ISIS Video Shows Pilot's Murder; Jordanian King to Meet Obama
RICHARD QUEST, HOST: One of those sessions on Wall Street where the bulls were out of the gate and they never looked back. The Dow up more than 300 points as trading draws to a close. The US stock markets significantly higher on the price of oil, which is also rising. It is today Tuesday, it is the 3rd of February. Terrorism at its most savage. King Abdullah of Jordan expresses outrage after a video shows the horrific murder of a Jordanian pilot. And Greece's economics minister tells me, "We're not trying to blackmail our European partners." It's an exclusive interview, you'll hear it in the next hour. I'm Richard Quest, we're live in New York. Good evening. The world is coming to terms with savagery on a new level from the Islamist terrorists of ISIS. A Jordanian military pilot being held by the militants has been murdered by being burned alive, and his killing has been shown in all its horror in a video that ISIS released online a few hours ago. The footage shows Moaz al-Kasasbeh being set alight while being confined in a cage. The US National Security Council says it's trying to confirm the authenticity of the video. CNN believes it is too disturbing to be broadcast, and we're not showing any frames, any stills, any part of that video. The Jordanian state TV says al-Kasasbeh was killed a month ago, January the 3rd. He fell into ISIS's hands when his jet crashed in Syria in December. He was flying missions in the coalition air campaign against ISIS near its assumed capital in Raqqa. In a prerecorded statement, King Abdullah of Jordan has called the murder "a tragedy for all Jordanians."</s>KING ABDULLAH OF JORDAN (through translator): In those difficult moments, it is the duty of all the sons and daughters of Jordan to stand together in one rank and show the true mettle of the Jordanian people.</s>QUEST: Now, the Jordanian king was in Washington for meetings. He is, of course, returning back to Amman and cutting short that visit. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is with me live from Amman in Jordan. The mood in Jordan tonight -- and we've heard there have been some minor demonstrations -- they must have sort of to some extent been prepared for a grisly murder, but nothing would have prepared them for the atrocity that has taken place.</s>JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Richard. This is a nation in shock this evening, and a nation that is in mourning. There was a bit of hope. Over the past week, we've been going out and talking to people here, and there had been some hope possibly that the pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh, was still alive. They had hoped that there was some sort of a deal that would have been struck between Jordan and ISIS. We know that there were indirect negotiations going on between them to try and secure his release. And the one issue here was the Jordanian government coming out at the end of last week, Richard, and saying that they so far have not had any proof of life, no evidence since his capture that he was alive and well, and that was something they were demanding from the group and did not get it until we saw these images in this video released this evening. Real shock and anger. And this evening, Richard, although the issue of Jordan's participation in the coalition against ISIS has been a matter of debate in this country for some time, with some believing that this is not Jordan's war, that it should not be taking part in the coalition, and others believing that Jordan should defend itself and its borders. And this evening, we see that the anger is directed towards one party, and that's</s>ISIS. QUEST: Jomana, thank you, in Amman. Come back when there's more to report on that. Now, the hostage crisis has left people on several continents sickened and grieving. Jordanian state TV is reporting that Moaz al-Kasasbeh was murdered on January the 3rd. Despite that, at the end of last month, ISIS was keeping up the pretense he was still alive. It said the Jordanian pilot would be killed unless a convicted terrorist, Sajida al-Rishawi, was released by Jordanian authorities. It made the same threat over the life of the Japanese hostage Kenji Goto. Just a few days ago, it became clear that Goto had also been murdered. A video was released that appeared to show him being beheaded. The king of Jordan has cut short his visit to Washington. He's heading home. And Michael Weiss is the co-author of "</s>ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror" and joins me now. Good evening, sir.</s>MICHAEL WEISS, AUTHOR, "ISIS:  INSIDE THE ARMY OF TERROR": Pleasure. Thank you very much.</s>QUEST: Well, what does one say? This -- this takes it to a new level. Or maybe you think not. Maybe in our naivete, we see a burning of somebody caged, if you like, as being quantum leap. Is it?</s>WEISS: No, I don't think it is. The regimes of Syria and Iraq under Saddam Hussein did things just as barbaric and gruesome as this. The difference, I would submit, is that ISIS's stock and trade, if you like, is publicity. They're very, very keen on propaganda. If, indeed, the pilot was killed a month ago? What does that tell us? It tells us they took time and care producing this rather slickly-contstructed snuff video. It tells us they sat on this evidence and this material even as they were losing the city of Kobani, which is in northern Syria. They kept it even while they were engaged in this pantomime of negotiation with Jordan about not just the pilot --</s>QUEST: To what purpose?</s>WEISS: The purpose, I believe, is they are looking for some measure of legitimacy, to be considered an armed insurgency, to be considered some entity that has to be negotiated and engaged with, not just a terror group. And secondly, look, they're trying to drive a wedge between the United States and particularly our Arab partners in this coalition. Jordan on the spectrum of countries that is most sympathetic -- that is sympathetic to the US objectives of counter-terrorism is the most sympathetic. So, this is a particularly nasty attack against the state of Jordan.</s>QUEST: Right, but does this attack embolden the Jordanians or does it weaken their resolve?</s>WEISS: I think the short term it would probably embolden them. The king is -- he is a staunch American ally, he is very, very severe in confronting jihadist terrorism. The problem is the pilot comes from a very prominent family in Jordan -- actually, a very prominent tribe. His father has been outspoken in recent weeks demanding the government do everything in its utmost to get him home. Going so far as to say I don't -- we don't care about the Japanese hostage, just bring Moaz back. In the long term, what happens if another pilot is downed? What happens if a terrorist spectacular is waged inside of Jordanian soil? In the long term, this could, indeed, make Jordanian society turn against this war.</s>QUEST: I can hear viewers watching tonight who have nowhere near the expertise or knowledge of the region that someone like yourself has, but they look at us, watching us discussing it, and they say what's it going to take, if anything, to defeat ISIS? When we hear the president of the United States saying that this merely redoubles our efforts -- "redoubles" was the phrase he uses, doubling down --</s>WEISS: Right.</s>QUEST: -- on the ability.</s>WEISS: Well, it's a nice line, but look, the former defense secretary, Robert Gates, told CNN this week he does not see ISIS being degraded or destroyed given the current strictures of the strategy. Look, I'll give you a top line here. You cannot defeat Sunni terror without Sunnis on side. Right now in Iraq, the main force on the ground that is waging the campaign against ISIS, whilst US planes are bombarding ISIS locations, these are mostly Shia militia groups controlled by the state of Iran. Sunnis see this as, well, why should we rise up against ISIS on behalf of Tehran? It doesn't make sense to them. So until you address the sociopolitical problems in this region --</s>QUEST: But we can't.</s>WEISS: Well, exactly. I mean, look --</s>QUEST: I mean, I don't want to be naive about it.</s>WEISS: Yes.</s>QUEST: But you've had three or four beheadings -- you've had three beheadings since the beginning of the year --</s>WEISS: Yes.</s>QUEST: -- or something. And now, you've had a burning in a manner that can only --</s>WEISS: Look, Richard. The amount of blood and treasure that had to be expended in Iraq to put AQI, al Qaeda in Iraq, which is the predecessor organization of ISIS, on the back foot -- and when I say on the back foot, not defeat it summarily, but merely degrade it to the point that they didn't pose as clear and imminent a danger to the state of Iraq as they had done -- the amount of effort is simply not in the US electorate's stomach right now.</s>QUEST: Right. Now, that's -- finally, on that point --</s>WEISS: Yes.</s>QUEST: David Cameron said after the British hostage was -- or the first British hostage was beheaded, he basically said, we're in this for decades.</s>WEISS: Yes, I agree. The former defense secretary after Gates, Leon Panetta, said he sees this as a 30-year war. Just a final point: this is not a new war. We've been in this for 11 years. This is the same organization we were fighting under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Himself a Jordanian national, by the way.</s>QUEST: We thank you, sir --</s>WEISS: Thank you.</s>QUEST: -- for coming in and helping us understand our way through this.</s>WEISS: Sure.</s>QUEST: I appreciate it very much, indeed. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS will be back.