Group: Second American ISIS Fighter Killed; Middle East "Worst In 40 Years"; Mom Begs ISIS To Release Her Son
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We are just past the bottom of the hour, you're watching CNN. We are now getting word that a second American may have been killed fighting alongside ISIS. The U.S. government has not confirmed this. The claim comes, though, from a coalition of Syrian opposition groups that released this. The American passport of Douglas McAuthor McCain, who we do now know was killed fighting with ISIS in a suburb of Aleppo. McCain was 33 years of age. He had a child, grew up in the Midwest, was raised Christian, had converted to Islam. And a friend recalls him as a nice, quiet kid with a big heart and enjoyed basketball. McCain did have some minor scrapes with the law, but in the wake of everything, his family absolutely stunned.</s>KENYATA MCCAIN, COUSIN IDENTIFIED AS AMERICAN ISIS FIGHTER: I feel like maybe it was some people he was hanging out with because that's not who he is. He's not ISIS. He's not a terrorist. He's a happy person. He's close with family. You know, very close with his mom and his child, like, I don't -- believe that.</s>BALDWIN: So she is, you know, incredulous. But when you look at his Twitter page, you saw his Twitter bio saying he's increasingly sympathetic with ISIS, put him squarely in the sights with that U.S. intelligence. Law enforcement sources tells CNN McCain was on a terrorist watch list. And we have been talking about options for taking on ISIS in Syria. Now let's talk again about Iraq. We can't point out enough that ISIS had declared itself a state, having carved out parts of both Syria and Iraq. And so when you look at the map, what you see in red here, that is territory either controlled or contested by ISIS and the group is essentially trying to build that section out. As it has done in other areas, ISIS is killing and driving out Shiite Muslims. These are the desperate Shiites and this may look very familiar. It's a video that was shot this week showing these desperate Iraqi Shiites being flown away from an ISIS advance north of Baghdad. And CNN's Anna Coren is with us now from Erbil in Northern Iraq. This is the region controlled by the Kurds. And Anna, you had had a car bomb in Erbil as recently as last weekend. What is the state of play now between ISIS and the Kurds?</s>ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes. Car bomb here, as well as ISIS militants very much on the doorstep of Erbil, which as you say, is the capital of Kurdistan. I have to say, that ISIS militants are very much on the back foot ever since those U.S. air strikes began more than two weeks ago, Brooke. The reason being is that they are taking out those key positions, the artillery, the mortars, the vehicles, the Humvees. American Humvees, mind you that they seize from the Iraqi army after they fled. So they are, you know, making gains on the battlefield allowing the Kurdish forces with the help of the Iraqi commandos to take back important places like Mosul Dam where we were last week, the very critical piece of infrastructure. But 101 air strikes today. That's what we're hearing from U.S. Central Command. Some around Erbil, as well as Mosul Dam. So fighting still continuing there. But we have to remember that ISIS still controls one-third of Iraq -- Brooke. And their headquarters are very much in Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq, 1.5 million people living there. So certainly there are methods of getting around Iraq change because of U.S. air strikes. But then they are looking at other methods, such as car bombing suicide bombings. We were down in Kirkuk yesterday, 100 kilometers south of here and officials say they have arrested dozens of ISIS militants. And they also believe, Brooke, there are sleeper cells down there. So ISIS still agitating, still trying to disrupt communities, really still trying to create fear and panic amongst civilians here.</s>BALDWIN: Anna Coren, thank you. Let's stay on this since we're talking about ISIS and Iraq specifically. I want you to listen something. We heard this week form Bob Baer. He is one of our CNN national security analysts. I want you to listen closely. He made several alarming points. Here's one.</s>BOB BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: This chaos or this state or call it whatever you want, is going to move down into the gulf, where 60 percent of the world's oil resources sit. I don't like to put it in terms of oil, but we better look at this realistically.</s>BALDWIN: You hear that word, oil? Let's go to one of our other go-to guys, Jim Clancy, CNN international. You heard it. He said the magic word, oil. So you have major oil fields in the north around Kirkuk and ISIS isn't far from there now. That's the red section. To get to the major oil fields in the south. Is would first have to battle through Baghdad and then access other hostile territory. Should the U.S., Jim Clancy, be worried?</s>JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the U.S. has to be concerned and this is why President Obama is trying to accelerate the drawing up, if you will, of a battle plan. How are we going to deal with ISIS? The U.S. has some kind of a strategy. No, it's not going to be as simple as ISIS, you know, marching through one city after another. As Anna correctly pointed out there in Erbil, they're seeing the prospect, in Kirkuk, they are seeing the prospect that there are ISIS activists, ISIS supporters that will carry out car bombings. This has been one of the tragic realities of life for the Iraqi people for a dozen years or more. I mean, the Iraqis have just been through this, now going through another round of it. Obviously, ISIS is filling any void it can find, any dissatisfaction it can find, and certainly, oil is very much on its mind. But moreover, oil is on the minds of those sunny tribal leaders, Brooke. The ones who threw in, you know, their fate with ISIS because of their frustration of not sharing power, and yes, sharing money with Nouri al-Maliki's regime. They felt left out, they wanted to sit at the table. They wanted a share of the pie. Not getting it, they threw in their lot with ISIS. Could that be turned around? Only if there was a deal with the Iraqi government and those Sunni tribes.</s>BALDWIN: So there's that. Then there was, you know, when Bob Baer speaks, we listen, and one other point he made. This is a guy who has been a CIA agent. He's been an analyst for years and years and he told us the Middle East now is the worst he has seen it in 40 years. Would you agree with that?</s>CLANCY: I agree with him. I mean, you know, I lived in the Middle East, Brooke. And it's the worst that I've seen it. It's falling apart at the seams. Power vacuums everywhere and these radical groups are taking over. Another sage, if you will, and all of this is Rammy Curry, the Palestinian Lebanese commentator out of Beirut and says look at the source of all of this. If you want the solution to ISIS, you have to look at the source, and the source has been the frustration of Arab and Muslim people in the Middle East for one dictatorship after another. One regime that was all about one or two people or one family and the vast majority of people were left out. That frustration first vented as the Arab spring and now just exploding across the map.</s>BALDWIN: Jim Clancy, thank you. Coming up, a mother makes a plea to the leader of ISIS. The terror group holding her son hostage. We'll talk to a former FBI agent who specializes in negotiations. And the search to find this missing American. The 23-year-old was hiking in Jerusalem five days ago and he hasn't been seen since. And now his family is trying to get the word out. His brother spoke to CNN and explained what he was doing in Israel. We'll share his story and their plea, next.