[Cooper:] The story began several hours ago. Though in the moment it happened, we didn't quite know the significance of what occurred. We got a video of explosions at Baghdad Airport. Right now, we know this was the videoed reported killing of one of the top military figures in Iran, someone designated as a terrorist by the U.S. who believed to be responsible for much or Iran's paramilitary activities in the region. Iraqi state T.V. says the commander of Iran's Elite Quds Force, Qas Soleimani, as well as an Iraqi militia commander, were killed. CNN's Senior International Correspondent Arwa Damon joins us now live from Baghdad. Arwa, you and I were talking shortly after you got word about the what seemed to be airstrikes or at least the explosions. We didn't know at the time Soleimani was involved or others. Explain what you know and the importance of it.
[Arwa Damon, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] First of all, Anderson, we are arguably about to enter into uncharted territory. The significance of the death of Qasem Soleimani, given who he was to Iran, who he was to any number of Iranian proxies throughout the entire region, given how revered he was inside and outside of Iran by his men in the battle and given the fact that he is the commander of the Quds Force, this shadowy elite force that is specifically tasked with unconventional warfare, this is going to push this region into a potential conflict that is going to be very, very difficult to get out of without a lot of bloodshed. What we know right now is that a couple of hours ago, there were initially reports of rockets being fired in the vicinity of Baghdad International Airport. We initially received reports that a senior figure within the Popular Mobilization Force this is a branch actually of the Iraqi Security Forces, but it's a paramilitary force that is mostly made up of different groups of Shia militias, the vast majority of whom are, yes, backed by Iran. But we initially received information that it was a senior leader within this paramilitary force, the head of their protocol division who had been targeted. We then later heard first on Iraqi state television and then the PMF itself coming out saying that, yes, Qasem Soleimani had been killedalong with the head of Kata'ib Hezbollah. Kata'ib Hezbollah, Anderson, is that same group that was targeted by the U.S. in Sunday's airstrike. The PMF that I'm talking about of which Kata'ib Hezbollah is a member, is the same group that was out in front of the U.S. embassy that was attempting to breach the the walls of the U.S. embassy. This is not only just going to shake Iraq and potentially escalate things here inside Iraq for the United States, but the Iranian regime and its proxies and the influence of the Quds Force, that extends well outside of Iraq. It is hard to imagine a scenario where Iran does not respond to this. Add to all of this, Anderson, the PMF is blaming the United States for this strike, for what they're calling an assassination. We do not have confirmation from the Americans, but just the perception that it was America, that in and of itself is going to have a very, very devastating effect.
[Cooper:] Yes. Arwa Damon, thank you. We'll continue to check in with you. Be careful. Joining me now is Dexter Filkins with The New Yorker, who profiled the Iranian General several years back, and he's obviously spent a huge amount of time in the region. Dexter was also based in Iraq for three-and-a-half years while reporting for The New York Times. Also with us, CNN Global Affairs Analyst Max Boot. And back with us this hour, Fareed Zakaria, Host of Fareed Zakaria GPS here on CNN. Dexter. first of all, just your reaction.
[Dexter Filkins, The New Yorker:] It's huge if it's true. I mean, Qasem Soleimani has been the most important operative in the Middle East for the last 30 years.
[Cooper:] He's the most important?
[Filkins:] Absolutely. He's the architect of the entire Iranian regional strategy to set up clients in Lebanon, Hezbollah, to prop up the Assad regime to basically take effect of control of Iraq and to do what he's been doing in Yemen. He is the architect of that. There is no one more important than him. He is literally drowning in the blood of the people that he's killed, including hundreds of American soldiers who he
[Cooper:] He's responsible for the deaths of hundreds of
[Filkins:] Hundreds of American soldiers. He oversaw these militias, like Kata'ib Hezbollah, who were Iranian clients armed, trained, directed, created by Iran. They're not just Iranian-backed and Iranian-influenced, they are Iranian creations. And during the Iraq war ten years ago, they were killing American soldiers at will. So
[Cooper:] They were behind the IED's
[Filkins:] Really sophisticated IEDs that were really wreaking havoc on American soldiers. So this is a huge event. You know, the question is what happens now. I think the Iranians are going to have to respond, and then all bets are off.
[Cooper:] And there's many possible ways for them to respond in a lot of different places.
[Filkins:] Yes, I mean, they're very sophisticated. They're cool customers. So they're going to do it. It's their neighborhood. They'll do it when they want and they'll do it how they want. But things could get mighty dangerous very fast.
[Cooper:] Max Boot?
[Max Boot, Cnn Global Affairs Analyst:] I mean, Dexter obviously gives a very good overview of who General Soleimani was. And I think based on his track record, Anderson, I would say there was no question about the justice of killing him. He was a very, very bad guy who, as Dexter just said, has the blood of thousands hundreds of thousands of people on his hands, and especially in Syria where he's masterminded the genocidal strategy of the Assad regime but he's also been responsible for the death of American soldiers in Iraq. He has perpetrated great suffering and misery in places like Lebanon and Yemen as well. But issue is was this a wise move, and what are going to be the repercussions and is the Trump administration read for this escalating crisis with Iran? And so leaving side the justice of the issue, the question is was it a wise thing to do, we'll find out in the next few days. But give how haphazard the national security policymaking process is in this administration, you have to wonder have they actually thought through all the repercussions on what is a very, very major move.
[Cooper:] So to that end, Fareed, for people who have not been following the developments in Iraq, particularly for the last couple of years, can you just explain and I know it's incredibly complicated, which we've certainly learned time and time again, but this was a regime which the United States backed and supported and a lot of Americans died fighting to bring democracy there and fighting to attack forces there. How has it that a guy like Soleimani is moving around freely in Syria and Iraq and all through the region and this regime, which we have backed with trillions of dollars and a lot of American blood is now having this guy freely run around with all these militias? I mean, even the existence of all these militias, I think, is confusing to a lot of people.
[Fareed Zakaria, Cnn Host, Fareed Zakaria Gps:] Yes, you're exactly right. So, I mean, the thing to remember is Iraq was run by Saddam Hussein, who was a Sunni. That was a minority repressive dictatorship. Once the Americans liberated Iraq, what happened was the national power dynamic in Iraq emerged, which was it's a Shia majority country and the Shia took control. Now, the Shia have a historical, religious affiliation with Iran that also most Shia leaders had been backed by the Iranians for years because they were in exile, they were persecuted by Saddam Hussein. So Iran developed a natural influence. And what happened post-Saddam Hussein is Iraq became a cockpit where America and Iran battled for influence. So the Iraqi government, the democratic government of Iraq that we supported enormously was also being supported by Iran enormously. The two sponsors of the new Iraqi government have been the United States and Iran. And every Iraqi diplomat, every politician has had to juggle this reality. So they've kept the Iranians happy while keeping the Americans happy. This blows the lid off that. I mean, I think probably the greatest single vulnerability here is that Iraq could explode into a civil war. Because the Iraqi politicians have been handling exactly the dilemma you described. They've got to be nice to the Iranians because they are next door and they have all these Shia ties. They've got to be nice to the Americans because the Americans have provided them with a lot of support and a lot of military assistance. Now, you are going to be forced to choose and it's going to reignite the Iraqi civil war. And, again, back to Max's point, the whole question, I think, we all have is the administration seems to be going down a path of assassinating this crucial figure who, again, entirely justified in terms of the morality, but we are essentially entering into a war, a proxy, a shadowy war with Iran, sacrificing the stability of Iraq in a very volatile place. Yemen is already in a civil war. Syria is already in a civil war. Do we know what we're doing? Why are we doing this? This was a president who wanted to get us ut of the Middle East.
[Cooper:] Dexter?
[Filkins:] Well, it's interesting. The Bush administration had a chance to kill Soleimani in 2006. They were hunting a guy named Imad Mughniyeh, who was the military commander of Hezbollah, really, really, bad guy. The CIA and Mossad eventually got Mughniyeh. They killed him. But they had a chance at one point because they found Mugnia and Soleimani was with him. And I had to think about it. And, basically, President Bush said, it's too much.
[Cooper:] Wow, really, that's interesting. Too much because they will just be too destabilizing?
[Filkins:] For different reasons, also legal reasons. I think there was an authorization to do that. But we had the chance to do that and we didn't take it. And I think there was another moment in Kurdistan when General McChrystal and a bunch of others thought they had him, and just missed him. But this is it's kind of hard to overstate how potentially game-changing, this whole thing.
[Cooper:] Game-changing, the fault lines are where?
[Filkins:] Well, look, Soleimani has spent the last 30 years kind of building this sphere of influence in the Middle East for Iran, basically, and that's Hezbollah in Lebanon, Assad in Syria and the Shia majority in Iraq. I mean, that's basically been his entire project. And now, we've basically just with this, we just take the hammer and just smash that. And so they're going to Iranians are going to have to respond. And so if the White House needs to be thinking about how we're going to respond to their response because this thing could just start could takeoff really fast.
[Cooper:] And we're going to take a quick break. We're going to have more next, including the late new reporting from the Pentagon and elsewhere on what's going on and any potential blowback. We'll be right back.