CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript: Iraq

Interview

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Congressman Adam Schiff of California is a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, welcome back.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: Thank you. Good to be with you.

BALDWIN: So, Congressman, you are a Democrat. And you say that President Obama should not do anything until he gets your permission, congressional permission. Tell me why.

SCHIFF: Well, if the president has in mind to embark on a broad-scale military or air campaign in Syria, I think he will really need to come to Congress and seek our authorization. If this is something different, if there's another rescue attempt or

there's a very immediate threat, that's probably something he could act on under Article 2. But if the idea is to degrade ISIS through airstrikes, that is going to be a sustained effort and, frankly, it's one I'm skeptical about, because we don't have the same air -- we don't have the same ground infrastructure in Syria that we do in Iraq.

We don't have Peshmerga to work with. We don't have an Iraqi government to work with. We have a hostile Assad regime and we have a -- just a toxic brew of militants in Syria right now.

BALDWIN: I was going to get to the trust or maybe lack there of with some of these rebels in Syria.

But you mentioned a minute ago if there is an imminent threat, then it would be OK for the president to take action. Define imminent for me.

SCHIFF: Well, if, for example, we knew that there was a cell in Syria that was mounting an attack on our homeland, that plan was far advanced and they are essentially ready to pull the trigger on it, that's something you would expect the commander in chief to act on that without trying to convene the Congress and go through a lengthy debate about what an authorization would like.

That's well within his Article 2 power. But that doesn't sound like what we are talking about here. I think what the president will be discussing with the Security Council is, what are the military targets, what could we hit, what would be the impact, would will happen after?

And these are all going to be very hard questions in terms of making the case for airstrikes, because, right now, you have got ISIS fighting al Qaeda, the al-Nusra Front, the official al Qaeda franchise, who is fighting Hezbollah, who is fighting the Assad regime.

And so if we displace ISIS from a particular military site, who takes that over? Is that taken over by al-Nusra? And, if so, is that really of any benefit to us?

BALDWIN: How much confidence do you have in the rebels in Syria? Because it is one thing with all of the U.S.' knowledge fighting on the ground in Iraq, confidence in the Kurds. It's a much different game in Syria, is it not?

SCHIFF: It is. You are exactly right.

And I don't have much confidence. The rebel coalition, the so-called moderate rebels, many of them are not the least bit moderate. And none of them are really cohesive. So, they don't have the kind of staying power or organization that the Peshmerga or even the Iraqi forces have, which makes it a real problem and part of the reason why it has been difficult to vet opposition, because the opposition continues to shift in alliances and some who are fighting with al- Nusra may be fighting with ISIS tomorrow and some that may be fighting with so-called rebel forces may be fighting with al-Nusra next week. It is very difficult to pick a credible military force to work with there.

BALDWIN: Congressman Schiff, let me actually -- let me just take a step back, because it seems that action, we are talking about this national security meeting in the White House in an hour, seems like that has really picked up since the beheading of American journalist James Foley.

But as we all know and you specially on the Intel Committee know, ISIS has been growing and seizing territory over the course of the last, what, six months. Was it James Foley's death that served as a catalyst to finally act militarily?

SCHIFF: I think it has been the catalyst. And I don't know whether it will be a catalyst ultimately to different military action. But I think, initially, it was this threat to the Kurds and Erbil and some of our personnel there.

It was that humanitarian crisis with the Yazidis. And then you add to it this gruesome execution. I think all of those things have mobilized the White House into looking at these options. But, at the same time, while these strikes in Iraq have been effective, the situation in Iraq is very different than Syria.

And I think, as the military leaders have warned about Syria, airstrikes alone, pinpoint strikes alone, we might be able to take out some of the military vehicles. We may or may not be able to take out some of the leadership, but that is not going to be any kind of a mid- or long-term solution.

BALDWIN: It's not enough.

SCHIFF: Not at all. Not at all.

BALDWIN: OK.

Congressman Adam Schiff, thank you so much. Come back. We appreciate you coming on very much.

SCHIFF: Thank you.

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