U.S. Failed Attempt to Rescue Foley
PEREIRA: New details emerging about a failed U.S. mission to rescue American journalist, James Foley, before he was beheaded by ISIS militants. Officials say U.S. Special Operations forces raided an oil refinery in Syria where Foley and other Americans were thought to have been held. They went there apparently the hostages had been moved. We're also learning that ISIS had demanded a ransom of more than $130 million for Foley's freedom. Those demands were made to both his parents and his employer, "Global Post." The terrorist videotaped Foley's execution, posting it online. ISIS claims it executed Foley as a retaliation for U.S. airstrikes on ISIS militants in Iraq and the terrorists brazenly threaten the fate of another American Steven Sotloff and it depends on what President Obama does next. Let's bring in our CNN national security analyst and former operative, Bob Bear, the man to talk to about all of this mission, difficult, daring, the hostages weren't there. Is that bad intelligence? What went wrong here?</s>BOB BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Michaela, It's not bad intelligence. These operations are very difficult. The first one I was ever involved in was Desert One, the mission into Iran. I was collecting intelligence op it. Very, very difficult in what we call a denied area. You can't put people on the ground. You have no collateral. When delta and the seals go in they prefer to have eyes on, that means one of their own seeing the hostages before the combat troops arrive. Clearly this is not possible in Syria. It's too dangerous. This mission had to be a flyer. It was very risky. They did the best they could. This is nobody's fault. There's just no way to get good intelligence on a site like this. You can't put people on the ground.</s>PEREIRA: And it reminds us of the risks that these forces take. You know, you talk to us about other successful ones and we have to remember not all of them are and again, no fault of their own, you can only go on the intelligence you have. They're very risky to begin with. Now we have the life of another American hanging in the balance. The ISIS militants threatening to kill him if the airstrikes don't stop, yet the airstrikes are continuing. Is this the right move? Is it enough, Bob?</s>BAER: Well, Michaela, I'm going to speculate here but the White House is going to be tempted to bring in the joint operations command for doing aggressive operations inside Syria and Iraq and actually going after the leadership. I would be surprised if there's another hostage rescue attempt. There's so much out there in the public. They're prepared for it. It would probably not be successful. What we could do is go after is' leadership the same way it did in Iraq and Afghanistan. We're going to wait to see, but I do know that there's a buildup of special operations forces in Iraq as we speak. More people are flying in. And I would imagine that's what they're looking at.</s>PEREIRA: Wise for the U.S. to go it alone or they're going to need an international coalition to aid in this?</s>BAER: I think we're going to need Britain, the French. There are other foreign hostages. This organization is unacceptable to the Arabs, to us. This is not something we can live with. This is a long-term battle. It's a threat to the entire Middle East. It's a threat to Western Europe. We simply cannot allow the Islamic state to continue to exist. It has to be crushed.</s>PEREIRA: The Brits are certainly taking this seriously. We know the executer had a British accent and we're hearing that "The Daily Mail" newspaper is reporting that British authorities have sort of called this group of U.K. nationals that have left to join ISIS. They're calling a group of them the Beatles, these men -- we presume they're men -- that are being chosen to guard these western hostages. They call him the Black Beatle and some of their intelligence people are saying they're going to get him. Do you feel confident they can?</s>BAER: I think eventually. The problem is there are communities in Europe, Muslim community, that are very radicalized. I spent a couple weeks interviewing them. They're the most hostile set of people I've ever talked to. They did not want to talk to an American. They hold us all responsible for, you know, a war on Islam. They were more than willing to fly to the Middle East and join any group. What worries me about the same British subjects are capable of coming to the United States without visas. So they can get on a plane in London, they won't be stopped at immigrations and who knows what they could do from there. It's a serious terrorist threat. And as long as this war goes on against ISIS, the threat will rise.</s>PEREIRA: Do you think you'll see policy change with that, with visas? Do you think you'll see anything change?</s>BAER: I would change it. I think everybody coming into the United States, like a lot of countries, we should know exactly who they are. There should be full traces on them. We have to do police checks and the rest of it. And if they come up naked, you know, with Britain, you just don't let them in. It's not very nice, but I don't see a better way to change this. And we also have to look at Mexico. That border is wide open. And I'm told by sources in Washington, they're really afraid that ISIS members, without British passports, are coming across that border, coming in. What they're capable of doing, I don't know. But it is a concern of Washington.</s>PEREIRA: To be sure. Bob Baer, security analyst for us here at CNN, thank you so much. We should also point out for more information about the American killed by is, CNN.com. Stick around because CNN obviously will be covering this. At 1:00 p.m. eastern, we'll hear from the "Global Post" CEO Phillip Balboni at 1:00 p.m. We'll take a short break. But we'll look at the Michael Brown shooting and the community response. What Ferguson, Missouri, can do now to heal. We'll turn to two people part of another city who had their share of tension. We'll find out what they did. Maybe there can be some lessons learned.