CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript: SEALs Yemen Rescue Mission

Interview

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WHITFIELD: All right, we now know the make-up of the new U.S. Senate. The last democratic senator from the deep south, Louisiana's Mary Landrieu just lost her bid for a fourth term in a runoff against Republican congressman Bill Cassidy. Cassidy's win gives the Republican a 54 seat majority in the Senate when the new Congress begin in January.

All right. And now to the battle against terror and the United States policy to rescue American hostages when possible even if the rescue is high. And there were plenty of risk involved with private mission to rescue American photo journalist Luke Somers And South Africa Pierre Korkie from an Al-Qaeda compound in Yemen.

A group of about 40 special force commandos hiked six miles from their drop off point to the compound, but as they approached the compound, a firefight broke out. And one of the militants killed Somers and Korkie.

Joining me now from Los Angeles is Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff of California, member of the house permanent select committee on intelligence.

Good to see you, Congressman.

REP, ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: Do you think the right call was made by the president to order this mission at that point?

SCHIFF: I do think it was the right call. And I also think it was very courageous call. In many respects, SEALS are the victim of their own success. They have done this operation so well and so flawlessly that Americans have come to expect that everyone will be successful. And I think we have to understand the extraordinary risks involved in an operation like this when you can have helicopters problems. (INAUDIBLE) go down. You can have enormous firefights. We could have lost many Navy SEALS so we could have had people taken hostage. If you look back at the Iranian hostage effort, the rescue effort there, which was a catastrophic failure, it has to be in every president's mind that this could go terribly wrong.

So it is a courageous thing to do and a terrible lost in terms of the killing of these hostages. But I think was the right decision. We obviously had good intelligence on the hostages' location, and we had good reason to believe that we didn't act now, that their lives would be taken.

WHITFIELD: I talked with former Navy SEAL yesterday who said even though the hostages were killed in this operation, no mission of this caliber is a failure, but in your view is this considered a failure because the hostages were not taken home alive.

SCHIFF: Well, it is certainly didn't have the result that we wanted. We would love, obviously, to be able to rescue this hostages and preserve their lives. But I think it was the right decision to make whether we label it as a success or failure is less important to me that that we tried to rescue Americans that were at risk. And the loss of this American, the loss of this South African are terrible tragedies, but it was the right call, and I'm proud the president made it, notwithstanding all the risks that it entailed. And I'm very proud of the personnel of those Navy SEALS that went to such great lengths and heroic effort to rescue this American.

WHITFIELD: How much do you suppose the intelligence committee will ever know about this operation as to discern what could be done differently next time for a different outcome?

SCHIFF: Well, we'll learn a lot, you know, potentially about what may have tipped off the militants, but you have to think that given we tried to rescue them once, given that they said they would kill the American on Saturday, those militants had to be on high alert so we knew that we would probably not have a element of surprise that they would probable well fortified. There is no way to make this operation risk-free. And I think we just simply have to accept that there is a risk that they will not be successful, a risk not only to the hostages, but to our own personnel, but the president made the call. The tough call it was. That it was worth the risk, and I think he was exactly right.

WHITFIELD: Some countries like France, even Italy, and we understand South Africa was also negotiating with these hostage takers, and some countries are willing to pay ransoms in exchange for their citizens to come home. Would this be a situation which the U.S. would ever reconsider its policy against doing that?

SCHIFF: I wouldn't say that we would never reconsider, but I don't think we should change policy in terms of paying ransoms. So I think you end up just funding other hostage taking and the cycle just perpetuates itself, so I think our decision is the right one. Rather, try to rescue our hostages than pay ransoms, and, of course, prospectively trying to keep our people out of harm's way. I think that is really the right policy, as painful as it is, and as enormously agonizing as it is for the families of these hostages. I think it's the right policy for the country.

WHITFIELD: All right. Congressman Schiff, don't go away. We have more to talk about. Six more detainees have been released from Guantanamo bay. Is it a good idea? We'll talk about that next.

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WHITFIELD: Six long-time detainees have been released from Guantanamo Bay. Four Syrians, one Tunisian, and one Palestinians arriving overnight in Uruguay, and they're now undergoing medical evaluations. The United Nations will eventually return them to their home countries.

Republican Congressman Mike Rogers says it's short-sighted to set some of these people free.

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REP. MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN: I mean, I have been opposed to this notion that we're going to farm out Gitmo to places. By the way, a lot of them aren't from Uruguay. They're from all over the rest of the world. And some of these intelligence services who do these agreements about agreeing to watch them or monitor them can't do it.

What we have found in the past is it doesn't work very well. I don't think that surprises anybody. So I argue that maybe we ought to rethink what we're doing here.

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WHITFIELD: All right, back now with Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff of California.

So Congressman, do you agree with Congressman Rogers?

SCHIFF: Well, I agree that there are risks, but I don't agree with them that we should keep Guantanamo open indefinitely. And the problem I have with the critics of the president's actions is they don't offer any alternative. We have to recognize not only a military struggle with Al-Qaeda and with ISIS, but also an idealogical war. And Guantanamo is a real setback for the United States in that idealogical fight, in that battle over ideas. Ultimately, we're not going to be able to kill our way out of this struggle. We have to defeat the underpinnings, that narrative, the ideology of Al Qaeda and ISIS. And so, Guantanamo really does need to be closed.

I do have a concern here that Uruguay isn't going to maintain any kind of monitoring these people, doesn't seem to have any intention of putting them through any kind of rehabilitation. That is something we have accomplished with other countries, and that does concern me, but at the end of the day we can't keep this place open forever. But because Uruguay doesn't appear ready to do very much, that will fall -- that obligation will fall on our intelligence agencies, which are already strained, I think, under a lot of the burdens they have. So I do have concerns about it, but at the end of the day Guantanamo really needs to be closed.

WHITFIELD: And as it pertains to these six clear to leave Gitmo, they got the clearance back in 2010, and almost a year ago Uruguay said it would take them. So what did take so long?

SCHIFF: I think there were a couple of things I think Secretary Hagel had some continued concerns over it. That he wanted to make sure that he was satisfied that he could sign on the dotted line. It's his name on those release forms. But also there was an election taking place in Uruguay. And I think that the president who agreed to accept these detainees didn't want it to be an issue in the presidential campaign, and so it was stayed until after that election was over. His successor has also approved the transfer, so that's why it has gone for, but it's also why it took so long.

WHITFIELD: OK. And then the Senate intelligence committee is getting a lot of pushback on its investigation into harsh CIA interrogation techniques, including you know, sleep deprivation, water boarding, you know, tight confinement. All of those things. And some are actually in the belief that, you know, releasing this kind of information will insight more violence against Americans, even secretary of state John Kerry says, you know, quote-unquote "consider the timing." So where do you stand on the release of this kind of information?

SCHIFF: I think the report has to be released, and I certainly think that the secretary and Senator Feinstein should discuss the timing. It's hard for me to comment explicitly on the timing without having an opportunity to read the report.

WHITFIELD: So why in your view should it be released?

SCHIFF: I think it has to be released as a part of our coming clean with our own country about what was done in our name, and as a way to make sure that we don't engage in those practices again. There are risks --

WHITFIELD: Does it also mean in potentially jeopardizing the safety of Americans, especially overseas?

SCHIFF: It does mean that there will be risks, risks to our facilities, risks to allied nations that are working with us because they will face the prospect of terrorist attacks on them as well as a reaction from the domestic public. And there are going to be risks to Americans that are held hostage now or maybe held hostage in the future that they may be treated with the same water boarding that will be revealed in this report. But I think that's a far more compelling argument not to engage in these practices like in hands interrogation or torture rather than trying to conceal the results of this report.

So I think it really needs to be as a part of our democratic process as a part of coming clean with our own country released, but I do think that we ought to make sure that not only our facilities are well prepared, but also that our allies are well prepared because the biggest fall-out may take place in those nations that may not be specifically identified but there will be a lot of smooth thing done to figure out where these sites were who is complicit.

WHITFIELD: We will leave it right there. Thank you so much, Congressman Schiff. Good to see you this Sunday. Appreciate it.

SCHIFF: Thank you.

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