CNN "The Situation Room" Transcript: Middle East

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you very much.

I want to talk about all of this with Democratic Congressman Adam Smith of Washington state. He's the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman, I also want to start by showing our viewers these pictures. These are live pictures, protesters on the streets of Chicago right now, the protesters reacting to that very disturbing dash-cam police video showing white police officers shooting a young black teenager, that police officer now charged with first-degree murder.

We're going to keep showing our viewers these images on their screens.

But let's talk about this very disturbing situation, what is going on in the world right now, even as we show some of these pictures from the streets of Chicago.

Congressman, the president, President Obama, as you know, announced today the U.S. knows, in his words, of no specific credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland. But there was no specific threat apparently warning Paris officials of the terror attacks there.

Was the president being overly careful in his language because U.S. officials don't necessarily have 100 percent confidence in the intelligence they're receiving?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D), WASHINGTON: Well, you will never have 100 percent confidence in what is going on.

But I think what the president was doing was reassuring the American people that there is no specific threat. And there have been times certainly since 9/11 when we had specific threat warnings for one reason or another. And we don't have that now.

As you point out, that's not a 100 percent guarantee. You know, ISIS is trying to motivate people in a variety of different ways. Many of these people will simply act on their own, so there would be no specific warning. We have to be very, very vigilant in tracking down anybody who could potentially threaten us.

But I think the president put it in the proper perspective. We can't live in fear every second of an attack. Our intelligence agencies, the FBI, people are working very, very hard to prevent these, and, knock on wood, have done reasonably well for the last 10, 15 years. So, I think the president was just trying to put the threat in perspective.

BLITZER: In the president's statement today, he said, we're going after ISIL, or ISIS, wherever it hides. That's been our strategy for more than a year.

How is that strategy working out so far?

SMITH: Well, it's very difficult.

I think that strategy is probably the best approach. But, look, this ideology with Da'esh, with al Qaeda, with Ansar al-Sharia, with Al- Shabaab, with the groups in Yemen, it's spread and it's hard to keep track of. In some ways, al Qaeda, as Osama bin Laden built it, was an easier target, because they built a hierarchy, they built a structure.

If we could figure out that structure, if we could figure out that network, we could go in and break it down, which under the Bush presidency and under the Obama presidency we did a fairly good job of.

What's happened now with the ideology is, it's spread. And a lot of these people are self-motivated. It's also metastasized in terms of the organization. So, it is very, very difficult and it's going to take a lot of vigilance. And ultimately what it's going to take is defeat of the overall ideology, not any one group.

BLITZER: And, very quickly, yesterday, I spoke with one of your Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives, Democratic Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, an Iraq War veteran, served four tours of duty there.

And he told me bluntly, even though he's a Democrat, he says he doesn't think the administration, the Obama administration, in his words, has a serious enough political strategy right now. He doesn't even think they have a strategy for all practical purposes, given what's going on, on the ground. What do you say to Seth Moulton?

SMITH: Yes, well, I think Representative Moulton raises a descent issue.

Look, the president himself a year ago -- or I forget when -- said in a press conference, we don't have a strategy yet. And I think that's unfortunate, because I think they should be much clearer into how they deliver what their strategy is. And that strategy is to go after Da'esh, to go after this group in Syria and Iraq. But I think the people who are calling for ground forces, that's not going to help. That's only going to fuel the fire. What we need is, we need to support moderate Sunnis in the region and we need to get reasonable governments in Baghdad and Damascus, so that the Sunnis don't feel like they are under attack.

So we have got to work with them on that. So, I agree with Representative Moulton that the White House could be much clearer, much more straightforward in what its strategy is. I actually think they have a better strategy than what they frequently describe to the media.

BLITZER: The president said we're going to hearing a lot more about his strategy in the coming weeks. We're anxious to hear that, obviously.

Congressman, stand by. I also want to talk about these tensions between our NATO ally Turkey and what is going on with Russia.

These are live pictures, by the way, of protesters on the streets of Chicago right now, so far peaceful protests. Let's hope they stay that way.

We will have more on what is going on in the region, in the Middle East, what is happening in Chicago when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The breaking news, take a look at this, live pictures coming in from Chicago, protesters taking to the streets there. The city is on edge tonight, following the release of that very dramatic dash-cam police video, which shows the killing of a black teenager by a white police officer.

That police officer has been charged with first-degree murder.

We're going to continue to monitor what's happening on the streets of Chicago, so stay with us for that.

But we're also following other breaking news, the Turkish military releasing audio of what it says were 10 warnings to a Russian fighter jet that entered Turkish airspace. That jet eventually was taken down by Turkish warplanes, F-16s, in a move Russia says looks like it was a planned provocation.

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

I want to show you and our viewers some -- an animation of what happened along that Turkish-Syrian border as that Russian plane maneuvered. It actually went over a tiny little strip of Southern Turkey, this according to U.S. and Turkish officials, for maybe 17 seconds as it was maneuvering there.

It didn't take very long, two miles, if that, and then Turkey shot down that Russian Su-24. Was that justified to do that? Did Turkey do the right thing?

SMITH: Well, I don't know. We will have to get more facts to know if this was justified.

But this is part of a pattern from Russia. If this had been the first time that they had gone into Turkish airspace, I doubt this would have happened. But this has been going on for quite some time, and not just in Turkey. Russia has been flaunting international law. They have been -- they have been sending submarines into territorial waters. There have been many instances where they been buzzing U.S. aircraft, where they have sent their aircraft into airspace that is -- where they're not supposed to be.

And Putin has been trying basically to provoke and weakened NATO by going anywhere he wants to go. And so I think it's part of that pattern that led up to this. If this had been the first time that a Russian airplane had gone into Turkish airspace, I don't think you would have seen Turkey react this way.

But it's happened frequently. And Turkey has warned Russia about this. So, I think the response was basically because of all the incursions into Turkish airspace that Russia has done. And Russia needs to stop doing that, not just in Turkey, but in a lot of other places where they have been sending ships and/or airplanes into airspace where they shouldn't be.

BLITZER: As you know, those ethnic Turks in Syria, Turkmen, as they're called, allied with Turkey, they actually started firing machine guns as the two pilots ejected from that downed warplane and one of the pilots was killed.

This is considered to be, at least by some, a violation of international law, a war crime, if you will. And, by all accounts, Russia probably is going to go after those Turkmen, those ethnic Turks inside Syria. The Turkish government says they want to protect their fellow Turks in Syria.

This could escalate this crisis, couldn't it?

SMITH: Yes. No, it's a dangerous situation.

And keep in mind, independent of the violation of Turkish airspace, Turkey is backing rebels who want to remove Assad. Russia is trying protect Assad. So, Russia has been bombing these Turkish-backed rebels for some time. So, yes, there is the clear potential for a conflict here.

And I think it is really important that we try to work together to get on the same page. Russia says they are concerned about ISIL, though, to this point, mostly they have been bombing rebels that are not associated with ISIL. Mostly, Russia just wants to protect their interests in Syria. And

what we have to convince them is that Assad is not the solution to that. We need an alternative to President Assad. And we need to work with as many different groups as possible to get that alternative in place.

Now, it's going to be easy, but, yes, Russia and Turkey are not -- are on opposite sides of the conflict directly to the south of Turkey. And there is definitely a huge risk of escalation, given that reality.

BLITZER: You say the U.S. should consider partnering with Russia in Syria if Putin demonstrates his commitment first and foremost to fighting ISIS. Is that realistic, given his support for Bashar al- Assad's regime?

SMITH: Well, actually, the precondition is that Russia understands that Assad has to go, because, understand, the biggest thing in Syria that fuels ISIS is the presence of Assad.

As long as Assad, who is just -- you know, he has killed hundreds of thousands of his own people, he's a horrific leader, should not be in charge of that country -- as long as he is in power, that's part of what is -- that's the biggest thing that sends all of these foreign fighters to Syria to fight with ISIL.

So, Assad has to go for us to be able to ultimately defeat ISIL. And if Russia is in there simply trying to prop him up and protect him, they are perpetuating the problem of ISIL. And so we have got to work together to find an alternative to Assad if we are ever going to have a hope of defeating ISIL. And that's part of the larger issue of, what is the strategy?

We're fighting ISIL, but we're also fighting Assad and ISIL is fighting Assad. But to truly understand the situation, we have to know that, as long as Assad is in charge, we are not going to be able to defeat ISIL, because of what Assad represents to so much of the Muslim world.

BLITZER: A complicated, very dangerous and apparently escalating situation.

Congressman Adam Smith of Washington state, thanks for joining us.

SMITH: Thank you, Wolf. I appreciate the chance.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source