CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Congressman Adam Smith on the Middle East

Interview

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BLITZER: All right, Brian, thanks very much.

I want to talk about all of this and more with the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, Democratic Congressman Adam Smith of Washington State.

[18:10:03]

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

REP. ADAM SMITH (D), WASHINGTON: Thanks for having me, Wolf.

BLITZER: Let's first of all clear up what is going on in the South China Sea right now. I assume you have been briefed on this U.S. Navy destroyer that is now heading to these manmade islands that the Chinese have apparently built for military purposes.

Potentially, there could be some controversy or at least some exchange if it goes badly.

SMITH: Well, potentially, but I don't think it will rise to that.

We're merely trying to establish that these are international waters and anyone can travel in them, and to stop China from asserting a right to those waters that blocks others from having access to it. These are waters that have typically been, like I said, international, and we're going to establish that they still are.

Certainly, it's important for us to be able to travel freely in those areas, but it's even more important for the other countries in that region. So, we want to make sure it remains international waters.

BLITZER: Because the Chinese say these are their territorial waters and if you get too close to those islands, you're entering China.

SMITH: Right. Yes, and that is not the case. Under international law, they -- that's not part of China.

Now, that's a dispute, as you know. There is a number of different islands in that area. And South Korea and Vietnam and the Philippines and China and other countries dispute who owns what. But there are means for resolving that, short of simply asserting the authority by building islands and saying it's ours.

That's not the way international law works.

BLITZER: So, basically, what you're saying is the U.S. wants to make a point right now by sending this destroyer there and telling the Chinese that these are international waters, hoping the Chinese accept what the U.S. is saying.

SMITH: Yes. We want to resolve these disputes diplomatically, not through confrontation and not through just, we're bigger and stronger than you are, so we're just going to take them.

BLITZER: What do you make of these Russian moves now under the sea, potentially -- as you just heard Brian Todd report, and "The New York Times" reporting potentially could threaten these Internet cables, fiber-optics, if you will, that control so much of the world's communications, financial distribution as well?

SMITH: Well, I think the bigger threat -- I don't know what Russia's interest would be in sort of severing those communications.

The bigger threat is that they would tap them and that they would start getting intel and stealing phone calls or data that goes across those cables.

BLITZER: Can they do that? Do they have the capability of doing that?

SMITH: I don't know if Russia has that capability or not.

It's certainly something that is possible. It's something that we want to monitor. And it's another way, in our information age, to data-mine. It's another sort of cyber-threat to a certain extent that we will need to monitor and make sure that Russia isn't getting access to information that we don't want them to get access to.

BLITZER: But as far as you know, and I assume you're well-briefed, as the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, they have not tampered, certainly not destroyed any of those cables?

SMITH: Yes, as far as we know. They certainly haven't destroyed them.

It might be a little bit more difficult to figure out if they have tapped them, but, as of right now, I'm not aware of any information that says that they have.

BLITZER: Congressman Smith, stand by. We have more to discuss, including what is going on in Iraq now, Russia's latest moves and discussions potentially in the works bringing Iran into the negotiations to deal with the future of Syria as well.

Stay with us.

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[18:17:59]

BLITZER: We're back with the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, Democratic Congressman Adam Smith of Washington State.

We're going to be talking about the chaos unfolding right now in Iraq, in Syria. The situation clearly has deteriorated. It's a subject, the subject of Iraq, of a Fareed Zakaria special report that airs tonight. It's called "Long Road to Hell: America in Iraq."

In that documentary, the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is among those interviewed.

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FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN WORLD AFFAIRS ANALYST: When people look at the rise of ISIS, many people point to the invasion of Iraq as the principal cause. What do you say to that?

TONY BLAIR, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I think there are elements of truth in that, but I think we have again got to be extremely careful. Otherwise, we will misunderstand what is going on in Iraq and I Syria today.

Of course, you can't say that those of us who removed Saddam Hussein in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015. But it's important also to realize, one, that the Arab Spring, which began in 2011, would also have had its impact on Iraq today, and, two, ISIS actually came to prominence from a base in Syria and not in Iraq.

And that leads me to the broader point, which I think is so essential when we're looking at policy today, which is we have tried intervention and putting down troops in Iraq. We have tried intervention without putting in troops in Libya.

And we have tried no intervention at all, but demanding regime change in Syria. It's not clear to me that, even if our policy did not work, subsequent policies have worked better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You can see Fareed's report later tonight, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, "Long Road to Hell: America in Iraq."

Let's bring back Democratic Congressman Smith, who is the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee.

He says ISIS was formed in Syria. It was really formed in Iraq. There was al Qaeda in Iraq, which eventually became ISIS, which, of course, has caused this disaster. It now controls Mosul, the second largest city, and so many other chunks of Iraq right now. It's a real disaster, what's going on.

[18:20:05]

SMITH: Absolutely.

And the problem is much broader than that. The problem is all of these different violent extremist groups, al Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab, Ansar al-Sharia in Libya. The problem is a broad ideology that has many, many different tentacles.

And it's defeating that overall ideology, working with our Muslim partners, the moderate Muslims, to find an alternative to these groups, which unfortunately are spreading.

BLITZER: You agree with Donald Trump, who says -- he told our Jake Tapper...

SMITH: I find it hard to believe that the answer to this question to is going to be yes, but go ahead.

(LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: Well, let me ask you if you agree with him, because he said yesterday on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" the region, the world would be better off if Saddam Hussein was still in power in Iraq and Moammar Gadhafi was still in power in Libya.

SMITH: Yes, I think he's probably wrong about that, because I think, as Former Prime Minister Tony Blair pointed out, the Arab Spring in 2011 would have touched both of those places.

And I don't know that -- Moammar Gadhafi would be in the midst of a civil war. Assad is still in power in Syria. Is Syria better off than Iraq or Libya?

BLITZER: Should the U.S. bring Iran into these negotiations try to find some solution in Syria right now, Iran very close to the Bashar al-Assad regime, which has been so brutal over these past four years?

SMITH: I would have to hear the argument and I would have to hear exactly where those negotiations were going.

But I will be honest. My instinct is yes. Iran is a major player in that region. They have been, you know, the closest ally Assad had for years. They are obviously close with Hezbollah, who is fighting in Syria. You know, I don't know how you reach any sort of solution that Iran is on the outside of.

BLITZER: You bring Iran in, you bring Russia in. The Saudis will get nervous about Iran coming in, as you well know.

SMITH: Yes, no, I understand that. But the Saudis should also be nervous about the rise of ISIS and the rise of extremist groups in Syria and Iraq.

BLITZER: Congressman Smith, thanks very much for coming in.

SMITH: Thank you, Wolf.

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