'This Week' Transcript: TransCanada CEO Russ Girling
November 16, 2014 — -- Below is the rush transcript of "This Week" on November 16th, 2014. It may contain errors.
ANNOUNCER: Right now on ABC's This Week, breaking overnight: ISIS claims it has executed another American hostage. We have team coverage of the horrific new videotape and what it means in the battle against a brutal terror group.
Ferguson on edge again. Brand new images of office Darren Wilson hours after the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. A grand jury decision now days away. What the new video reveals. How will the community react?
Immigration showdown: the president vowing to act on his own. How far will he go?
And 60 days away: a top Hillary ally says her 2016 decision is coming soon. From ABC News, This Week with George Stephanopoulos begins now.
MARTHA RADDATZ, HOST: Good morning. I'm Martha Raddatz and breaking right now it has apparently happened again: a third American murdered by ISIS. In a disturbing and graphic tape released just hours ago, the terror group claims it beheaded 26-year-old Peter Kassig, a former army Ranger from Indiana captured while working with an aid group in Syria.
Chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross joins us now with the latest. Good morning, Brian.
BRIAN ROSS, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Martha.
U.S. intelligence officials are working at this hour to formally authenticate that video, but the gruesome images posted by ISIS leave little doubt about what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSS: A former U.S. soldier in Iraq, Kassig went back to the Mideast to Syria as an aid worker featured two years ago by CNN.
PETER KASSIG, FRM. U.S. ARMY RANGER: We each get one life and that's it. You get one shot at this.
ROSS: During captivity, Kassig converted to Islam and changed his name from Peter to Abdul-Rahman.
From their home in Indiana, his parents Paula and Ed Kassig launched a campaign, pleading for their son to be set free.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We implore those who are holding you to show mercy and use their power to let you go.
ROSS: Islamic groups around the world joined in and even al Qaeda called for the release of Kassig.
But with this morning's video, it was clear there would be no mercy. The 16 minute propaganda production first showed the mass beheadings of 16 Syrian soldiers, the ISIS fighters actually appearing unmasked.
And then in the last two minutes, the same masked man with a British accent seen in previous execution videos appears with Kassig's severed head at his feet.
He claims he is in the Syrian city of Dabiq and addressed President Obama saying we are burying the first American crusader in Dabiq, eagerly waiting for the remainder of your armies to arrive.
Kassig was captured in October of last year. In a letter smuggled out by a fellow prisoner, Kassig wrote this to his parents, "if I do die, I figure that at least you and I can seek refuge and comfort in knowing that I went out as a result of trying to alleviate suffering and helping those in need."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROSS: Kassig's parents only learned of the video in the last few hours and told us this morning they are waiting for government confirmation before they say anything. The White House says if confirmed we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American, Martha.
RADDATZ: As we all are. Thanks, Brian.
Let's bring in Matt Olsen who is the director of the National Counterterrorism Center until just this past September.
What stands out in this tape to you? It does seem different in several ways.
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