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CNN NEWSROOM

Iraq Desperately Trying to Stop ISIS Advances; Militants Capture City, Threatens Antiquities; Hundreds of Weapons Found in Biker Gang Shootout; David Letterman Says Goodnight. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired May 21, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, ISIS making major advances on two fronts, seizing control of Ramadi and now an ancient city in Syria.

Plus more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil released from a ruptured pipeline off the California coast.

[10:00:06] And dozens of workers wearing protective gear, trying to clean the spill up and raking those tar balls of the beach.

And the end of a late night era. David Letterman bids farewell after more than 30 years. A former writer who was there at the beginning shares his experience.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Another victory for ISIS as a new city falls to the terror group and Washington admits it's at a loss in trying to save the Syrian city of Palmyra. Today residents tell us that ISIS fighters are going door- to-door hunting down government soldiers. And likely next in the ISIS crosshairs, irreplaceable antiquities. Palmyra is home to some of mankind's most celebrated ruins. And we've seen how ISIS deals with anything it deems a false idol.

This is the second ISIS conquest this week after its fighters capture the Iraqi city of Ramadi, a mere 70 miles from Baghdad. Washington sidelined and seemingly rudderless. That's according to the U.S. general who led the International Security Forces in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL, COMMANDER, JOINT SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND (RET.): I'm not sure most Americans or most people in the world are exactly sure what our strategy is, which means you have to define it in state. But then the wider issue is, who is fighting against ISIS? They'll say, well, we are. Now wait a minute. They'll say Bashar al- Assad is fighting against them.

Obviously the Iranians are helping the government of Iraq, Shia militia, United States is helping, some of the Persian Gulf countries are helping. But it's a group of people. Napoleon was quoted as saying, when asked who he'd mostly like to fight, what opponent, he said a coalition. We're not really a team on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Let's talk more about this with Major General Spider Marks, a CNN military analyst.

Welcome, sir.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Hi, Carol. Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So those are pretty strong words from General McChrystal, what do you say?

MARKS: Yes, I think General McChrystal is spot on. The United States' larger issue here is what I would call the broader sectarian inevitable, kind of collapse that's taking place in that you've got -- we're setting up possibly larger Shia-Sunni conflict that might last for who knows how long. And that really -- it could be a very long horizon.

Clearly what you have, as Stan McChrystal indicated, you've got Syria that's in collapse. I think it's easy to say that. And Bashar Assad is fighting against ISIS. Tehran is providing Quds force, MEK, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, Badr Corps inspired by Tehran. They are located in Iraq. So you have this collection of parties that are going against ISIS, not led by anybody, and so there certainly are some fissures and some breaks in what might be a coalition but isn't one right now.

COSTELLO: So supposedly the Obama administration's strategy is to degrade and destroy ISIS. Is it time to change that strategy?

MARKS: Well, the United States is really looking at a slow burn, I would say. I would even suggest that there probably are a number of scenarios that acknowledge, within our administration, acknowledge the volcanization of Iraq as a preferred or possibly acceptable in state, in that you have a separation of Kurdish, Iraq, and a Shia Iraq and a Sunni Iraq, that almost inevitably now will be under some form of ISIS control which we can define as a mini caliphate.

So if that's a desired or an acceptable, my apologies, an acceptable in state, then we're OK right now. If that isn't, then we're going to have to up the ante and we're going to have to build a coalition. We certainly can't do this alone in order to --

COSTELLO: I thought we did that, though.

MARKS: Ensure --

COSTELLO: We were so excited -- I thought we did build a coalition. We were so excited that Saudi Arabia was helping out in Yemen and all that. So we really don't have a coalition?

MARKS: No, we really, Carol, we don't. I mean, we have a patina, we a snip of a coalition. We really do not. I mean, you know, you look at this and you go, what more could the United States do? Well, there is a lot we can do. I mean, there's almost limitless in terms of what we can galvanize --

COSTELLO: So give --

MARKS: -- and how we can lead.

COSTELLO: So tell me one thing we can do.

MARKS: But we've chosen to lead from behind.

COSTELLO: Tell me one thing we should do.

MARKS: The United States right now should be taking every effort that it can to continue to build a coalition that's meaningful, that's fulsome and it's broad in order to address this. But Carol, the challenge is of all the elements of power that we have available to us, diplomatic, military, economic, all of them have to be applied our priority. And the very last one of choice is always the military. So we haven't really done what we should have done on the diplomatic side.

[10:05:01] We're not in this mess because we entered Iraq. We're in this mess because we left Iraq and we didn't build a coalition when we had the capability to do that. So the diplomatic now is kind of off the plate. We can't get there from here. So the element of power of choice is military and we're doing what we're -- what we've decided to do right now is to let this thing kind of burn and observe and not let Baghdad go away. We are not going to let Baghdad fall. And I would suggest Baghdad is not at risk right now anyway.

COSTELLO: All right. General Spider Marks, I have to leave it there. Thank you so much.

I want to focus now on the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria. It is now in the hand of ISIS fighters and its antiquities at their mercy.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Beirut with more on that.

Hi, Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we're talking about a city here which not only housed tens of thousands of people and probably still does, now ISIS are going street to street looking for regime sympathizers. But it's also a key part of the world's historical heritage.

This is where in the first century the monuments were put up, the artifacts you'll see there, breathtaking spectacle to behold in a town which was named after date palms that used to nourish themselves, and still do, on its oasis in the middle of the desert. It's where the edge of the Roman empire would meet Persian cultures. A vital part of the world's entire history.

And it's survived so much turbulence in the region in the past two millennia. But now potentially at risk of ISIS sledgehammers. We've seen them destroy, as part of their general bid to turn the world back to year zero, destroying anything which they considered to be idolatry. That's the risk here. But the very human costs of ISIS sweeping into Palmyra as well. And that is, the 50 to 100 regime soldiers killed in that fight, and now the civilians in the town who apparently witnessing ISIS, quote, "everywhere," going door to door, as I say, looking for regime sympathizers.

It's a convenient place, very vital strategic place for ISIS, too. It has an airport, intelligence headquarters, a prison, gas fields as well. And most importantly it shores up their southern flank and does give them clear access to major highways towards Hobbes and Damascus and Syria, the latter its capital which both regime strongholds.

A very significant change on the battlefield today inside Syria just after a significant change in the battlefield inside Iraq with ISIS taking Ramadi -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Nick Paton Walsh reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

I want you to take another look at the beautiful 2,000-year-old temple and tombs in Palmyra, Syria. Any day now ISIS could destroy these temples or dismantle them and sell them on the black market. The big question now, why is ISIS waiting to blow apart these temples? Maybe it's because according to the "Daily Beast," Palmyra also houses the Assad regime's most feared detention and torture facilities.

Let's talk more about that with Clemens Reichel. He's a professor for Mesopotamian and archeology at the University of Toronto, and the curator for Ancient Near East at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Welcome.

CLEMENS REICHEL, ASST. PROFESSOR FOR MESOPOTAMIA AND ARCHEOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO: Thank you.

COSTELLO: What do you expect to happen to this site?

REICHEL: Well, the template is out there. We've seen it. And I don't think I'm betraying anything, I'm not giving ISIS a guideline there. We've seen what happened to other sites in Iraq, such as Nimrud or Hatra, both of world heritage sites.

I fear for the worst in disrespect. Palmyra particularly vulnerable because it's -- basically it's classical architecture, it's freestanding. You've seen pictures of it and it would be very, very easy to demolish. As you pointed out, it's very likely that some of the antiquity, some of the sculpture that has not been removed will end up on the antiquities market.

But I think the majority of the architecture, which is really world famous, it's iconic, and it's all over Syria, you see pictures all over, it's simple Syrian state to some degree. I think it's going to see very, very heavy demolition. So I'm bracing myself for the worst.

COSTELLO: Yes. I know you've visited some of these sites in the region. Do you know about these torture chambers in Palmyra?

REICHEL: Not really. I mean, one heard rumors and stories about that. But I think the beauty of the landscape just basically overtakes you, it doesn't make you think about these things. I think it's the price you pay when you work in the Middle East that these things happen. And I do not in any way want to belittle that.

COSTELLO: You have said the U.S. military should help protect these historic sites. And I'll ask you this question again. Why use manpower to do that?

REICHEL: Well, let me put it in a different way. You're always on the defensive when cultural heritage is concerned. If I piled up a million dollars or a billion dollars on the desert, wouldn't -- and ISIS were about to grab them, I'm pretty sure that military power would be sent to secure that. And that's basically what we're doing right now.

There is this priceless treasure that can be harvested by ISIS and it's sitting there. And it's unfortunate that I'll have to put it in such terms that we have to put monetary terms on cultural heritage. But that's the truth. It's out there. ISIS thrives on the illegal exports of oil and off illegal antiquities. And so it's out there. And I think the American military should consider that.

[10:10:15] COSTELLO: All right. Clemens Reichel, thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate your insight.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, police seized hundreds of weapons from the scene of that deadly biker brawl. And you won't believe where they found them. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In Waco, Texas, police have found hundreds of weapons hidden inside the Twin Peaks Restaurant where that deadly biker shootout erupted on Sunday. They say they found guns and knives, clubs and chains, even an AK-47 -- assault rifle, rather.

Let's bring in CNN's Alina Machado with more. She's live in Waco.

Good morning.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, police say they found more than 300 weapons at this restaurant over the weekend. As you mentioned they found a little bit of everything, everything from knives and brass knuckles, chains and even guns. Even that AK-47 that you mentioned.

Listen to what Waco Police had to say about what investigators found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. PATRICK SWANTON, WACO POLICE DEPARTMENT: The highest caliber weapon we've recovered is an AK-47. Family clubs don't carry the kind of weaponry we've seen in there this morning. During my walkthrough, family club members aren't going to go and hide firearms in bags of chips, they're not going to hide firearms in the toilets. That is not a family club. These were vicious gang members that were in our city Sunday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:15:14] MACHADO: So investigators found some of these weapons in some peculiar places in addition to the bag of chips that you just heard from the sergeant. They also found some weapons wedged between bags of flour. Many of the other weapons, Carol, were found outside of the restaurant.

COSTELLO: We're also learning more about some of the bikers who were under arrest. One was a retired cop?

MACHADO: Yes. One was a retired cop. His name is Martin Lewis. He's one of the 170 people who were arrested and charged in connection to what happened here. Our understanding is that he is -- he was a detective with the San Antonio Police Department. He retired in 2004 after 32 years of service. We're told he's a father. He's also a grandfather. And based on his Facebook page, it appears that he was also a member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And I know more and more details are coming out about some of the people who were shot. One of them a grandmother?

MACHADO: Well, we know that -- in terms of the grandmother, we know that that was actually somebody who was arrested. Her name is Sandra Lynch. She's also known as Drama. She's a member of Los Pirados Motorcycle Club. She is married to a man named Michael Lynch. He was also arrested. They're both grandparents, as you mentioned. They both share a love of biking, they share a love for this restaurant, for the Twin Peaks Restaurant.

And their son told CNN that the Lynchs are not criminal, that they're not thugs. And that, you know, they were at the restaurant for a monthly meeting -- Carol.

COSTELLO: For a monthly meeting or just with their alleged motorcycle club/alleged gang. It's really a strange story.

One more question that I had because I think this is interesting. You know, each person who was placed under arrest had a million dollars bond. Somebody actually made that bond. Who?

MACHADO: Yes. We learned that one person -- at least one person has made this bond. His name is Jeff Batty. He bonded out of jail yesterday. And you know CNN has talked to several family members of some of the people who've been arrested. And those people feel that the million-dollar bond is ridiculous and unfair -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alina Machado, I'll let you go. Alina Machado, reporting live from the Waco, Texas.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it was the best of times and the worst. David Letterman's former writer joins me next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:21:03] COSTELLO: It is the end of an era. David Letterman ends his late night TV gig with one last good night.

Here's Michaela Pereira with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": 6,028 shows and he ran the numbers, and he said it works out to about eight minutes of laughter.

MICHAEL PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: David Letterman's final sendoff overnight full of the iconic funny man's self-deprecating humor and all-star guests.

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Our long national nightmare is over.

PEREIRA: The show's beginning, patriotic, with U.S. presidents past and present ushering Letterman into retirement.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Letterman is retiring.

LETTERMAN: You're just kidding, right?

PEREIRA: The late night legend walking on stage one last time to a fitting three-minute standing ovation from a packed Ed Sullivan Theater.

Then the final all-star "Top 10."

LETTERMAN: It's our friend here at the "Late Show."

PEREIRA: "Top 10 Things I've Always Wanted to Say to Dave," everyone from Jerry Seinfeld.

JERRY SEINFELD, ACTOR: Dave, I have no idea what I'll do when you go off the air. You know, I just thought of something. I'll be fine.

PEREIRA: To Bill Murray.

BILL MURRAY, ACTOR: Dave, I'll never have the money I owe you.

LETTERMAN: Oh no.

I can't tell you how flattering, embarrassing and gratifying it has all been.

PEREIRA: Later a dedication to his staff, saving his musical side kick Paul Shaffer for last.

LETTERMAN: As good a friend as you can have on television, as good a friend as you can have in life, absolutely a musical genius, Paul Shaffer. PAUL SHAFFER, "LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN" MUSICAL DIRECTOR:

Thank you so much, David. You changed our lives.

PEREIRA: Letterman's final musical guest, the Foo Fighters performing David's favorite, "Everlong." Playing over a montage of the past shows since 1982, the band singing the lyrics, "If everything could ever feel this real forever, if anything could ever be this good again."

LETTERMAN: The only thing I have left to do for the last time on a television program, thank you, and good night.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Our thanks to Michaela Pereira for that.

Steve O'Donnell joins me now. He was a writer on the show from 1982 to 1995.

Welcome.

STEVE O'DONNELL, WROTE FOR DAVID LETTERMAN, 1982-1995: Thank you very much. I know you had the crisply dressed executive producer on earth here.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I did.

O'DONNELL: Now it's time for the disheveled writer.

COSTELLO: I know. You're all fitting in with those stereotypes. I kind of like that. Very charming.

So as you watched the last show, what went through your mind?

O'DONNELL: I was so pleased that he chose to go the way he did which suited him perfectly. I know he wasn't going to do alone on a stool in a spotlight like Carson or Crusty the Clown or something like that. It was his familiar world but just with an added energy, an added glow and added kind of bittersweet radiance. I thought it was fantastic.

COSTELLO: I thought it was quite nice, too. And I'm kind of glad he didn't cry because you could tell he was holding back tears and somehow it was more effective.

O'DONNELL: Dear. I don't think he's a crier.

COSTELLO: You don't --

(LAUGHTER)

O'DONNELL: By the way, I had nothing to do with that show. I was a writer for the first 13 years of his 33 on the air. I have simply remained an enthusiast.

COSTELLO: And enthusiast. But while you were a writer on that show, what was that like? What was David Letterman like as a boss?

O'DONNELL: Well, I was in my 20s when I started. I'm 60 now. It was the central experience of my life. Very fun, very crazy. And maybe in those first years it might have been a distinctive and different experience because he wasn't that well-known yet and I got to see him become more and more well-known. That odd experience of being with him on remotes and noticing more and more people recognize him.

COSTELLO: So you wrote jokes for David Letterman, right? So --

O'DONNELL: I wrote jokes, bits.

COSTELLO: What happened when he liked them and what happened when he didn't?

O'DONNELL: Well, they're not like part happens way early. He says yes or no. He'd go through -- and by the way, you knew when something was really off because he'd go down the list and go no, no, no, lord no. No. But he was -- he liked a lot of jokes. And once he tried them on the air, there wasn't a fallout afterwards.

[10:25:14] COSTELLO: Gotcha.

O'DONNELL: He tried a lot of stuff. He did a lot of experimentation. I think that's one of the reasons we're here talking about him.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. So one of your favorite moments?

O'DONNELL: Oh, my gosh. One for me, because it was based on a stray comment my mom had made, when he stopped wearing tennis shoes and started wearing leather shoes with the suit? My mom had said, did his supervisor talked to him? And I laughed so hard at that. So I said, I should a character, Dave's surpervisor, and I did, and then Charlton Heston was cast to play him. You know, comes in and grabs a pencil that he threw through a window and he broke the window, like these are still good pencils -- anyway. That was for me.

COSTELLO: So what do you think that David Letterman's lasting legacy will be?

O'DONNELL: Well, in one way he was a great, conventional broadcaster. He was competent in front of the camera. He was a good -- an increasingly good interviewer, an interesting thinker. But at the same time he kind of turned the whole talk show format upside down. He sort of let -- I mean, he came at the right time. We were just becoming familiar enough with television and media that letting the behind the scenes, the problems, the screw up show, and having fun with them, you could go with. You didn't have to pretend you were trying to be the Tiffany network or a Cadillac or everything all Hollywood palace perfect.

COSTELLO: I really loved the cynicism about him because I'm a cynic myself. Right? So I always thought that maybe his cynicism paved the way for people like Jon Stewart.

O'DONNELL: Well, yes. You often hear words like skeptical or ironic. He's a very interesting, intriguing mix because there's a part of him, as you saw last night, that is very touching and sweet and kind, like to the staff. But an overall -- an overall mistrust of many of our institutions, which I think is a good place to begin for all of us.

COSTELLO: OK. So will we ever see him on television again?

O'DONNELL: Wow, whether he'll do some cameos like Carson did very sparsely, or whether he'll do a coffee and cars thing like Seinfeld, I have no idea. I hope so. During the -- after the Hurricane Sandy when he did the shows without an audience, I thought he seemed so happy doing that. It might be nice to see him in a very tight little format. Or, have you thought of a co-host for this show?

COSTELLO: That would be -- somehow I think he'd say no but you can always dream, right?

(LAUGHTER)

Steve O'Donnell, thank you so much for being with us. I much appreciate it.

O'DONNELL: My pleasure. Thanks.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM. A pizza helps police identify a suspect in a brutal murder. We'll talk to an FBI profiler -- of what went down here in this house in Washington, D.C. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)