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Arab Allies Strike ISIS In Syria; Obama Addresses United Nations; No Safe Haven For Terrorists; U.S. Hits Al Qaeda Cell; Weapons Up Close; Interview with Rep. Adam Schiff; U.S. Targets Khorasan

Aired September 23, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting from the United Nations. We're here in New York this week. I'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world.

U.S. and Arab warplanes unleash air strikes on ISIS targets in Syria. The U.S. takes direct aim at another terror group. Officials say it was actively plotting an attack on the United States homeland. Listen to what President Obama said about the group just before heading here to the United Nations general assembly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Last night, we also took strikes to disrupt plotting against the United States and our allies by seasoned Al Qaeda operatives in Syria who are known as the Khorasan group. Now, once again, it must be clear to anyone who would plot against America and try to do Americans harm that we will not tolerate safe havens for terrorists who threaten our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Here are the latest developments on the air strikes in Syria and Iraq. The air strikes in Syria were focused on the city of Raqqa. ISIS considers it to be the capital of its self-declared Islamic state. But other areas were hit as well. A U.S. official says four dozen aircraft took part in the strikes. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Qatar all joined in carrying out the operation. The U.S. fired 47 tomahawk cruise missiles. Several of them took direct aim at what's called the Khorasan group. That's the Al Qaeda franchise that officials say was plotting to attack the United States. There are indications the militants were working on new hard-to-detect explosives.

We expect to hear directly from President Obama, once again, shortly. He'll be speaking at the United Nations summit on climate change. We'll have live coverage of that. It's unclear whether he'll have anything else to say about the air strikes against those terrorist targets in Syria. He spoke extensively about them earlier in the day. We're going to bring you his remarks coming up later this hour on climate change and we'll see what else he speaks about.

We're deploying the resources of CNN to cover this story like no other news organization can. Our correspondents are reporting from key locations here in the United States, indeed around the world to bring you the very latest information as the U.S. embarks on this major new military operation, a new phase in the U.S.-led war. Our analysts will provide insight and context as this story develops.

We're also learning more details from the Pentagon about the air strikes against ISIS earlier in the day, the ISIS targets in Syria. At a briefing today, officials described the air strikes as, quote, "successful." But they stressed, this is only just the beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. WILLIAM MAYVILLE, JR., DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: As far as what targets and future operations, I'd like to not comment on what our next -- other than to say that you are seeing the beginnings of a sustained campaign. And strikes like this, in the future, can be expected. The operational pace, the tempo of this thing will be dictated by the facts on the ground and what the targets mean, in terms of the effect we see which is to disrupt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We're going to have much more on what's going on at the Pentagon, the U.S. air strikes. But I want to go inside the United Nations right now. We're here. The president of the United States just beginning his remarks on climate change. Let's listen in briefly.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (live): Five years have passed since many of us met in Copenhagen. And since then, our understanding of climate change has advanced. Both in the deepening science that says this once-distant threat has moved firmly into the present and into the sting of more frequent extreme weather events that show us exactly what these changes may mean for future generations. No nation is immune.

In America, the past decade has been our hottest on record. Along our eastern coast, the city of Miami now floods at high tide. In our west, wildfire season now stretches most of the year. In our heartland, farms have been parched by the worst drought in generations and drenched by the wettest spring in our history. A hurricane left parts of this great city dark and under water. And some nations already live with far worse. Worldwide, this summer was the hottest ever recorded. The global carbon emissions still on the rise.

So, the climate is changing faster than our efforts to address it. The alarm bells keep ringing. Our citizens keep marching. We cannot pretend we do not hear them. We have to answer the call. We know what we have to do to avoid irreparable harm. We have to cut carbon pollution in our own countries to prevent the worst effects of climate change. We have to adapt to the impacts that, unfortunately, we can no longer avoid. And we have to work together as a global community to tackle this global threat before it is too late. We cannot condemn our children and their children to a future that is beyond their capacity to repair. Not when we have the means.

BLITZER: All right, we're going to monitor the president's speech on climate change, bring you all the highlights. Stand by for that. But Jim Acosta, our Senior White House Correspondent, has just shown up here at the United Nations. I know the president is here. You're here. You're getting new information on what we know about the U.S.- led air strikes against ISIS targets, not just in Iraq but in Syria now, including a separate round of U.S. air strikes against a separate Al Qaeda affiliate group inside Syria.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And to a lot of Americans, Wolf, they don't know what the word Khorasan means or they're starting to now. It refers to these Al Qaeda remnants that were in Afghanistan and Pakistan that have relocated in Syria who were seeking a safe haven in Syria. You heard the president saying this morning that terrorists are not going to get a safe haven wherever they are.

And on this conference call with reporters that just wrapped up in the last several minutes, I asked senior administration officials about the unknown nature of this group. And what they said is that, basically, this group grew out of Al Qaeda. That is how they are, basically, you know, deciding that this is in keeping with the authorization for use of force back in 2001 on Al Qaeda. This group is a -- is an offshoot of Al Qaeda. They're saying that key members of this group came out of Afghanistan and Pakistan and relocated in Syria. That's why they took these -- this decision to take these targets out last night.

Now, as for the president's decision to conduct these air strikes, senior administration officials have been saying, this morning, the president made this decision the day after his Centcom speech, this would be last Thursday in Tampa after he met with the Centcom leaders down there. And that these targets that were hit, these ISIS targets that were hit in Syria, there has been some conversation as to whether or not, you know, these senior leaders of ISIS might have gotten some sort of heads-up because of all the discussion that was going on in the days leading up to this.

And what one senior administration official said was, quote, "this was not something that they were concerned about, in terms of an element of surprise." That these installations that were hit in Raqqa did not offer these leaders the ability to go underground. So, they feel pretty confident that they may have struck a pretty big blow here on ISIS. Now, they are not saying, at this point, whether or not senior leaders of ISIS were hit. They said they're not in a position to confirm that right now. But in the words of one senior administration official, these strikes on ISIS in Raqqa were, quote, "very effective."

BLITZER: It seems every one of these terrorist groups is an offshoot of Al Qaeda, including ISIS --

ACOSTA: That's right.

BLITZER: -- itself. It used to be ISIS -- it used to be Al Qaeda in Iraq and now it's ISIS. All right, stand by.

ACOSTA: Sure. BLITZER: Jim Acosta is here at the United Nations.

We're also learning new details from the Pentagon about the strikes against ISIS in Syria. At that briefing earlier today, officials described the air strikes as successful but they stress that this is only just the beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYVILLE: As far as what targets and future operations, I'd like to not comment on what our next -- other than to say that you are seeing the beginnings of a sustained campaign. And strikes like this, in the future, can be expected. The operational pace, the tempo of this thing will be dictated by the facts on the ground and what the targets mean, in terms of the effect we seek which is to disrupt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's take a look at the map, once again. Here are the countries -- the countries that took part in this anti-ISIS air campaign in Syria. The countries include Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Our Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto is with me here at the United Nations as well. It's an interesting group of five Sunni Arab countries that have decided, publicly, to join forces with the United States and get involved militarily against ISIS in Syria.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Truly unprecedented, that number of countries. Saudi Arabia, the most recent now just in the last few minutes, to publicly acknowledge their role, calling in their statement ISIS a deadly disease that need to be confronted. And you're hearing similar things from the other four Arab nations that took part in kinetic air strikes against ISIS targets, those being Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, with Qatar playing a supporting role in the air campaign.

Interesting as well in the UAE's statement saying that these were just the first strikes. So UAE telegraphing in that statement there that they, like the U.S., are going to continue to strike ISIS targets aggressively in the coming weeks and months.

BLITZER: Qatar is very interesting because it does actually, despite some irritating decisions it's made from the U.S. perspective, have a major U.S. air base. And you and I have been to the Al Udeid Air Base outside of Doha.

SCIUTTO: Exactly. And that air base was crucial. For instance, the last time the U.S. invaded Iraq. Some of the first U.S. strikes flying out of that base, Al Udeid, in Qatar. But it's interesting, to have a base there is one thing. To also launch your own offensive strikes with your own aircraft, that's another thing. It's a further step forward. And I think that that is the kind of coalition that the president wanted to bring together here, get that kind of regional support. And, in many ways, Wolf, that kind of support more important to this administration than, for instance, support from, say, a European partner or the French or the British because he wanted regional buy-in.

BLITZER: It's also interesting the timing of this U.S.-led air strike. It comes, what, a day before the president addresses the United Nations general assembly. Tomorrow morning, he'll be speaking. Brazil goes first. The United States goes second. He's trying to build an international coalition of support.

SCIUTTO: He is. It's interesting. Of course, the timing here, we're sitting in front of the United Nations. This is a peacemaking body. And yet, the U.S., along with these allies, has gone to war again. The U.S. now at war with three countries in the region, including, of course, Iraq and Afghanistan. But what administration officials say is that the timing of these strikes, beginning last night, were not connected at all to the U.N. general assembly. They say only two factors matter to them. One, did their commanders say they have the targets ready and the intelligence they needed? And two, were those Arab partners ready to strike alongside the U.S.? Once they had both those criteria, they would go, whether it was today, tomorrow, next week or whenever.

BLITZER: And the separate U.S. strike against this Al Qaeda offshoot in eastern Syria, that was because they suspected something was imminent.

SCIUTTO: Absolutely. And, you know, Wolf and I -- you and I, we've been talking so much, over recent days and weeks, about ISIS. How imminent a threat is ISIS to the U.S. homeland? And, at times, getting conflicting messages. The final analysis seemed to be that it could be a threat to the U.S. homeland, though not immediately, if the administration didn't act. And lo and behold, overnight, they say that -- well, actually, this other group, Khorasan, Al Qaeda-tied, is an attack -- is a threat today. But they're in the final stages of a major plot targeting western interests, including possibly here in the U.S. homeland, and they felt the need to act right away.

The other interesting note, coming out of Admiral Kirby's press conference at the Pentagon just a short time ago, is that he said that Khorasan was recruiting westerners. So, again, we talked about ISIS's success at recruiting westerners. Here, you have Khorasan in one of the final stages --

BLITZER: Yes.

SCIUTTO: -- of a terror plot, recruiting westerners as well.

BLITZER: All right. Jim Sciutto is here at the United Nations with me. Jim, thanks very, very much.

Still ahead, during the air strikes in Syria, the U.S. alone took aim, as we've been pointing out, against that Al Qaeda splinter group, Khorasan. We're taking a closer look at this terrorist organization that had plots, apparently, against the United States, immanent plots we're told.

Up next, we're going to take you through the firepower used against those militant targets and why cruise missiles, tomahawk cruise missiles specifically, were, once again, a very important weapon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. WILLIAM MAYVILLE JR., PENTAGON DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS: But we've been watching this group closely for some time. We believe the Khorasan group is -- was nearing the execution phase of an attack either in Europe or the homeland. We know that the Khorasan group has attempted to recruit westerners to serve as operatives or to infiltrate back into their homelands. The Khorasan group is clearly not focused on either the Assad regime or the Syrian people. They are establishing roots in Syria in order to advance attacks against the west and the homeland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: That was Lieutenant General William Mayville earlier today talking about the Khorasan threat. They call it the Khorasan group. So what more do we know about this organization that's plotting attacks U.S. officials say directly against the west, including the United States? Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is joining us now. He's just outside 10 Downing Street in London.

So, Nic, how is this group linked to al Qaeda? What do we know about it?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is al Qaeda veteran fighters with a decade or more experience. This is an organization that is really taking a leaf out of al Qaeda's old playbook. Remember when you had young recruits going from Britain and other countries to Pakistan to join the fight against U.S. forces in Afghanistan? There were recruiters for al Qaeda in Pakistan that were picking up some of these young would-be fighters, training them in bomb making, training them in fighting skills, turning them around and sending them back home to perpetrate attacks. That was how the 2005 attacks in London grew.

What we have with Khorasan is a figurehead leader again doing the same thing, looking at all these incoming western fighters, coming to Syria to join ISIS, trying to find people there that they can then train themselves, bomb making, again, other skills, and send them back for attacks in the west. They are using al Qaeda veteran fighters to do that.

So imagine a scenario like this where you have al Qaeda's top bomb maker in Yemen, Ibrahim al-Asiri, made the underpants bomb, made the printer bombs, bombs decided to go -- destined to go on aircraft to try to target the United States. Imagine he has proteges within al Qaeda. Imagine they are now working for this Khorasan group inside Syria. This is the kind of concern. We don't know precisely who al Qaeda had during the training in those camps, but it's that level of skill and expertise that they were passing on to these young war recruits with the aim of sending them back into Europe or the United States, Wolf. BLITZER: As you know, Nic, Khorasan's existence was only publicly

acknowledged last week when the U.S. director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said it was operating inside Iraq and Syria. How long has this group really been out there - out there on the radar?

ROBERTSON: Wolf, we don't know. But it's clear from the situation inside Syria that the scope has existed for them to establish training camps. And that's what al Qaeda's been looking to do. Number one, we know that ISIS has been focusing on the fight inside Iraq and inside Syria to create this caliphate, this borderless Islamic country, state that they've been trying to create. Al Qaeda has been pushed - pushed to the periphery of attention, if you will.

This appears to be an effort by them to use the opportunity that's presented in Syria, not just the young recruits coming, but these open spaces, these areas where there's no government control, a failed state, if you like, and exploit those. How long, Wolf? We don't know. But they've been doing this under the radar. That's what's been clear.

BLITZER: Nic, it's -- what's interesting is the United States has five Arab countries working together with the U.S., launching these air strikes against ISIS targets in Syria. The U.S. has France launching air strikes against ISIS targets with the U.S. in Iraq. Where is the U.K. in all of this?

ROBERTSON: Wolf, that's right, you would expect Britain to be right there with the United States. That's normally what we've seen. We've had David Cameron, who's at the U.N.G.A., where you are in New York, tweeting today saying that he supports - the British MOD (ph) support the U.S. and the Arab allies in their strikes against ISIS in Syria. He said that while he's at the U.N., he's going to have conversations to see what more Britain and other countries can be doing to assist the United States.

David Cameron, the impression he creates in the language that he's used over the last few weeks is, he would like to see Britain taking a stronger position, a more active role, perhaps involving the air force here in strikes inside Syria, but he doesn't yet have the political support for that. Will he come home from the U.N. and try and build that support? There's an expectation that that's possible. But it is that that is lacking at the moment and that's why we're not seeing Britain at the side of the United States in these strikes, Wolf.

BLITZER: Interesting development. You would have thought Britain would be number one as far as partners -- military partners with the U.S. Not necessarily right now, but we'll see what happens in the days to come.

Nic, thanks very, very much.

Up next, much more on the strikes against the al Qaeda splinter group Khorasan and its threat to the United States. I'll talk with Congressman Adam Schiff of the House Intelligence Committee.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: Early indications are we hit what we were aiming at and we greatly disrupted this group's ability to continue the plot and planning that they were doing for attacks either in Europe or here on the homeland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That's the Pentagon spokesman, Admiral John Kirby, talking to reporters a little while ago about those U.S.-led air strikes against an al Qaeda splinter group in Syria. The area east of Aleppo, Syria, was a supposed safe haven for planning those attacks against the west, including attacks against the U.S. homeland.

Joining us now, the California Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff. He's a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

A quick question. When did you guys, in the Intelligence Committee, get a heads-up that there was an imminent threat, imminent threat from this splinter group, this offshoot of al Qaeda, if you will, the Khorasan group?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: Well, we had been briefed really for weeks and months about the danger that's posed by this group. We weren't permitted to talk about it until the director acknowledged its existence just about a week ago. But it's one of the reasons why many of us have been pointing to the fact that al Qaeda, and in particular this Khorasan group, opposes the most immediate threat to the country. ISIL is still very much focused on gaining territory, holding territory, fighting the regime in Iraq and in Syria. But this core group of al Qaeda, in combination with some of the bomb makers in Syria, and all the foreign recruits poses a very proximate threat to us, and that's not one that we could ignore. And I think the fact that this may have been the first sortie last night I think is very significant because that is the most immediate threat to the country.

BLITZER: And you accept this notion that the threats from this Khorasan group were, in the words of a U.S. official - in the word of a U.S. official, imminent?

SCHIFF: Well, I certainly think they were immediate. Whether we have intelligence, I'm going to wait to find out, that we knew a time, a place, a location, they were planning to attack. Some of what they're suggesting seems to indicate that was the case. That I'll be interested to be briefed on this week. But certainly that they were an immediate threat to the country, that their focus was attacking the U.S. merely using the safe haven in Syria. Their motivation wasn't the same as even al Nusra or certainly ISIL in terms of fighting the regime or holding territory. Their reason for being was going after us and that makes it a top priority for us to deal with.

BLITZER: Do you know what the target was? SCHIFF: I can't say what the target was. And, you know, I know that

they've been involved in plotting against the United States as well as Europe. But whether we got within the last 24 hours some very explicit intelligence about a particular target, I don't know. As you saw the general, the Pentagon spokesman, is being a bit ambiguous about whether the threat was in Europe, the U.S. or both. But I'll have to wait to find out, did we actually have a lead as to a very specific plot and where was that - the locus of that plot.

BLITZER: In his statement today the president, once again, thanked Congress for working with the White House on these measures. You voted for the plan to train and arm rebels. But did that legislation, per say, authorize the president to conduct these air strikes inside Syria?

SCHIFF: No, it didn't. And, you know, ironically, Wolf, the one piece of what took place over the last 24 hours that the president could probably rely upon, the 2001 authorization use of force, was merely those attacks against that Khorasan group. They're a part of al Qaeda and I think there is a much stronger legal argument there than there is for the broader strikes against ISIL, which the president has said is not an imminent threat. But nonetheless, the defeat of which will be a multi-year effort that amounts to war. So, no, the vote we've had is not enough. I think constitutionally we're required to have an authorization and support or reject the military strikes the president is undertaking. And it's my hope that the first thing we do when we go back in is take up a new authorization to use force.

BLITZER: We're going to have to wait until after the midterm elections in early November for that debate and that discussion to unfold in the Congress. Congressman Schiff, thanks very much for joining us.

SCHIFF: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Last night, U.S.-led attacks in Syria used a variety of weapons in three waves, from cruise missiles to drones. We're taking a closer look at what the U.S. and its allies used, which equipment, what kind of missiles. Stay with us. Much more on the breaking news.