Transcripts For WPVI This Week With George Stephanopoulos 20

WPVI This Week With George Stephanopoulos September 28, 2014

Were coming to you from bahrain on the persian gulf, site of the headquarters of the u. S. Navys fifth fleet where were tracking the very latest in the fight against isis with the men and women carrying out the mission. This week we got a rare look on board a u. S. Aircraft carrier and well bring you much more from our journey a bit later. Plus, well have full analysis of the u. S. Strategy. Are we succeeding in this fight and how long will it last . But we begin with the latest developments here, the u. S. Now expanding air strikes into new portions of syria in the battle against the jihadist army. Five days after strikes began in syria, the u. S. And its Coalition Partners have opened a new front in the fight. Bombing isis targets surrounding the kurdish town of kobani. Our terry moran is near the syria turkey border. Reporter we are just a few yard as way from the Syrian Border and this windswept hillside has become a front row seat to the front lines of this war. On these hills, kurdish fighters squaring off just a few hundred yards away with isis. You can hear the crack of rifle fire, the thud of mortars, occasionally a jet overhead as these people bear witness to the desperate struggle for their town now in the crosshairs of isis. A total of seven Coalition Air strikes made in syria since friday including on the isis stronghold of raqqah, as well as three strikes in iraq near the kurdish capital of erbil. Part of a week of bombardment of isis training camps, command and control centers and mobile Oil Refineries, all targeted to degrade the ability of isis to support operations in iraq. The pentagon saying saturday the latest strikes included support from Coalition Forces from saudi arabia, jordan, and the uae. Commanders here telling me of the importance of the role of those majority sunni nations. Their integration into it from my seat was seamless. Back in washington, Obama National security adviser susan rice met friday with leaders of the moderate Syrian Opposition forces, which the u. S. Has agreed to begin arming and training in an effort to provide Ground Support for the fight. But joint chiefs chairman Martin Dempsey stressed that the training effort will take time and that air strikes alone will not be enough to defeat isis. I am confident that we can establish their training it we do it right. We have to do it right, not fast. And now our abc contributor, former marine corps Fighter Pilot and state department official, colonel Steve Ganyard is here to break down these new developments, and, colonel ganyard, give us an idea what was hit in the last week and the significance of that. Its important, martha, to differentiate between the two types of targets that we had in syria this week. The first you see in the blue dots around aleppo was this new terrorist group called khorasan. This is totally separate from isis. Khorasan is a traditional Al Qaeda Group that was plotting to blow up targets in the west. But they are very separate from isis, which has been the most of the focus of the fight in both iraq and syria for the past couple of weeks. In red you see some of the targets that we hit in syria that were focused on isis around raqqah, which is the headquarters essentially of isis, but also down towards al qaim and the crossing down there, its very interesting because the lifeblood of any insurgency is cash. And isis had been developing these modular Oil Refineries that allowed them to collect almost 2 million a day in oil revenues, and so all those things that youre seeing, all those red dots are command and control, theyre refurbishment training areas that isis had in this safe haven in syria, and so the Administration Made a decision to go in and hit those targets to help the effort in iraq. And you said to help the effort in iraq. Obviously we want to protect the west. We want to protect americans, but it is right now to look after iraq. Right. The effect on isis is to help the fight in iraq, and what was happening in syria, it was that the isis had the ability to go back into safe havens and to rearm and regroup. But if you look at these strikes that were done later in the week and yesterday included, you can see theyre focused around places like kirkuk and erbil and a bit worryingly you see all those strikes around baghdad. You look at that, all that range that isis is able to affect, thats almost 8 Million People that now come under the 30,000 to 50,000 men that isis has in uniform, and so you can see why the administration was concerned about taking away their safe area and degrading them in syria so that they couldnt affect iraq. Okay, thanks very much, colonel ganyard. Now an inside look at one of the Aircraft Carriers at the heart of the u. S. Mission against isis. The uss george h. W. Bush where fighter jets are launched, precision bombs are assembled, American Service members running an incredible operation at sea that never stops. Towering some 20 stories above the waters of the persian gulf, the uss george h. W. Bush is at the center of this air war. Its flight deck nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall and bristling with the most ferocious warplanes in the navy, each loaded with thousands of pounds of bombs and missiles, the f18 fighters launched on missions to syria and iraq any time night or day. This ship left norfolk, virginia, in the middle of february for a ninemonth deployment to the persian gulf. Never did they imagine that six months into the deployment theyd be dropping bombs on a group called isis. We watch your news. We watch whats going on and we quickly started putting together, hey, this is getting worse. This is getting bad. The ship had been conducting missions over afghanistan. But with isis forces quickly taking over territory in iraq, the Aircraft Carrier was ordered to change course. 30 hours after they told us to go, literally were departing the afghanistan theater, and 30 hours later were flying combat sorties over iraq. Many of the Fighter Pilots had done multiple tours here in the past. It is not just the pilots, it takes 4500 sailors to keep this air campaign going. They do everything from maintaining the aircraft to moving the paperwork. Shifts are long. Days off dont exist. Temperatures hovering over more than 100 degrees. The little spare time one gets maybe means time for a quick workout, a rare chance to send an email home or get a haircut. Meals are one of the only times to relax and catch up. 18,000 meals are prepared here each day. Work out here every day runs into the next one, so youre kind of just going over and over again. But these sailors understand their jobs are critical. We watched these men and women assemble bombs, putting together a 500pound precisionguided weapon capable of leveling a building, and above them, the bombs were loaded onto aircraft bound for the war zone. The deck of an Aircraft Carrier is an incredibly dynamic place. Once they get all these fighter jets back on deck, they maintain them, go over them, make sure they dont need any repairs. When theyre all set to go, theyre right back on another mission. The air bosses in the ships tower oversee it all. Best seat in the house. And one of the most important, the tower landing jets every 55 seconds and launching them every 3 minutes. To take off from this short runway, 1 30 the size of a regular runway, the planes front wheels are connected to a catapult. The pilot keeps the engines at full power, and then when the catapult is fired, the jet goes from a dead stop to speeds up to 184 Miles Per Hour in just 2 seconds. But throughout this deployment there has not been a single serious mishap, and well over 250 missiles and bombs have been dropped on iraq and syria. The Strike Group Commander who is also an f18 pilot whos been flying missions told us the isis targets could become harder to find. They are a learning organization, so we know that they will adapt, and that may make our job more difficult, but this is a longterm effort. So the strength of the coalition and our presence here will be here for quite some time. And what is next . With our warplanes now attacking in syria . I dont want to talk about what were doing right now or would do in the future, once its past and behind us then we can talk about that. There goes one now. And there goes one right now. And we are now back on land and joining us is vice admiral john miller, who is the commander of u. S. Naval forces for Central Command and the commander of fifth fleet here in bahrain. Admiral miller, lets start with what you really have accomplished with those air strikes. Well, good morning. Lets look at it in the framework of the president s strategy and what hes asked us to do, degrade and destroy isil, advise and assist the Iraqi Security forces, reduce isils funding and provide humanitarian assistance. So what have we done . We have a u. S. Led Coalition Air force. We have Iraqi Security forces on the ground and Peshmerga Security forces. Whats been accomplished so far . Theyve retaken mosul dam. Theyve reinforced the area around haditha dam. Theyve reinforced their position around baghdad. Theyve provided relief at sinjar mountain, which was a potential humanitarian disaster. They provided relief around the city of amerli, another potential humanitarian disaster. So theyve really slowed down isis but havent halted them. No, they havent halted them but theres been progress being made. But theyve moved forward south. Well, they were there was some risk in the southern part of baghdad and the Iraqi Security forces have been able to reinforce their position there, so theyre more secure now than they were previously. And the targeting now, we talked to rear admiral miller on the ship, and he said it may get a little more difficult. I saw lots of fighter jets returning to the ship with their bombs still attached. I know thats normal sometimes but is there a chance you kind of run out of targets because isis starts spreading out . Well, theyre an Adaptive Force and weve seen them adapt to the air strikes that were doing. But really bad news for them. Were the most Adaptive Force in the world and so as they adapt, well adapt. But air power has limits. Im sure you would be the first to admit that. So what do you do . You dont have military ground controllers to help pick targets, and you dont have a u. S. Ground force there. No, we dont, but we have a ground force on the ground. The Iraqi Security forces, the peshmerga forces, as well. And we know they didnt perform so well and thats why were there. And thats why we have the advise and assist mission to help them get better at what they do, and theres lots of work going on in that regard. Paint a picture for the American Public of what you think this campaign will look like in the next six months, in the next year. Will we see bombing all the time . Just give us a sense of what that would be like. Well, im not sure that we know what its going to be like because it is an adaptive campaign that will develop over time. We have a broad strategic framework from which to work from and thats helpful to us. And well have to see how its going to develop over time. Okay, thanks very much, vice admiral, for joining us this morning and thanks to all your sailors for welcoming up. Coming up, much more from bahrain. What terror groups could be planning attacks on americans back home. Well have the latest on the new warnings, plus georges exclusive interview with House Speaker john boehner. Whats the move he says the president should be making in the fight against isis . Well be back in two minutes. Announcer this week with George Stephanopoulos brought to you by hp. Are the largest targets in the world, for every hacker, crook and nuisance in the world. But systems policed by hps Cyber Security team are constantly monitored for threats. Outside and in. Thats why hp reports and helps neutralize more intrusions than anyone. In the world. If Hp Security Solutions can help keep the Worlds Largest organizations safe, they can keep yours safe, too. Make it matter. You cant get any thbetter than that. Trains. Siemens trains are not your grandparents technology. Theyre something thats gonna change the cities we live in today. I find it so fascinating how many people ride this and go to work every single day. Im one of the lucky guys. I get to play with trains. 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Air strike killed one of its commanders, but u. S. Law enforcement Officials Say the dangers that group and others still pose is very real. Abcs Senior Justice Department correspondent Pierre Thomas walks us through the threats. Reporter as air strikes continue this morning in syria and iraq, Law Enforcement Officials Say its injected more uncertainty into an already volatile threat environment here at home. The top threat according to the fbi, the khorasan. The new al qaeda affiliate that is plotting to attack commercial aircraft with undetectable bombs. It really is frightening and really is something that we should be concerned about. Reporter fbi director james comey told me and a small group of reporters that the khorasan was at the top of his list of threats and that he was not certain that its leaders or the plot had been stopped by this weeks air strikes in syria. He said the groups plan could serve as, quote, tomorrow. Heres how the attorney general described the threat in july. Its more frightening than anything i think ive seen as attorney general. Reporter perhaps the next most urgent threat, socalled homegrown radicals. A new fbi Homeland Security bulletin suggests the military strikes could fuel the anger of isis sympathizers in the u. S. Possibly motivating homeland attacks. The fear, that the images of air strikes and the beheadings by isis might spur angry and deranged individuals here at home. We have someone attacking someone in the building. We can hear a lot of screaming. Reporter just this week this man in moore, oklahoma, who police say had recently been trying to convert fellow employees to islam allegedly beheaded a coworker after he was fired. Due to tje manner of death and initial statements of coworkers, we requested the assistance of the fbi. Reporter authorities want to know if this was workplace anger or something more. Also of concern, the 100 americans who have gone or tried to go to syria. This new isis propaganda video brings home the threat. This is the end. This is the end that they face. Reporter the fbi director said they were speaking in what he believes to be, quote, north american accents. This morning, a witchs brew of threats keeping u. S. Law enforcement on edge. For this week, Pierre Thomas, abc news, washington. Thanks, pierre. Lets take this on now with john cohen who until july was counterterrorism coordinator for the department of Homeland Security and ali soufan, a former fbi agent whos tracked al qaeda for years leading the investigation into the attack on the uss cole and also investigating the events surrounding 9 11. Thanks for joining us. I want to start with you, john cohen. Khorasan, you were at Homeland Security in july. You had to have known about this group. What more can you tell us about it and what was done to try to counter any type of attack . Well, the Khorasan Group is a group of hardened, experienced individuals who have been associated with other members of al qaeda, but i think what is most important with regard to the story here is that it reflects what the real danger is in syria where for years we have had extremists from all over the world all going to syria, and theyve worked together. Theyve planned together. Theyve plotted together. Theyve trained together. Theyve become more experienced together, and this is going to be one of the main challenges the United States is going to have to confront in the years ahead. Ali soufan, youve been quite critical of the approach to combating al qaeda. You recently said that there was too much focus on

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