): Five members of that prayer group would eventually head to the ISIS front lines. Three of them are now dead, including Farah Shadon (ph), the man who burned his Canadian passport on YouTube.

What is most troubling of all, especially to the Muslim community here, which has been outspoken in its opposition to radical theology, is why these seemingly normal Canadian youngsters are going to fight as terrorists in foreign lands. The honest answer from Muslim community leaders -- Mahdi Qasgas, Rahama Jula Sedek (ph), and Abdul Souraya -- is scary -- they don't know.

MAHDI QASQAS, MUSLIM YOUTH SERVICES: That's the same thing people say when somebody well off commits suicide or when somebody -- when good people do bad things. They always say, why? They had everything they need. We need to understand the mindset.

GRIFFIN (on camera): But right now, what you're saying to me and to everybody is we don't know what is going on?

ABDUL SOURAYA, FORMER DIRECTOR, MUSLIM COMMUNITY COUNCIL: We don't understand it fully. And this is why this is something that we're trying to address.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): This week, these community leaders will stage an unprecedented summit between police, government and Muslim youth experts in an effort to stop what they call the criminal radicalization of Calgary's youth. Any solutions will come too late for Justin Thibeau. His lifelong friend is dead and Thibeau will never know exactly why.

THIBEAU: It could be anybody's kid. It was my friend Damian, the last person I would ever expect. It could be anybody.

GRIFFIN: Drew Griffin, CNN, Calgary.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Still ahead, the fight against ISIS, will the U.S. go it alone? Will there be an international coalition of support? We're getting reaction from around the world.

And secret files are found on an ISIS laptop in Syria. A closer look at what the U.S. may now be up against.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: On this the eve of the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, terrorism and the threat of another strike on the homeland certainly the central focus both on Capitol Hill as well as over at the White House. The president now preparing to address the nation tonight on his strategy to deal with the ISIS terror group, 9:00 p.m. eastern. We'll have live coverage, of course.

Also today, members of the House and Senate are holding hearings on the severity of the terror threat. Joining us from Capitol Hill is Democratic Senator Bob Casey of

Pennsylvania.

Senator, thanks very much for joining us.

How much of a threat does ISIS really pose to the homeland, to Americans right here in the United States?

SEN. BOB CASEY, (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Well, Wolf, I think it will be a threat that will play out over time. I don't think at the present stage -- we may learn more tomorrow in our classified briefing. But at the present time, I don't think it's an immediate or proximate threat. But I think over time, it's a substantial threat, and it will be a lot less of a threat if we take action now.

BLITZER: So what kind of action do you specifically want the president to take?

CASEY: Wolf, in addition to what he's already done, which is -- I think this will require more air strikes beyond the more than 150 or so. But those air strikes or any kind of kinetic action has to be based on intel, so good intel is important. Secondly, I think he has to continue the effort he's undertaken and Secretary Kerry to build a coalition that has to grow beyond the nine countries so far. He should also outline and we need to have implemented a strategy to cut off their funding. That's going to be very important. That might, over time, be more important on some days than any kind of military activity.

BLITZER: Do you support expanding the air strikes from Iraq into Syria as well?

CASEY: Yes, because I don't think we can assume that somehow the geographic borders between the two will allow us to stop -- if the goal -- and I believe the president has set forth the right goal, to degrade and destroy ISIL, if you're going to do that, you have to pursue them as you would a terrorist organization that happens to be an army and also happens to be, in my judgment, an international criminal organization or criminal syndicate.

BLITZER: Do you agree with Democratic Senator Tim Keene that the president needs congressional approval, congressional authorization to expand this war?

CASEY: Not at this stage. But I think it would be very healthy for the country and important for validating the role that Congress plays to have a larger debate about the question of the authorization more broadly. Now, I think the way to do that is to set aside a block of time, a week, two weeks, to have a full and candid debate. Not enough members of Congress are prepared for this right now. We need more intel. Even folks, like me, that have followed this very closely. And we also need more oversight, more hearings and more engagements. We should set aside a substantial period of time within which to debate these issues, not just the near-term question about whether the president has authority to go into Syria, whether the president has the authority for continual air strikes, but the larger question of the authorization for the use of force, the scope of that in the context of the war powers and the Constitution. But that's a big debate that we should take time to do and not have a one-day debate or an afternoon before some kind of a vote.

BLITZER: The former vice president, Dick Cheney, was up on Capitol Hill yesterday briefing Republicans. And today, he spoke out about this threat at a speech at the American Enterprise Institute. Listen to what he said, among other things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After years of saying that America had lost its way, abandoned our values in building up the security apparatus, now he's invoking it to give assurance that we are prepared. I know something about the apparatus. I was one of its architects. And President Obama seems willfully blind to one of the key facts about the post-9/11 security apparatus: It is not self-sustaining. Those programs and policies must be kept strong and current. The Obama administration has failed utterly in that task.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Want to get your reaction, Senator. What do you think?

CASEY: Well, Vice President Cheney's continuing what he's done since the day the president took office, making wild charges that are baseless, and being very categorical in a way that's not helpful.

What we should do is get back to the time when these debates ended at the water's edge. There's no question that people in both parties care deeply about our national security. The president, as commander- in-chief, has discharged that responsibility with a lot of focus, a lot of attention and a lot of determination to not just hunt down Osama bin Laden and have him taken out but also to hunt down other terrorists. So I have no lack of confidence in the president's ability to take on this fight against terrorists, whether it's ISIL or any other terrorist organization, nor do I have any lack of confidence in his determination to make sure that our national security interests are always protected. I know the president. He takes this very seriously. I think his actions demonstrate that he takes it seriously. And I think he's got some good results to prove that he knows how to fight terrorists, he knows how to defeat them, and he'll put forth a plan as it relates to ISIL that will do that.

BLITZER: Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.

Senator, thanks very much for joining us.

CASEY: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Just ahead, it looks like a simple laptop but it reportedly holds a treasure trove of information on the terror group ISIS. Stand by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Providing chilling insight into ISIS and its tactic -- talking about black Dell computer found in a safe house in Syria containing thousands of files. It details everything from instructions on turning the bubonic plague into a weapon and making ricin, car bombs, plastic explosives.

Brian Todd has been digging into this story which is worrisome.

What are U.S. officials telling you?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are told they are aware of the capture of this laptop but they don't have a lot of other detail on it. What we're hearing from them and from other experts is there's no evidence necessarily that ISIS has the capability of dispersing biological weapons. It takes a lot to do that.

What we do know, according to "Foreign Policy" magazine -- they accessed this computer. They talked to the person in a moderate Syrian rebel group who was with that group when they captured this laptop in an ISIS safe house in northern Syria. The house was abandoned. But an ISIS fighter that joined Syria and studied chemistry and physics in Tunisia had this on his laptop and he took off and left but they got the laptop and files in it.

In the files, as you mention, there were instructions on how to make biological weapons and how to weaponize the plague from infected animals. One of the documents says, quote, "The advantage of biological weapons is that they don't cost a lot of money while the human casualties will be huge."

They have at least thought about this. They have maybe some designs on possibly doing this. But again, what we're told by experts is it takes a lot of technical know-how and money and facilities, labs, things like this to weaponize this material and disperse it over a wide area. No evidence that ISIS has that capability.

BLITZER: It reminds me of that "Inspire" magazine --

TODD: Right.

BLITZER: -- a slick, English language, online publication put out by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and an article entitled, "How to Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom."

TODD: Right. They do that all the time in "Inspire" magazine, these instruction manuals. That's the kind of things that were in this laptop. And these were detailed files on how to make this stuff. How to make ricin. This was, again, a jihadi who studied chemistry and physics. This was a guy with some scientific and technological know how.

Another thing, Wolf, that is disturbing is in big cities in Iraq, like Mosul and Erbil -- Erbil is not captured by ISIS but Mosul is. They have universities and labs. Those areas are under the control of ISIS. Could they get into a lab and explore this stuff? Sure they could. That's what's concerning. BLITZER: Mosul is the second-largest city in Iraq under control of

ISIS terrorists, and an army, if you will, nearly two million people there. A lot of sophisticated potential to do damage coming from Mosul.

It also shows this laptop. The progression of someone being radicalized.

TODD: That's right. It talks about -- it shows pictures of this guy that is called Mohammad S. -- they don't have a last name -- about how he was a normal guy up until about 2011. He was kind of a college student type, wearing Western clothes, listening to Western music and things like that, and then around 2011 he changed. What happened in 2011 was the Arab Spring in Tunisia. And he came under the radar of the Tunisian government and they were worried about him. We don't know where he is now. It did show the progression of how he became a radical and how he changed a little bit.

We'll look into this stuff in "The Situation Room" at 5:00 and laptop and what it shows and some of the things they could have designs on that are disturbing. Again, whether they have technical know how, they're a long way from that.

BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much.

Still ahead, Islamic State is not only a threat to the United States but many countries around the world. We'll take a closer look at the global fight to stop this radical group.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The U.S. has repeatedly stressed it wants to build an international coalition to fight ISIS.

We have reports now from around the world on the reaction to the U.S. intervention.

Let's begin with Reza Sayah and a closer look at Iran's response.

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iran's official position is that it is against any kind of military intervention in Iraq. Iran has long had a nonintervention policy and it has often used that policy to criticize past Western military intervention in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, essentially suggesting that the crisis in these countries only started after western military intervention. However, what makes the current crisis in Iraq different is the fact that the so-called Islamic State poses a threat to Iran. Iran's population is mostly Shia. The so-called Islamic State claims to be a Sunni group that targets Shias and it's right across the border for Iran. There's been speculation that maybe Tehran and Washington can team up in Iraq against the Islamic State. Iran has rejected those claims, the fact that they remained relatively silent about recent U.S. air strikes in Iran suggests that perhaps there is tacit approval in Tehran for some kind of intervention.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are few areas these days where Russia and the United States see eye to eye, but the emergence of ISIS has put them both on the same side. Moscow condemns the atrocities carried out by the group as absolute evil, which it says should be forced jointly by all responsible representatives of the international community. For Russia, however, that common interest has its limits. Moscow has warned that U.S. air strikes against ISIS inside Syria, a key Russian ally, would be a, quote, "colossal shock and escalation."

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- in the fight against ISIS within Iraq, but hasn't committed to air strikes, even though a recent poll suggested that the public would support that. David Cameron is acting very cautiously. A year ago, he tried to take military action in Syria and parliament blocked it. He doesn't want to make the same mistake again. So the phrase you keep hearing in Downing Street is "There won't be a knee-jerk reaction to ISIS," although air strikes do remain an option.

BLITZER: That's it for me.

NEWSROOM with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.