CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Interview

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TAPPER: All right, Pamela Brown, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Joining me now are Congressman Adam Kinzinger, Republican from Illinois -- and he's a member of the House Committee of Foreign Affairs -- and Congressman Adam Schiff, Democrat from California. He's a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence.

Gentlemen, thanks for being here. Appreciate it.

I want to start by asking each of you what you want to hear from President Obama when he lays out his strategy to fight ISIS on Wednesday. He's going to lay out that strategy.

Congressman?

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: I think it just needs to be a very clear, concise, here's what the threat is, here's what we're dealing with. If we don't act, here is what we're going to potentially see in the Middle East.

This is why it's in America's interest not just to protect us even within our shores, but to protect our allies overseas and our interests overseas, and then a clear and concise plan about how we're going to achieve that.

One of the areas I have been critical of the president is seemingly his inability or lack of desire to try to sell this to the American public. The American public naturally does not like to go to war, does not like to go to any kind of conflict. And they need a strong commander in chief to come out and make that sale.

I like what I'm hearing so far. And if he can continue to make that, and repeatedly, it's probably going to be every week or so he's going to have to come out and make this kind of a pitch, then I think it will be successful.

TAPPER: Congressman, what do you want to hear?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: I would like to have him lay out why this is a threat to the American people, why we have to act, and what we're going to be asking our allies to do.

But I would go beyond that. I would like to hear him say that he is going to come to the Congress, that he wants the representatives of the people to buy into this, and that he's going to ask for an authorization to use force. In particular, now that he says he wants to go on the offensive, as indeed we should, I think it really requires congressional authorization.

We're going beyond the protection of the American people. We're going beyond these humanitarian crises, and it's really necessary I think for Congress to act.

TAPPER: President Obama has been cautious so far in how he's talked about going after ISIS.

There's new reporting that you heard from Pamela Brown about how we're closer now to identifying who beheaded James Foley. You're in the House Intelligence Committee. I don't know if there's anything you can tell us about that. But are you at all concerned that there still seems so little that we know about these people in ISIS while we're about to, you're about to vote and debate whether or not we take military action against them?

SCHIFF: Well, there's nothing I can say specifically today.

But, obviously, we want to identify and I think we're getting very close, who is immediately responsible. But the reality is, all of ISIS is responsible. These people are not acting on their own. And probably the most significant part of this is not the identification of these people -- we're ultimately going to bring them to justice -- but rather the fact that these are foreigners.

These are part of those -- that threat to the United States and Europe that may come back to our shores. And I think it's highlighted not only to Americans, but to Britons and others, that this is the preeminent threat, which is these people are going to come back one day, they're going to try to come back one day, they're going to try to make attacks on our shores.

And that's a problem that's going to be with us for probably the next 10 years.

TAPPER: Congressman, you have been critical of President Obama for saying that boots on the ground is not on the table. Six in 10 Americans in our new poll do not want boots on the ground. What's your message to them, a majority of the American people who agree with President Obama, no boots on the ground?

KINZINGER: I don't want boots on the ground either.

I think we can accomplish this without it, using the Iraq military, the Peshmerga, the Free Syrian Army as our boots on the ground, similar to what was done at the very beginning of the war in Afghanistan that was so successful.

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TAPPER: You're saying the beginning was successful?

KINZINGER: The beginning,right.

So, I think it's something that can be done that way. But the point is, you never take off the table -- you never say what you're unwilling to do, because you take the psychological effect off the table. The American people understand, for instance, that we're going to have to have special forces on the ground. And they're very good at it. And they're really good at what they do.

Does that qualify as boots on the ground? It's kind of a nebulous term. I think nobody wants to have 100,000 American troops in Iraq and Syria again. But the idea that you continually tell your enemy what you're not willing to do is just bad strategy.

And so that's where I have been critical. Again, I would not want to see him introduce large American ground forces right now. But let's be very clear that the goal here is the destruction of ISIS. And we're going to do what we have to do to destroy them, including whatever it takes.

TAPPER: Congressman, again, as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, 71 percent of the American people believe that there are members of ISIS in the United States ready to carry out attacks. Are they wrong?

SCHIFF: Well, I think that that perception is wrong.

I don't think there are cells operating in the United States. But I think the American people is right to be concerned with the fact that it's not difficult to mount these domestic attacks. And the threat may come from people who are self-radicalized, that identify with ISIS because they have looked at the propaganda online.

If you look at the Boston Marathon bombers, they showed what you can do with a very low-tech explosive. You can cause a lot of mayhem. So, Americans are right to be concerned about that. But I think we have to be very careful not to let that concern, not to let the provocation of these horrible executions force us to do things that are not in our interest to do. I would say one thing. I do take some issue with Adam's comments, in

the sense that it's also important for the president to talk to the American people. The American people don't want another major occupation of another Muslim country. And to get support for what the president wants to do, he needs to, I think, make sure the American people are comfortable with what he's not prepared to do as well.

TAPPER: Congressman Adam Schiff, Congressman Adam Kinzinger, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

KINZINGER: Thank you.

SCHIFF: Thank you.

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