CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Interview

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BLITZER: We're following the breaking news. Just a little while ago, President Obama said he'll keep consulting with Congress about U.S. military action against ISIS and but in the president's words, and I'm quoting the president now, "We don't have a strategy yet." White house officials later clarified that the president meant a

military strategy for strikes on ISIS in Syria. White House officials say they do have a strategy for dealing with ISIS in Iraq.

With us now the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Representative Adam Smith, he's joining us from Seattle.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us. Were you alarmed when you heard the president say we don't have a strategy yet?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Well, I think what he was talking about was specifically Syria. I think the real issue there is finding a partner to work with. I mean what gave us a good strategy in Iraq was, where we had the Kurds to work with and then once Maliki was removed as prime minister and they brought in a new prime minister that could give the Sunnis in Iraq some hope of a power sharing arrangement, we had someone to work with.

U.S. military might alone is not going to contain ISIS. We are going to need partners locally and who is that partner in Syria right now? Do we really want to come in on Assad's side? I don't think we do. So we need to find partners that we can work with in Syria to help us contain ISIS. And I think that's what the president's point of view.

That's the vexing problem. ISIL is a grave, grave threat. But we certainly don't want to come in a way -- in a way that is supportive of the brutal and illegitimate Assad regime in Syria. So it is a difficult problem to figure out what the best strategy is.

I mean, I agree, they have safe haven there in parts of Syria and that will have to be part of the strategy for containing ISIL. It's just -- it's just not an easy problem to deal with.

BLITZER: So if the president does decide after consultations with his military advisors and others, members of Congress, to go ahead and launch airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria, would you support that?

SMITH: I can conceive of supporting that, yes, because I do agree with Congressman Rogers and others who have talked about the grave threat that ISIS presents. They are a rising terrorist organization. They have already, you know, as we know, killed one American brutally and savagely. They have threatened attacks on U.S. interests and European interests probably. They are a threat that needs to be contained. I mean, if part of containing that threat involves striking them in Syria, then that's something I think we would have to do.

But I'll tell you, most important thing here is, we need allies in the region to help us contain that threat. We cannot come in unilaterally and simply through U.S. military might stop this. We need moderates in that region to confront ISIS and we need to build the political support to do this. This is not going to be just a military solution.

BLITZER: What about arming that so-called Free Syrian Amy, the moderate rebel who oppose Bashar al-Assad's regime? Will you support that?

SMITH: Absolutely, yes. As you know, we've been working with them for some time. The president has now proposed a Department of Defense mission to -- you know, train and equip. I think we should be supporting the Free Syria Movement in any way we can. Because like I said, we need moderates, we need people we can work with and support wherever we can find them. I know some have said, well, gosh, you know, supporting the Free Syria Movement wouldn't necessarily be decisive.

It wouldn't empower them to remove the Assad regime. But that's not the only goal. Part of the goal is we need friends in that region. We need reasonable people to work with. Certainly the Assad regime is not that. Certainly al-Nusra is not that and ISIS is not that. So the Free Syria Movement may be the only game in town for us finding those reasonable partners that we need to work with.

And we have to strengthen them not so much so that they can win but so that they can survive and maintain some territory to give us a partner to work with.

BLITZER: But you know there are widespread reports and there's confirmation even from elements of the Free Syrian Army that they are cooperating with al-Nusra, especially in the southern part of Iraq right now and that if U.S. arms go to the Free Syrian Army, the moderate element, there's no guarantee they won't wind up in the hands of al-Nusra.

How worried are you about that?

SMITH: That's true. There is no guarantee on that issue. But two pieces to that. First of all, al-Nusra and ISIS are very, very well-armed. They have found weapons all over the place. Second of all, we know that if we don't help the Free Syria Movement, they're going to have a difficult time surviving.

Now we have to try to be as careful as we can about who we support within that movement. We shouldn't be supporting ones who are collaborating with Nusra or ISIS. But if there are moderate elements in there that we can support and there have been, you know, some that we have supported we should seek them out and support them.

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BLITZER: There certainly are moderate elements --

SMITH: There's no strategy here, Wolf.

BLITZER: There certainly are moderate elements. The only question is, are they strong enough to protect those weapons if the U.S. were to provide them with those weapons because you saw a lot of U.S. military hardware provided even to the Iraqi military several hundred thousand forces who simply abandoned all that weaponry in the face of some challenge from ISIS. And there's deep concern you arm the Free Syrian Army, those weapons are going to wind up in the hands of al-Nusra, a group the U.S. State Department regards as a terrorist organization.

SMITH: Well, there is no such thing, Wolf, as a no risk strategy in this region. There is no scenario you can put out there. No approach that we could take that doesn't contain risk. It's a matter of taking the right risk and balancing those risks to make the best choice. And if we're ever going to have any hope of dealing with Syria, we need to build some partnerships in Syria with somebody, have somebody that we can work with.

So, yes, there's risk contained in that strategy but we can't afford to have no friends at all in Syria if we hope to contain the threat that's coming out of ISIS.

BLITZER: Congressman Adam Smith is member of the House Armed Services Committee, the Ranking Member, I should say.

Thanks very much, Congressman, for joining us.

SMITH: Thank you, Wolf.

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