reset button with us and cross that finish line. that's going to wrap things up for me today. "new day sunday" continues right now christi paul and joe johns. so glad to have you with us. i'm christi paul. >> and i'm joe johns. it's 8:00 in the morning. we begin with breaking news. in a video published online today isis claims to have beheaded american hostage peter kasett. >> we don't know whether the video is authentic. it has yet to be determined. we see the aftermath of the beheading and the victim is recognizable. >> if the video is authentic, we should remember peter as more than just a victim.

kassig was a u.s. army ranger and iraq war veteran. more on isis on the video in a moment. first let's go to cnn senior international correspondent arwa damon live from southern turkey. you knew peter kassig, you called him a friend. can you give us some personal reflection? >> reporter: you know, i first met peter back in the summer of 2012 in a hospital in tripoli, lebanon. this scrawny, pale, tattooed kid speaking broken arabic. despite the language barrier he was able to treat wounded men with compassion and at that period and time of his life he really needed to do something and he was a kind of individual who didn't just believe in speaking about doing things but actually going out and making that reality. he had such drive and

compassion. it was really inspirational, almost infectious when you listened to him talking about what it was he wanted to accomplish. it was a few months after we met him, i remember being surprised when he was telling me about this, he had already begun helping syrians out in the refugee camps and turkey but also going inside the country itself, delivering medical assistance but also because he had training as a medic himself, as an emt. he was giving lessones to syrians in critical first aid because in so many cases people on the scene initially are those who don't know how to handle the extent of the injuries they're being confronted with. peter was kidnapped in october of 2013 by isis, and i just want to share a little bit of a letter he wrote that his parents did receive during the time of his captivity and in it, he says, "if i do die, i figure that at least you," and this is him addressing his parents --

"and i can seek refuge in comfort that i went out as a result of trying to alleviate suffering and helping those in need." that is exactly who peter was. he actually, if we know him at all, wouldn't necessarily want the focus to be on him at this stage. he'd want the focus to continue to be on those desperate syrians, those who need so much help and he was a real believer in not giving up, even when things seemed impossible, not giving up, so he would also want us to, at this stage, remember that we, whether it's us as journalists or aide workers or even the global community, that we should not give up on syria, and we should not give up trying to help those syrians and in fact, those around the world who are so desperately in need. >> you know, arwa, i read something that his mother had written at one point saying, she said "like many people, he spent his late teens and early 20s searching for his place in the world." did you get a sense that peter found himself in syria and found

his place there? >> reporter: he really did. and that's a lot of why i guess his energy really inspired all of us so much. he was quite younger than a lot of us who knew him are, and yet he was someone who we looked up to, to a point he didn't realize it himself and he was very open talking about his personal journey, why he felt it was so important to actually do something, almost as if he was driven by a burning desire. it wasn't enough for him to sit back and talk about what was happening, wasn't enough to treat people in the relative safety of lebanon. he really wanted to go in there and live amongst the people and you hear some tmz online from syrians, people who lived with him and talking about he'd go out every morning, treat the wounded, make visits to the

hospital. he felt he truly was one of them even though they came from starkly different backgrounds. one activist was saying he was sad when they felt sorrow and he was happy when they felt joy. another doctor whom he worked with was saying that you know, during their last conversation he asked peter if peter was afraid for his life and peter's response was basically, no, my life is not worth more than yours, and i feel that i am a part of the syrian revolution. >> arwa damon, thank you so much for sharing personal thoughts with us, something unique you can bring to the table. we're really grateful, thank you. peter kassig's family released a statement after the video surfaced. "we are aware of the news reports being circulated about our treasured son and are waiting for confirmation from the government as to the authenticity of these reports. we will have no other statement at this time and ask that you, please, respect our privacy." we are also getting initial

reaction to the possible beheading of peter kassig from the obama administration. >> eric mcpike joins us from washington. what are you hearing? >> the white house is, of course, proceeding with caution. we do have a statement from national security council spokesman bernadette meehan. she says "we are aware of a video that claims to show the murder of u.s. citizen peter kassig by isil. the intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity. if confirmed we are appalled of the brutal murder of an innocent american aide worker and express our deepest condolences to his family and friends. we will provide more information when it is available." now of course, president obama and many of his aides are now returning from australia, will be back later hours of today and tonight, but again, they're working quickly but have to still confirm that. >> erin, president obama insisted there aren't going to be u.s. combat troops on the ground in iraq and syria. when we see something as brutal

as this happening, is there any indication that this would spark a change or a modification in strategy? >> well, christi, martin dempsey testified on capitol hill thursday saying he is still considering that and recommending that to the president. he is in iraq now. president obama himself opened a little bit of ground to this idea in australia. here, listen to the comments. >> yes, there are always circumstances in which the united states might need to deploy u.s. ground troops. if we discovered that isil had gotten possession of a nuclear weapon and we had to run an operation to get it out of their hands, then yes, you can anticipate not only would chairman dempsey recommend me sending u.s. ground troops to get that weapon out of their hands, but i would order it. >> one last thing i'd like to

point out in the new isis video as we know needs to be authenticated there is a challenge here. isis challenges the u.s. to send ground troops, also says to presidentby ma, we will slaughter americans on your street. again, all of this needs to be authenticated but there is that challenge to send u.s. ground troops. >> that incendiary language continues. thank you, erin mcpike. the secretary of defense tells cnn he's ready to move in more forces if that's what's needed. now all eyes on america's top general who is in baghdad on a surprise visit. >> we'll have more for you in a moment, stay put. fraud resolution department. ugh, we don't have that. what should i tell him? just make that super annoying modem noise... (shuuuuuuuh....zzzzzzzz...de ee...dong...shuuuhh...) hello? not all credit report sites

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following our breaking news as this video purportedly by isis claims to show the beheading of american hostage peter kassig. if authentic, the 26-year-old would be the fifty hostage executed by the terror group. >> questions surround the timing of the release of this video in part because joint chiefs chairman martin dempsey is in iraq right now. with us now, cnn global affairs analyst lieutenant colonel james reese. i want to ask you about the video for the first thing. we've been talking all morning about how this video seems to be different from some of the other isis execution videos, but in

your view, are any of those differences substantial or important, or is it all part of the same? >> victor, good morning. there are some interesting tidbits that the intelligence community will start looking at to give us some ideas of what's going on here. at the end of the day, you know, we have a young man, a former army ranger, who is dead, and beheaded and i believe that's isis trying to take back some of the momentum they have lost in iraq. there are some changes in that. the intel community will look at that and hopefully give us an idea where they're doing to help us target some of the leadership of isis. >> does this tell us that the fact that he had converted to islam and some people thought that might be his saving grace. does this show us that this terror group knows no bounds. it doesn't matter, once they take you, there are no negotiations, we know that, the u.s. won't negotiate with a

terror group but there's no way to stop the executions, is there? >> well, no, there's not. we've seen already they're executing their own brethren, their own other sunnis, other arabs. they're a brutal organization and once they decide to do something, it doesn't matter who you are, or what you are. they've set that course in place and that's what they're going to do. >> lieutenant colonel, general dempsey says he believes the u.s.-led campaign to defeat isis is starting to turn. do you think his words or even just his presence happening to be in iraq on the surprise visit could have influenced the timing of the release of this video? >> no, victor, i don't. you know, it was a surprise visit by general dempsey. i don't think that that was strategic enough by isis. my feeling is they had this plan that's coincidental. what i do really believe is the iraqis and what we're seeing in iraq right now is, up in kobani,

the coalition has taken the momentum back from isis and i believe this is just a way for isis to, again, in a football term is, let's swing the momentum back to ours some way and this is how they've done it in the past to try to get the shock feelings back toward isis. >> lieutenant colonel, knowing what we know about this group and the executions and the timing of it, does this change anything in terms of u.s. strategy? >> no, christi, it doesn't. we are in what we call i would say phase two right now, starting to deploy these other servicemembers in, the other special operation forces into iraq. we're now starting to put them out to allow the iraqis to get trained, we're advising them. the air strikes are continuing, and ramping up, and as we're moving into this, it's our goal here to get to the iraqis to start a counter-offensive, it could be quite a while but the goal is to let them get the counter-offensive with general

dempsey now is getting the shared reality of all his commanders that are in iraq to take back to the president and the secretary of defense, so everyone's on the same sheet of music. >> is there any gauge as to how prepared the iraqis are to fight isis, even with, you know i know that's part of why general dempsey is there but do we have a good gauge of how prepared they are? >> well, it's been coming out you have the pentagon in centcom is they've been talking about this spring offensive, but i think we've seen recently last week the iraqis took back elements of taji, again, with air support and with the air support that the coalition can bring, brings great confidence to a ground force while they're doing that. so again i think you're probably looking at four to six months that they start looking at some of these aspects. >> colonel james reese, we so appreciate your insight. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> we want to switch gears.

coming up, the reporter who asked bull cosby the tough questions about rape allegations and got the silent treatment. npr's scott simon is going to join us in just a moment. oyees live in the same communities that we serve. people here know that our operations have an impact locally. we're using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. the trucks are reliable, that's good for business. but they also reduce emissions, and that's good for everyone. it makes me feel very good about the future of our company. ♪

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decades-old rape allegations came back to life. >> yesterday cosby appeared on npr, a much anticipated interview because it was expected he would answer some questions about the rape claims. here's how that interview went. >> this question gives me no pleasure, mr. cosby, but there have been serious allegationed about you in recent days. you're shaking your head no. i'm in the news business, i have to ask the question. do you have any response to these charges? shaking your head no. there are people who love you who might like to hear from you about this. i want to give you the chance. all right. >> nppr's scott simon conducting the interview and joins us live. i got to give you credit, i thought you were such a pro especially with his refusal to answer. we were not there.

you had the perspective of seeing him. what was his expression, what did he look like when he shook his head? >> as i began to say "this question gives me no pleasure" he began to shake his head and go like that so i think he certainly understood which question was coming. he gave what i would refer to as that delightful impish kind of cosby smile at first, and then was silent, didn't answer the question. >> did anybody before the interview give you an indication he wasn't going to answer any questions along those lines, and, two, they're supposedly non-disclosure agreements around some of these troecontroversial activities he was engaged. . anybody give you a suggestion that he couldn't talk because he had a gag order on him? >> no. we got none of that and of course it has to be noted that the woman, barbara bowman who has been on cnn a lot more than i have, probably a lot more than you have, joe and christi, in the past few days there's

certainly not that kind of aagreement where she's concerned. no, nobody said anything. i think his people said to some of our producers he's represented by a very famous pr man in beverly hills, who has done a lot of good work for him and other clients over the years. i believe they said things like, you know, you guys are so classy, you don't dip into the muck or the mud the way the rest of the people do and i think that's true, but no, nobody indicated that what happened would happen. i thought there was a good chance theber view would be canceled. obviously it wasn't. i think we can probably fairly safely say that they had a strategy in place for when the question was asked, which maybe they thought that we wouldn't use silence on the radio. >> good point. as i understand it, you sat down with him and his wife, camille. >> yes. >> what was her reaction? obviously they expected the question? >> you know, she's, as you may

know, she is very gracious and very warm and we spoke, you know, most ly, about this art collection they lent 62 pieces to the smithsonian. when they had contacted us weeks ago exploring the possibility of an interview it was because this joint exhibit is opening at the smithsonian and she's just a delight. i have to tell you, when i asked that question, mr. cosby, and i wanted to pointedly make it of mr. cosby. i did not look at mrs. cosby. i don't mind saying i might have been a little uncomfortable to do that anyway. >> did bill cosby say anything after the interview? the million-dollar question out there, it's pretty simple to deny an allegation if it's not true. why didn't he just say, i didn't do it. >> i don't know. i mean, i almost said you'll have to ask mr. cosby why he didn't say it but i think we established that might not be

possible. you know, anything that happened after the interview i think i consider off the record but i don't want to be dramatic about that, there was nothing sensational and nothing discourteo discourteous. we got out of there quickly i'm sure to everybody's neutral relief. >> just to clarify, when he did shake his head, again, you could see him and we couldn't, i think everybody, too, was wondering why he didn't just say no, but his expression was not one, you know, of anger or anything? >> no. look, he's a very gifted performer and i'm sure that fell into place. i wouldn't be expecting he would blanch or anything like that. he knows how to perform. there was nothing remotely hostile or snarling in his expression. >> scott sigh mop you always are to adroit at what you do and you shined in this uncomfortable

moment with a lot of grace yourself. thank you for taking the time to be with us. >> thank you, good to be here. >> thank you so much for starting your morning with us. we hope you make some great memories today. >> "inside politics" with john king is coming up after a quick break. ♪

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politics." i'm conditioning kpg. with us to share reporting and inside, molly ball, peter baker, ed o'keefe and ta mara keith. sad, breaking news, a claim by isis it beheaded a third american, aide worker peter kassig. the white house says it is analyzing the video released by isis and if confirmed we are appalled by the prutal murder of an innocent american aide worker. kassig's parents are aware of the video and awaiting word from the government. they urge news organizations not to broadcast the video or publish images