CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Interview

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COSTELLO: The latest barbarism from ISIS, the killing of the second American seems to have ramped up the calls for taking action against the terror group. But what action and at what cost?

Representative Dutch Ruppersberger is the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Welcome, sir. REP. C.A. "DUTCH" RUPPERSBERGER (D), MARYLAND: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: I'm glad you're here. Is it time for this to become more of a public discussion with Congress taking the lead on the debate?

RUPPERSBERGER: Well, let me say where we are right now. I think what happened yesterday with the president and Secretary Hagel and the Vice President Biden, coming out strong and letting the Americans know, letting our allies know that America is strong, America is tough.

And we're not going to tolerate Americans having their heads cut off in public and not sit there and do nothing. What needs to be told is there has been a lot going on. Our military and intelligence all coming together. That information was not out.

I think yesterday has changed the tone and we're ready to move. Also, we can't be sheriff for the whole world and I really think this is positive that these other countries are coming in and we work together to make sure that we can take out, stamp out ISIS.

COSTELLO: When you talk about other countries coming in, you mean European countries or do you mean Middle Eastern countries? Because the United States needs Middle Eastern countries' help in this, right?

RUPPERSBERGER: Sure. Yes. Well, I -- both. I think you right now, you have the Brits and you have the Australians. You have the French, you know, Canada all coming together, working with us now. I think we're going to see and we need to see a lot more of the Middle East countries being involved.

What we want to do in Iraq as an example is that we want the Iraqis with the Kurds who, by the way, are excellent fighters. We want to give them the resources, help train them so they can take the -- have the boots on the ground and take ISIS on.

As it relates to Syria that's a different issue. The issue is do we go in, do we use military force, and that right now, we're evaluating how do that, which way to do it. The bottom line is we have to make sure that if we do go into Syria, we take out their leadership and we take them out.

We don't want to kill other people, innocent people. That's what's going on right now. It's being evaluated and that information will come to the president and the Congress should be kept advised all the way through the process.

COSTELLO: It seems like air strikes won't accomplish that. How much -- how real of a possibility is it that there will be American boots on the ground in that part of the world again?

RUPPERSBERGER: I don't see boots on the ground. But remember, the Americans have tremendous resources. Better resources than any other country in the world. We have the best intelligence resources. We can provide air power.

But as far as boots on the ground, we've been there in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't believe that the American public want us to be in a large-scale, long war again in the Middle East.

Now, we will do that. Whatever we have to do to protect Americans and to work and protect our allies. Now the problem with Syria as an example --

COSTELLO: You just said we'll do whatever we have to do, and if we don't get help from countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Turkey, or the Iraqi government just can't get it together, won't the United States be forced to put boots on the ground?

RUPPERSBERGER: I don't believe we will because I think what we know and the resources that we have, that we can take out ISIS. It's just not about military either. Look at Iraq as an example. It's not a completely military solution.

It's also about the people coming together, making sure and Iraq as an example that the Sunni population will not tolerate ISIS any way at all and they will stand up as a country and not as a Sunni/Shia issue.

COSTELLO: You know, I had a political debate with two pundits in the last hour and we were talking about whether the president should go to Congress and they should all talk publicly about this so the American people can understand exactly what kind of threat ISIS presents to us.

Both pundits, Democrat and Republican, said that's crazy. The president goes to Congress, Congress isn't going to listen to him. It's just going to be a food fight. And I found that sad, actually.

RUPPERSBERGER: Well, unfortunately, there is history in the last two years, but when it comes to what we do in the area of intelligence and the area of national security, I think if you look at some of the votes we've had, just in the cyber area, we've been able to come together and the president is the commander in chief. He has a great team behind him.

Whether it's intelligence, whether it's military. But the president is now using Article 2 of the constitution as the reason why he's able to do what he's doing now in Iraq. And that is to protect Americans. And that is the number one issue now is to protect Americans and our allies.

You know, we have to protect the homeland, which is clear. My concern, though, is -- and is a real concern -- are the Americans that have passports that have gone to Syria, have become radicalized and they have the ability to come back to the United States and they've been trained.

An example is the individual who went to Syria from the United States, became radicalized, he was trained as a suicide bomber, and then he came back to visit his parents, went back to Syria and blew himself up and killed other people. That is my biggest concern, is to protect the homeland and American lives. Those Americans in other parts of the world, very vulnerable.

COSTELLO: So do you think that the president should act without Congress and not involve Congress?

RUPPERSBERGER: He's involving Congress every day. I am a member of the Gang of Eight, Chairman Rogers and I, Chairman Feinstein and the Senate side, and Saxby B. Chambliss, Senator Saxby Chambliss.

We get information or our staff almost every day. He is notifying and advising Congress as we move through the process. If the war is going to be a longer duration, then it should come to Congress. It should be debated. We need to move forward.

But it's not at that point yet. We're attempting to stamp out ISIS right away. It's a threat. They're threatening us. They're cutting Americans' heads off and we have to act now and aggressively.

I think again, when you have the vice president yesterday saying we're goings to chase them to the gates of hell the administration means business. I think they weren't able to get their message out to the American public as well as they should have.

Because we have people in the military, intelligence, law enforcement working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for years, to protect us from these terrorist attacks.

COSTELLO: Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, thank you for your insight and information. I appreciate it.

RUPPERSBERGER: Great. Thank you.

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