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Military Rescue Operation Leaves 1 U.S. Soldier Dead; Biggest Hurricane on Record Headed towards Mexico; Paul Ryan Officially Enters Race for House Speakership; Democrats Discussed Boycotting Benghazi Committee; Russia Accused of Hitting Syrian Hospital in Air Strike. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 23, 2015 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


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[13:31:17] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: There are now new details about a multi national military rescue operation in northern Iraq that left one American soldier dead. It is a story first reported by CNN. Today, the Department of Defense identified the serviceman killed as 39-year-old Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler of Oklahoma. He is survived by his wife and four sons and his grandmother and grandfather. And he was part of the Special Operations team that rescued 70 hostages from the ISIS-controlled prison yesterday. He was the first American soldier to die on Iraqi soil since 2011. And this brings up many questions about the role of the U.S. in Iraq.

And we are joined by our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, who is joining us from the Pentagon; and our CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona.

Jim, what is the latest being said there? Very sad news. The first U.S. troop to be directly engaged in combat on the ground in Iraq to have died.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: He is a member of the Delta Force, and the inarguably the most elite team in the U.S. military. I am told by people on the ground, they went in a train and advise and assist role, and they were behind commandos of the Kurdish soldiers, known as cobras, who entered this walled compound where captives were held. They came under fire. The commander on the ground, the U.S. commander, made the decision to come to the aid of their Kurdish partners. They entered the compound and the firefight. And was inside of that compound, Master Sergeant Wheeler, member of the Delta Force, was injured, shot first, and died later after being transported for medical care.

BLITZER: I read the release, Colonel, of the Special Operations command in which they said that "Sergeant Wheeler died from enemy gunfire while in combat near Huisa (ph), Iraq." The U.S. is supposedly not involved in combat in Iraq right now. The combat mission is over. It's supposed to be train and assist right now, but this is listed as combat. Is there a discrepancy here?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: No, this is nothing but combat. This is falling under the assist mission. When they went up there with the Kurds, they were to back them up, and that is what they did. This falls technically within the assist mission, but you cannot escape that these are young Americans in combat.

BLITZER: You can't escape it at all, and clearly, this was a major gun fire operation that was going on.

In terms of signing off on this mission, Jim, walk us through a little bit of how high the authority went.

SCIUTTO: Well, it is interesting, because yesterday, an announcement quickly from the White House saying that the president, himself, he did not sign off on this mission, although he was kept aware, including during his presidential daily brief, the briefing that he gets every morning with the latest intelligence. But they say he did not sign off on this specific mission. But it was Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, who is going to be briefing here at the Pentagon in a few minutes, who signed off on this. That is the protocol for a mission like this, because it falls under that train and advise and assist mission. It is not something new, something outside of that mission, where the president might have to pipe-in, but it does show, and to echo Rick's point, how quickly the advise and assist missions can become something very different, and become something if not close to combat as this started right in the middle of combat. And anybody who has seen it knows that when you are in a firefight that is a combat role even if it is called an assist role.

BLITZER: It is.

Colonel, I want you to listen to what the Pentagon press secretary, Peter Cook, said about this mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:35:08] PETER COOK, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: This is within the national security of the United States because it is a larger effort against ISIL and to support those partners who are in the fight with us and who have asked for our help in this unique situation in which the U.S. was able to provide specific assistance to further this operation. This was a successful operation, and regrettably, it did result in the loss of life for one U.S. servicemember.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And when he says, Colonel, a unique situation, and does that mean it is not going to be happening again? But it potentially could, obviously?

FRANCONA: Well, it could happen again. I think everybody is very concerned about mission creep where this becomes the norm rather than the exception. The fact that it went up to the secretary of defense indicates it was an exceptional circumstance. Normally, these decisions would be made at a much lower level. If they are out assisting in a mission, and they get into some fight in fighting, that is one thing, but this is an actual operation that the U.S. was involved in from takeoff to return.

BLITZER: Quickly --

(CROSSTALK)

FRANCONA: -- we have to be very careful with that.

BLITZER: And, Jim, quickly, what are they saying at the Pentagon about fears of mission creep?

SCIUTTO: Well, they are saying it is not mission creep, but it is part of the mission. It does show you that on missions like this, that involve assist, if a commander on the ground -- and I'm told those are the circumstance -- a commander on the ground made the decision when his partners came under fire to go in and enter that firefight, the rules of engagement allow that in certain circumstances. So if that is the case, and you have other train and assist missions like this going forward, you will always have that possibility. It may not happen every time, but you have that possibility, and the U.S. forces will be in danger, and in what anyone else would call combat in those circumstances.

BLITZER: And our deepest, deepest condolences to the family of Master Sergeant Joshua L. Wheeler. Our deepest condolences to that family.

An important note for viewers. "An American War in Iraq," don't miss Fareed Zakaria's special report, "Long Road to Hell." That will air Monday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern on CNN.

At least 43 people have died after a violent, fiery crash near Bordeaux in France. This is France's worst road accident in 30 years. It happened this morning when a truck and bus carrying elderly people collided head-on, on a narrow road and caught fire. Two victims inside the truck. One was believed to be the son of the driver. France's president called it a great tragedy and assured the victims of the tragedy's family they have, quote, the solidarity of the whole nation behind them."

Still ahead, an update on our top story, the strongest hurricane every reporter by the United States is about to bear down on Mexico. We'll show where it is and where landfall is expected.

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[13:42:23] BLITZER: We are following the breaking news. Patricia is the strongest hurricane ever recorded and hours away from making landfall along Mexico's Pacific coast. People there are told to the brace for the catastrophic landfall with 200-mile-an-hour winds and torrential rainfall up to 20 inches in some places. The storm's strength could fluctuate, but it is expected to remain a category 5 once it hits land later today. And it's expected to hit some of Mexico's most popular tourist spots, including Puerto Vallarta, where the flights in and out have been suspended.

We are joined by Jennifer Gray from the National Weather Center.

Jennifer, show us the possible trajectory here of the hurricane. JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is starting to wobble to the

east and the West, but these storms do that and it has winds of 200 miles per hour, and gusts of 245 miles per hour, and this is the strongest storm the national weather center has ever had to deal with. They have never put 200-mile-an-hour winds on an advisory, and they had to do it today. This storm as you said could make landfall category 5, and strong category 4. This is a fastest that a storm has ever intensified to this magnitude, and once it makes landfall, it will weaken considerably. We have mountainous terrain here in Mexico, and that is going to shred the storm. And the forecast as we go forward, 160 to 200-mile-an-hour wind gusts easily. And at the eye of the storm, we will see 150 to 175-mile-an-hour winds as it travels inward, we will see the winds die down as we go into Saturday and Sunday. The moisture will be pumped in through portions of Mexico, and the forecasts we could see 15 to 20 inches of rain along the coast, and the storm surge is a huge concern as well. Let me show you here on the floor, that we could see record-setting storm surge with the storm. To put it in perspective, Katrina had 27 feet of storm surge, Wolf, and when you add that on top of that rain that is going to be falling down the mountain mountains, it is going to be a major flooding concern, and not only that, but the winds are going to be a huge concern as well -- Wolf?

[13:44:56] BLITZER: I hope that all of the folks are going to be OK over there.

Thank you so much, Jennifer Gray. We will stay on top of the breaking news.

Other news that we are following, Congressman Paul Ryan's hat in the ring to replace John Boehner as speaker of the House. Ryan telling fellow conservatives let's start over, but will it work? Stand by.

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[13:59:42]BLITZER: Paul Ryan has officially entered the race to become the next speaker of the House. Paul Ryan released this statement, quote, "I never thought I would be speaker, but I pledge to you that if I could be a unifying figure, I would serve, I would go all in."

The one-time vice presidential nominee made the statement after winning the support of three separate GOP factions. He has secured enough votes to be voted the speaker of the House when the full House votes next week.

Joining us now with more on what's going on, our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash.

This was certainly not an easy decision for Paul Ryan, but he has enough of the 247 Republicans to get many more votes than the 218 he'll need on the House floor.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is one rare situation when you have one of the most important jobs in the country that somebody doesn't want, still doesn't want, but is going to do reluctantly. He said very strict conditions. We have been reporting it all week. He actually was even a bit surprised that those conditions were met, in particular, by the conservative Freedom Caucus that helped push out John Boehner and helped make sure that Kevin McCarthy didn't get the votes to succeed. They voted to say at least enough of them were going to support him that he didn't really have a choice. We'll have the official vote next week, but it's all but sure he's going to be the next speaker.

BLITZER: The other Republicans that were running, like Daniel Webster, Republican of Florida, is he going to drop out?

BASH: We haven't gotten word officially that he's dropped out. There are a couple members of the Freedom Caucus that are not thrilled with Paul Ryan and still say they back Daniel Webster. So he might be a nominee. We have seen a lot of crazy things with house Republicans over the past couple weeks. It looks like he's got the votes.

BLITZER: The Benghazi hearing, there are seven Republicans, the majority on that committee, five Democrats. Some of those Democrats going into the hearing yesterday, that Hillary Clinton testimony, threatened to boycott after the hearing because they said it was so partisan, simply a political witch hunt. You're getting new information on what the Democrats plan on doing.

BASH: They had a meeting with the Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi. Deidra Walsh (ph), our congressional producer, and I have gotten some sources to tell us that they are going to officially say that they are not going to boycott. They are going to stay in this at least for now, maybe leave the door open a little bit to down the road say we're not going to take this road all the way down until there's a final report, because who knows how long that's going to last. I think Adam Schiff was threatening to boycott last night, but in the hearing he said he didn't want Democrats to participate in the first place, but now he sees politically how important it was for Democrats to be there to have Hillary Clinton's back.

Let me tell you, they should be sending the Republicans on that committee roses, this morning, because it made their candidate for president look is so good. I'm not just saying that as an analyst. I have heard a lot of Republicans say that as well.

BLITZER: Some Democratic supporters of Hillary Clinton are thanking Trey Gowdy, the committee chairman, saying he gave Hillary Clinton an in-kind contribution to her campaign by holding that hearing, which she emerged in strong shape.

Dana, thank you for that.

BASH: Thank you.

BLITZER: Still ahead, chilling video of a deadly air strike on a Syrian hospital. The group that took the video claims they were targeted by Russian jets. Russia says it would not go after civilians in Syria. We'll have details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:57:33] BLITZER: A Syrian humanitarian organization has posted video of what it says is the aftermath of the city. The video shows the impact of the second of what appears to be two strikes on a hospital. The organization running the hospital, the Syrian-American Medical Society, says the strikes were launched by Russian war planes. Russia denies the claims and says they are not targeting civilians in their strikes on Syria.

We should warn you, the images you're about to see may be disturbing to some viewers.

Nick Paton Walsh reports.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Warplanes has just struck and missed in rebel Idlib. Aide workers are out and say, run, the plane is coming back.

(EXPLOSION)

PATON WALSH: This aide worker from the Syrian Civil Defense Unit runs inside the hospital. One of his colleagues dead. Five injured. A dozen total dead.

The Syrian-American Medical Association, who run this hospital, told CNN it was targeted by Russian jets in, quote, "a double-tap," one strike and another, to catch the first responders.

Russia denies targeting civilians.

"In the first attack," this local man says, "thank god there were no injuries." Then, the warplane turned around and, that time, all of the people were gathered and it shot two missiles again."

It is the third report of hospitals hit in the offensive in and around Aleppo in the week.

Not far west of Aleppo, the same rescue group find what they say is an unexploded cluster bomb, markings visible.

Russia denied using cluster munitions.

But two appeared to crash through this roof, into this home, making the holes beneath this boy's feet.

"It came and hit, for the first time," he says. "The warplane shot a missile that had cluster bombs. It came on to us. None of us were injured. But our neighbor was injured. And two women were killed."

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, southern Turkey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thanks, Nick, for that report.

That's it for me. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. in "The Situation Room."

The news continues next on CNN.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[14:00:12] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go. Top of the hour.