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ISIS Allegedly Kills America Aide Worker, Kayla Mueller.

Aired February 6, 2015 - 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 to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

An update now on the breaking news we're following this hour. A claim by ISIS with no proof or confirmation that an American female hostage has been killed. The report is being met with a great deal of skepticism. The White House says it is deeply concerned about the report but also says, I'm quoting, "There is no indication to corroborate those claims."

In an online posting, ISIS claims the female hostage was killed by a Jordanian airstrike in Raqqa, Syria. It has offered no evidence that the woman, an American aid worker, has been killed. The terror group posted pictures of a collapsed building where it claims the woman was being held.

Jordan's interior minister calls this an attempt to splinter the U.S.- load coalition. And he adds, quote, "This is another P.R. stunt by ISIS. They tried to cause problems internally in Jordan and haven't succeeded. They are now trying to drive a wedge between the coalition with the latest low P.R. stunt."

Then there's this statement from the National Security Council at the White House, quote, "We are obviously very deeply concerned by these reports. We have not at this time seen any evidence that corroborates ISIL's or ISIS' claims."

Let's go to Amman, Jordan. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has been monitoring what's going on.

I know you're speaking with Jordanian officials, Jomana. They're basically calling ISIS a bunch of liars, denying these reports. What else are you hearing?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's lots of questions here, Wolf. Of course, one of these things is -- one of the issues here is the timing. Why is this happening just as Jordan is ramping up its military campaign against ISIS? You also have officials asking the question of Jordan -- with Jordan increasing its airstrikes, of course, why is this happening right now? And also, Wolf, we've seen, why trust this organization, some say, with a claim like this? What we have seen in the past, over the past couple of weeks with this hostage crisis, the Jordanians were involved in indirect negotiations to try and secure the release of their hostage, the pilot, who was killed. And after that, it was revealed by the Jordanian government that he was killed on January the 3rd. And throughout, ISIS was really implying that he was alive and they were trying to have a swap for his release. So questions about why trust this claim, the timing of it and, of course, the motivations here? As we have seen, Wolf, Jordan in the past couple of weeks was put in a very tough position with allies like Japan during that hostage crisis where Jordan was being pushed into a corner to release Sajida Rishawi. Then there were these attempts, it was felt here in Jordan, to try and destabilize the country, drive a wedge here between the population and the government with people blaming the government and the king at the time for joining the coalition against ISIS and ending up in a situation where one of its citizens had been held captive and then killed. But it does seem that, so far, as analysts would say, as officials here would say, that this really has backfired on ISIS.

BLITZER: And Jordan is making it also clear that these airstrikes, which they resumed very dramatically, powerfully yesterday, continuing today, they will argue and they have to all of us that they're only just beginning. They're not going to be at all influenced by what ISIS is doing. They're going to go after is in a big-time way.

Jomana, stand by.

I want to bring back our terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank; and also retired Lieutenant Colonel James Reese, CNN global affairs analyst, joining us on the phone right now.

It does sound pretty coincidental, Colonel Reese, that all of a sudden this American hostage, this woman, 26 years old -- we're not identifying her at the request of the family -- she's been held by ISIS for some time. All of a sudden, in the aftermath of what's been going on, the brutal burning alive of the Jordanian pilot, the Jordanian execution of this female terrorist and another terrorist that they were held, all of a sudden this American hostage is dead. It does sound very coincidental, doesn't it?

LT. COL. JAMES REESE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (voice-over): Yes, sir, it does. There's no question -- I agree with Jomana and what everyone is saying. However, the planners and the folks that are doing this for a job every single day, analyzing, deciding on targets against ISIS have to also look at it in parallel and say, what if it's true? And I hope it's not true. But if it is true, then there's all these second and third order effects that go in. Number one is, we need to tell the Jordanians, it's collateral damage, it happens, it's unfortunate, we need to keep driving on, don't lose the pressure. And we need to continue to see if we can confirm or deny this happened. But right now, it's emotion on emotion. And the planners that are doing this and the intel analysts have to keep that emotion out and look at it from a different perspective.

BLITZER: From ISIS' standpoint, Paul Cruickshank, what's more valuable to them right now, to have kept this female hostage alive or to see her dead and to make this claim that it was a Jordanian airstrike that killed her? PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, I think it's clear

what's more valuable from the ISIS point of view, it's to try and drive a wedge between the Jordanians and the Americans here. They're making this claim that she was killed in this strike. That's obviously very convenient from their point of view, that she would be alone in this building without any other guards who are all supposedly out at Friday prayers when this airstrike happened, to hit the house. And they're, of course, saying it was from a Jordanian aircraft. How on earth could they know it was a Jordanian aircraft rather than another aircraft from the United States or some other power? So all very, very convenient. It really smacks of propaganda here -- Wolf?

BLITZER: I want all of you to stand by.

We'll stay on top of the breaking news. Much more coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're following the breaking news, a claim, yes, a claim with no evidence, no corroboration, a claim by ISIS that a Jordanian airstrike over Raqqa in Syria today wound up killing a young American aid worker being held hostage by ISIS.

According to this woman's family, they are now telling us, we can indeed report her name and her background and show you some pictures of her. This is Kayla Mueller. She's 26 years old, an American humanitarian aid worker from Prescott, Arizona. On August 2014, she was taken captive by ISIS in Aleppo, Syria. She graduated from Northern Arizona University in 2009. Kayla has devoted her career since then to trying to help people around the world, especially Syrian refugees. That drew Kayla to the Turkish/Syrian border, according to her family, in December 2012. She worked with the Danish Refugee Council, humanitarian organizations and then wound up going to Syria. She was asked at the time why she was going on this mission. She said, I'm quoting her now, "I find God in the suffering eyes reflected in mine. If this is how you are revealed to me, this is how I will forever seek you."

Earlier, she had done humanitarian work in Africa, in northern India and Israel, Palestine. She returned home to Arizona in 2011, worked for one year at an HIV/AIDS clinic while volunteering at a women's shelter at night. She traveled to France in December 2011. She actually started to learn French in preparation for her humanitarian work in Africa. That has been the common thread of her life.

Kayla Mueller, 26 years old, this is the American humanitarian aid worker who's been held hostage by is since August 4th, 2013. ISIS now claiming she is dead as a result of a Jordanian airstrike. But all of us are taking those ISIS claims very, very skeptically.

Paul Cruickshank, obviously, a woman devoted to trying to help others, a young woman, clearly trying to do the best she can and ISIS takes her hostage back in 2013. And now they say she's dead.

CRUICKSHANK: That's absolutely right. Someone who went to Syria to try and help people from a medical point of view, from an aid worker point of view. Recalls the case of Alan Henning, British taxi driver, who gave up his job to go and help the Syrian people. He was beheaded by is, by Jihadi John who orchestrated that. Obviously, there has to be a lot of concern about the status of her right now. But we don't want to speculate too much right now for the family's sake.

But ISIS making this propaganda claim, we need to treat it as absolute and total propaganda that somehow a Jordanian airstrike killed her today, a few hours ago, during Friday prayers, when all her guards supposedly were -- happened to be outside the building and only she was killed in this strike. I think a lot of skepticism about that, that ISIS probably, from a propaganda point of view, trying to drive a wedge between the Jordanians and Americans. Obviously, I think that's going to fail, big time.

BLITZER: Her parents tell us, by the way, that she attended high school, Tri-City College Prep, in Prescott, Arizona, where she was from. She received all sorts of awards, National Young Leadership Award, Academic Excellence Award, Philanthropist of the Year Award in 2005, a Gold Presidential Volunteer Award. In 2007, she worked with Youth Count, America Corps, America's Promise, Open End for Troubled Youth.

Clearly she was very, very idealistic and she really wanted to help a lot of people. That's what drove her to actually go, Paul, to Syria in the first place to deal with refugees to try to help them in those hospitals. But she was kidnapped in Aleppo and taken hostage back in 2013, August 4th, we're told, 2013.

CRUICKSHANK: Yeah. And just very courageous and brave, all these people going in, whether they were journalists or aid workers or people going in for other reasons to document the suffering of the Syrian people or to help the Syrian people. Obviously, a lot of risk, a lot of kidnapping gangs around right across Syria. ISIS not particularly known to have a stronghold in Aleppo, especially back in 2013. So not entirely clear how she got into ISIS custody, whether it was ISIS themselves who kidnapped her or whether some other kidnapping gang and she eventually ended up with them. But obviously, horribly worrying times now for the family -- Wolf?

BLITZER: I remember back in August of 2013 -- we're looking at her picture, 26-year-old Kayla Mueller, this young woman from Prescott, Arizona. ISIS says she's now dead as a result of a Jordanian airstrike. All of us are taking that with a lot of skepticism right now. No confirmation whatsoever, no corroboration. But clearly at that time for an American aid worker to get into Aleppo was a lot easier than it is right now.

Stand by for a moment.

Atika Shubert is joining us. She's in Amman, Jordan, for us.

We're getting more reaction from the Jordanians, Atika?

Atika, can you hear me? ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I hear you, Wolf. As you can

imagine, we're still trying to get to the bottom of that. But we have already heard from Jordanian officials here who say that this has been simply a P.R. stunt and lies. They say this is an old tactic that's been used by groups like ISIS, claiming that hostages like this used as human shields are killed in raids. And so they are simply dismissing this.

But obviously, everybody wants to know what is happening on the ground. As you can imagine, trying to find out what possible -- what the results may be on the ground from this -- Wolf?

BLITZER: I'm sure the reaction from Jordan is going to be intense. There's absolutely, absolutely -- and I want to be precise, Atika. And I spoke to the Jordanian foreign minister last night, Nasser Judeh. They say they're only just beginning their retaliation, their efforts to try not only to degrade ISIS but to destroy ISIS in collaboration with other coalition partners led by the United States. They are determined in Jordan to not only get revenge for the brutal death of that Jordanian pilot, but they want to go ahead and do whatever they can to destroy ISIS.

SHUBERT: Oh, exactly. In fact, we just heard from the minister of interior just a short while ago. He specifically said that, "We, Jordan, are the spearhead of this war against ISIS." Jordan is taking the lead on this, really. We have seen Jordanian jets flying most of those missions over the last 48 hours, hitting those targets within Syria. And so Jordan is saying it's only going to increase that. Now, we don't know how this particular news is going to impact that. We're going to have to wait and see.

But it should be noted that all of targets they have been hitting have gone through the coalition command structure. In other words, all that intelligence they've been sifting through on the specific ISIS targets they've been hitting are a compilation of information they've gathered from the U.S., from Jordan, from other allies. So these are all targets they have agreed upon. So we may see that continuing over the next 24 hours or so. But we simply don't know at this point what targets they're going to hit next and which planes are going to be involved.

BLITZER: Stand by for a moment.

Paul Cruickshank, our terrorism analyst, is with us.

This is a picture of Kayla Mueller from Prescott, Arizona, a humanitarian aid worker who went to Syria, and she was actually kidnapped on August 4th, 2013, by ISIS, taken captive by ISIS in Aleppo when working at a Doctors without Borders hospital trying to help Syrian refugees, young people and others.

The whole notion of this woman, Kayla Mueller, Paul, do we know if there was effort by ISIS to seek something from the United States in exchange for her release?

CRUICKSHANK: We don't, Wolf, at this point. That kind of information has not been publicly released for very obvious reasons. We don't know if there was any kind of negotiation at any point. If something has happened to this woman, then clearly ISIS bears absolute responsibility whichever way around. They took her captive. They've been holding her for all this time. I think we're likely to see a kind of backlash against them again for this like we saw with the British taxi driver that went to help the Syrian people when he was beheaded by ISIS. There was outrage in the United Kingdom, from the Muslim community especially. According to people tracking this in the U.K., that put off youngsters from wanting to join ISIS because there was so much anger that they would kill an aid worker.

BLITZER: A 26-year-old young woman, idealistic, committed to help people, refugees and young people and children not only Syria but elsewhere in Africa and the Middle East, we're told by her family. Also northern India. She clearly wanted to do good, as they say, and help people. Obviously, wound up being kidnapped by ISIS 2013 as she was leaving a Doctors without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria. She's been held hostage by ISIS ever since.

Today, ISIS claiming she's dead as a result of a Jordanian airstrike in Raqqa, ISIS stronghold. There's no corroboration, no evidence. U.S. officials are making it clear they're obviously concerned about this point but they have no evidence to back this up. All of us take the ISIS claim very skeptically for good reason. Explain why.

CRUICKSHANK: It's far too convenient from an ISIS point of view that she would happen to be in this building alone without any guards during Friday prayers, which itself is farfetched. Why would she be left alone despite the fact she's of high value to ISIS. She alone was killed in the strike and that it was Jordanian aircraft, particularly, according to ISIS, that were responsible for this. How on earth would ISIS know this was a strike by Jordanian rather than American aircraft? It's all too convenient from an ISIS point of view. It really smacks of propaganda trying to drive a wedge between Jordanians and Americans. That's going to fail, big time. Jordanians and Americans are resolved to combat ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

BLITZER: As far as you know Paul, beyond Kayla Mueller, any other Americans held hostage by ISIS?

CRUICKSHANK: We don't know any other Americans specifically held hostage by ISIS. We do know, of course, there's a British reporter, John Cantley, who's being held hostage by ISIS. He's appeared in several propaganda videos, forced to appear in the videos for the group whether in Kobani or others. There's significant concern now about his status as well.

BLITZER: I want to go back to Atika.

Jordanians are saying this is a big fat lie by ISIS and that Jordanians didn't kill this 26-year-old. We're mentioning this as a result of her family deciding that would be OK. Earlier, we refused to show the picture and say the name of the family hoping to keep privacy. ISIS claims she's dead, result of a Jordanian airstrike. I want to be precise with you. Jordanians say this is a big fat lie by ISIS that it was not a Jordanian airstrike. If, of course, she is dead, and we hope she is not dead and still alive, that it was the result of is killing not a Jordanian bomb.

SHUBERT: You have to remember Jordan has been dealing with ISIS the last month or so saying they might trade the Jordanian air pilot who was brutally murdered. This went on for a month. They brutally killed that air pilot a month ago. As far as the Jordanian government is concerned, they've been dealing with a group that has done nothing but lie and murder. For them to suddenly receive this claim that a hostage has been killed by a Jordanian plane, to them, it's a complete lie and something they point out has been a tactic used by organizations like ISIS in the past, especially those organization using human shields to claim they were killed by an airstrike like this. There are many reasons why the Jordanian government says this is a lie and tactic. Jordan and the U.S. are steadfast allies and it's unlikely to have any impact.

BLITZER: I want to show that picture of Kayla Mueller with her mother in Arizona, the 26-year-old aid worker. ISIS claims she's dead as a result of a Jordanian airstrike. There's no evidence or corroboration to back up that is claim.

The family in Arizona put out a statement. Let me read it to viewers. "The family of Kayla Mueller request that media cautiously report on her background, work, and current situation and limit speculation. We ask that you respect the privacy of the Mueller family and friends at this difficult time."

We'll, of course, honor that request from the Mueller family. It's a very painful situation. It doesn't get more painful. You see mom and daughter there. It's a hard situation. Marcia Mueller is the mother. Kayla Mueller is the daughter from Prescott, Arizona.

It doesn't get more heart wrenching than that does it?

CRUICKSHANK: How many more teams are going to have to go through in the months and years from the ISIS point of view? It must have been too awful for the family to see the other beheadings of ISIS hostages knowing their daughter was also in captivity with the group. Just too terrible to imagine how her family would have to go through that.

ISIS are going to try to take more Westerners hostage, more internationals hostage. They feel that works from a propaganda point of view. There's worry even that they might try to snatch people from Lebanon or across the boarder in Turkey. Some intelligence suggesting they've been trying to put plans in places to do that. Worrying that ISIS affiliates elsewhere in the region may try to make Westerners hostage, including in Egypt where there's a new ISIS affiliate which is now very active there, and also in Libya as well. A lot of concern we haven't seen the last of these sorts of awful moments -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Paul, we know ISIS is very sophisticated with their social media, propaganda. I assume they think by making this claim that a Jordanian airstrike wound up killing Kayla Mueller, the 26-year-old American hostage -- no corroboration of that -- they think this will play into their hands and generate more support, more terrorist support for more recruits, if you will. CRUICKSHANK: Yes. They believe it may drive a wedge between the

Jordanians and the Americans. The big news yesterday was the resolve being shown by Jordan, that it was much more fully engaged. Obviously, if this was somehow collateral damage, that would be a setback for Jordan in efforts to go after ISIS. But I think this is very likely to be just total propaganda, them making this stuff up, as they've made a lot up in recent weeks. We can't take anything ISIS says at face value right now -- Wolf?

BLITZER: I think that's a fair point, Paul Cruickshank.

We'll stay on top of this story.

Once again, Kayla Mueller 26 years old. There she is with her mother, Marcia. It is claimed by ISIS that a Jordanian airstrike killed 26- year-old Kayla Mueller today. No confirmation of that. We'll stay on top of the breaking news.

I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern. Much more coming up in "The Situation Room."

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is next.

For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin picks up our coverage.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.