CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: On Supplying Weapons to the Iraqi Military, Christians in Syria, Qatar, and ISIS

Interview

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BLITZER: All right, Barbara, thanks very much.

Let's dig deeper now. Joining us, Senator James Risch of Idaho. He is a leading member of both the Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committee.

Senator Risch, thanks very much for joining us.

SEN. JAMES RISCH (R), IDAHO: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: What do you make of this U.S. supply of these weapons to the Iraqi military right now, given the Iraqi military's horrible track record?

RISCH: Yes. A lot of us have really severe reservations about it.

I think the Iraqis are going to have to prove themselves. They have had some minor victories of late. But their biggest challenge, of course, was last year as ISIS moved in, and they just dropped the weapons, dropped the uniforms, and ran.

BLITZER: These weapons, these rifles and these MRAPs, they could wind up in the hands of ISIS, just like a lot of other U.S. military hardware when the Iraqis ran away from the fight in Mosul, the Iraqi military, wound up in the hands of ISIS.

RISCH: No question about that.

Our people and the Iraqis are going to be facing that when and if the battle of Mosul starts. And it will be interesting to see. The last battle of Mosul, of course, was the U.S. military in there. And we lost a lot of lives, shed a lot of blood in Mosul.

It's good the Iraqis are at least committed now to stand up and try to take Mosul back. This has got to be stopped. After all, ISIS, their stated objective is to establish this caliphate. Once it is established, once it is somewhat stabilized, they are going to turn their attention to the Western world.

BLITZER: Yes, all of us hope the Iraqi military shows up for the fight and doesn't simply become MIA, as they did the last time.

RISCH: Of course.

BLITZER: But here what also is irritating to me, as a United States taxpayer. I wonder if it's irritating to you.

The U.S. has given all of this hardware to the Iraqis right now. Iraq is a major OPEC member, an oil-exporting country. Why are they not reimbursing U.S. taxpayers for the stuff that we're sending over there?

RISCH: Before they do that, Wolf, they need to also reimburse us for the other stuff that...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Well, that was a trillion dollars or hundreds of billions of dollars. Forget about that. But I don't understand. At a time when we have got our own budget issues here in the United States, I'm sure you and your constituents could use some of those dollars in your state right now. But why don't we at least even ask them to reimburse the United States?

RISCH: Definitely should be done. We're spending our kids and our grandkids' money there. And that should not be done.

But the administration is convinced that they need this so badly to have the Iraqis stand up, that they are willing to take some risks here. I have to tell you, I have serious reservations about it. They ought to bring the Kurds in. You have heard me say this before. These guys know how to do this. And they haven't lost any U.S. weapons to...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: I spoke to Adam Kinzinger in the last hour, Republican member of the House. He thought that the U.S. was sort of in competition with the Iranians right now, because the Iranians, through the Revolutionary Guard, they are providing a lot of weapons to the Iraqi military, and those Shiite militias in Iraq. That sounds pretty awful to me.

RISCH: Well, it does.

But when you're in the position as the fledgling Iraqi army is, you look for help wherever you can get it. When you're desperate, you take desperate measures. So, they will take it from whoever is willing to help.

BLITZER: Senator, I want you to stand by. We have a lot more to talk about, including the abduction of nearly 100 Christians, 100 Christians in Syria by ISIS.

Stay with us. Much more when we come back.

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BLITZER: We're back with Senator James Risch talking about ISIS, the U.S.-led coalition against the terror group that unleashed 21 airstrikes in Syria and Iraq over the past day.

Tonight, there are new questions about a key partner in this situation as well. We're talking about Qatar right now.

Are they are a friendly -- I mean, are they a reliable ally? We know the U.S. has a couple air bases, one air base, one military base there, about 8,000 or 9,000 American troops, but there's still deep suspicion that elements in Qatar are supporting some of these terror groups.

RISCH: Well, remember, Al-Jazeera is also headquartered in Qatar.

But we have things that we have a common interest in with Qatar. There are other things that we don't have a common interest in. As with many countries in the world, even our best allies, we occasionally have differences over what our national interests are. Having said all that, certainly Qatar has been helpful to us in many regards. And we have a base there that is very helpful to us.

BLITZER: Yes, we have 8,000 or 9,000 U.S. troops at the Al Udeid Air Base, Camp As Sayliyah, the ground troops, so it's been helpful on that. But there's suspicion that they are supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and some other terror groups out there as well. RISCH: When you say they...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Elements in Qatar, not necessarily the emir or his government, but very rich people are.

RISCH: Exactly. Or the government. That's exactly right.

And that's one of the problems is there are some people that are very rich there who are clearly sympathetic with elements that are radical and that they shouldn't be.

BLITZER: Could the government there be doing more to stop that from happening?

RISCH: Those are always hard questions to answer, because they have their own internal political issues as to how that works. Certainly, we would want them to do more than what they are doing.

BLITZER: What's going on with this abduction of nearly 100 Christians now in Syria by ISIS? These aren't just Christian men. These are women and children as well. What's their game plan here?

RISCH: Well, I think what you have to do is back up and look at this and look at, what is their objective? What is their bottom line?

BLITZER: ISIS.

RISCH: Their objective is to establish a caliphate. And a caliphate, of course, is a parcel of ground which they control, which they use Sharia law, and which is under the control of people who are radical Islamic followers. And that means you exclude everyone else.

BLITZER: So they want to convince these Christians to abandon their homes and become refugees and escape, or do they want to kill them?

RISCH: Whichever. I don't think they particularly care which way you go, as long as these people are gone from their caliphate that they are attempting to establish.

And this is certainly a brand of terrorism where you do what they have done. It makes people think that they should move. And I would think that it is probably pretty effective if you're a Christian living in that area.

BLITZER: Yes. And Christians have been living there for hundreds, if not thousands of years. And a lot of them are now becoming refugees, because they're fearful for their life, not only in Syria, but in Iraq as well.

RISCH: Right, and along with a lot of other Syrian people.

BLITZER: The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan issued a statement today. And it said this. "As of late February 2015, militants in Afghanistan plan to conduct multiple imminent attacks against an unspecified target or targets in Kabul City, Afghanistan."

What's going on here?

RISCH: Well, first of all, this kind of information is common to come in the hands of the intelligence community. Generally, they don't act on it unless they can confirm it in ways I really can't talk about here.

But if they -- if it rises to the level where they think that there is it a serious consideration and people ought to think about it, they will issue this kind of a statement. So they obviously have taken the steps to do the confirmations that are necessary and feel that it rises to that level.

BLITZER: All right. I want to get your quick thought on funding for the Department of Homeland Security. It looks like a clean bill, it's called, without any connections to immigration reform or anything is going to come up for a vote. I think the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, is ready to do it, whether tomorrow or Thursday or Friday. I assume you will support him on that?

RISCH: Well, it will depend on some of the details of it, but I very well might.

The Texas judge that has ruled that the president can't do what he's trying to do has really taken the argument out of this thing. And so there's no doubt we will pass a bill for Homeland Security. It should be done. After all, all of us were elected to govern, not to not govern. And we all want to see a smaller federal government. But when it comes to homeland security, all of us are very, very concerned right now about the security of America.

BLITZER: All right, so you don't want to play around with homeland security.

RISCH: That's not a good thing to do.

BLITZER: No.

All right, Senator, thanks very much for in.

RISCH: Thank you.

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