CNN "Wolf" - Transcript: Middle East
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Let's get more now on what's going on with these radical Islamist terror groups like ISIS, al Shabaab. Is there really a threat also that they could affect the states? Just a little while ago, the House Foreign Affairs Committee finished a hearing to examine what the Obama administration is doing to counter the threat.
Let's talk about all this with the chair of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Congresswoman, thank you for joining us.
REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, (R-FL), CHAIR, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA SUBCOMMITTEE: Thanks, Wolf. Thank you.
BLITZER: You heard that report from Nima Elbagir. Al Shabaab, they go ahead and divide these people into two groups, Christians and Muslims, then they go ahead and execute the Christians. It's shocking. What can the United States do about this?
ROS-LEHTINEN: It is shocking. It's horrific. It's grotesque. It's barbaric. Terrible crimes that have happened in the not-so-distant past in the world. These Islamic terror groups will stop at nothing to establish their extremist caliphate throughout the world. They will accept nothing other than their hateful ideology as a sign of true Islam, which is a perversion. And it doesn't matter what form it takes. Whether it's al Shabaab, whether it's al Qaeda, whether it's the Taliban, whether it's ISIL, they have one global jihadist network at play and that is anti-Western, anti-democracy, anti-Christian, and it's to establish this extreme caliphate throughout the world. So we've got to be ever-vigilant.
We held a hearing, Wolf, on foreign fighters, and that's alarming, the number of foreign fighters that are joining this fight for ISIS to destroy everyone's way of life. It's frightening.
BLITZER: So what can the United States do about all of this?
ROS-LEHTINEN: Well, first of all, we need to continue to work with our allies. Clearly, many of our allies are not doing enough. Turkey, for example, claims to be in this fight with us. But look at all the flux of the foreign fighters coming through Turkey into Syria, into Iraq to join the fight in ISIL. Other countries that are very worried about this -- we just met with the king of Jordan and he tells us he's very worried about the influx of foreign fighters to join in this enemy fight. So it's a problem worldwide. We need to get more of our allies into the fight. We have Jordan. We have other allies. But how are these foreign fighters getting to Syria and getting to Iraq? Because they have country leaders that are willing to look the other way. And we've got to be honest with our allies and say, Turkey, you're not doing enough, you're not stemming the flow of these foreign fighters. Some of them, sadly, are even coming from the United States, not as many. Most come from the Middle East and for Western fighters, they're coming from U.K. and France. But, still, there are over 100 who have come from the United States. We need to make sure that these foreign fighters don't come back to the United States to do us harm.
BLITZER: One final question. You have confidence in the likely new secretary of defense nominee, Ashton Carter, to replace Chuck Hagel?
ROS-LEHTINEN: Well, I think a lot of it will come out in the hearing. Is he willing to buck the president? Will he be an independent thinker? Is he going to be a yes-man? Because it seems like the president is not looking for anyone to disagree with him but to follow his dictates. I think the president made a lot of hay at the beginning of having a team of rivals around the table. Now he's getting -- assembling a team of yes-men and women around the table. We don't want that. We want someone who will really stick up for U.S. interests, the interests of the military, and to bring the fight to ISIL to get our allies involved, not to be a yes-man for the president.
BLITZER: Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen --
ROS-LEHTINEN: Thank you.
BLITZER: -- thanks very much for joining us.
ROS-LEHTINEN: Thank you, sir.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source