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ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES
One Terror Suspect Believed To Be On The Run, 3 Dead; State Dept. Issues Worldwide Travel Alert; Prosecutors: ISIS, AQAP Flags Found In Suspects' Car; Hunt Is On For Female Terror Suspect; Chargers Against Petraeus
Aired January 9, 2015 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANDERSON COOPER, HOST AC360: Early morning here in Paris and the terror that has gripped this city and much of France for three days now. Well, it's frankly not yet over. People have breathed somewhat of sigh of relief but there is a still a massive manhunt going on for one terrorist suspect.
Two brothers wanted in the killings of 12 people here in the office of Charlie Hebdo just a couple of blocks from where I'm standing. They are dead killed at the print shop north of the city. The man on the right there wanted in a police shooting, in the death of policewoman in Paris killed Thursday morning. That man is dead. His female housemate though, she remains at large. That is the manhunt still underway.
Now, a police union spokesman says they believe she may have been inside the supermarket that he took over and that she may have actually been able escape the supermarket where four hostages were killed. A lot of questions though I got to say had been raised about that about how it would have been possible for her to get out given the tight security presence all around that supermarket. So that question remains.
What we do know is that she is still believed to be at large and police and law enforcement are looking for her very, very urgently. It's hard for experts to believe though that she may have been able to escape.
We're going to show you a video captured by French Television of the storming of the supermarket. Now, we're going to show it to you for a number of reasons. And there are a couple of key moments we're going to actually pause it on. I'm going to play most of it just in the natural sound so you can experience the raid as it happened.
This occurred several minutes -- at least five minutes or so after the assault began on the print shop where the two brothers had been hold up. That assault began at the print shop. Jim Sciutto has been reporting because it now appears as if brothers tried to leave the print shop or the very least began shooting. Shots were first heard then flash bang grenades went off. It was several minutes later that the video that you are about to see -- the moment where police moved in, SWAT teams and tactical units moved in to the supermarket where more than 12 hostages had been. Let's take a look at that as captured by French T.V.
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COOPER: I want to pause the video here for two important reasons. One, you just get a sense of the difficulty here for tactical units. They had to get this gate open and move very slowly. It was clearly an electronic gate on a motor. They weren't obviously to go in until the gate was up. Obviously, the fact that the gate was going up gave an indication to the terrorist inside that a raid was already beginning. And as the gate going up, you can clearly see the body of one hostage laying there lifeless on the ground.
One person here has said four hostages were killed before the raid took place. We don't know if in fact that's true that all the hostages were killed, if the four hostages were killed before the raid took place. But at least person was laying apparently lifeless on the ground.
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COOPER: This -- another critical moment. That is the third terrorist suspect the man wanted in connection with the killing of a French policewoman running -- trying to run out of the door being shot by the tactical units there.
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COOPER: The moved in. Then, I want to show you the actual shooting of the terrorist. Police then move in. Hostages begin to come out. The idea that any hostage could have escaped in this moment again seems highly unlikely. As you can see they are all being quickly herded by the tactical units into awaiting vehicles. There are also -- we now understand at least two of the police officers were wounded as they went in. And shortly you're going to see them bringing out one of their wounded colleagues trying to help him. That we believe is them bringing out the terrorist leaving him on the ground.
And here, you look -- there you see one of the wounded police officers who has then received treatment. As I said two are wounded in that attack. A very difficult operation given that there were only two points of entrance apparently to the supermarket and in large numbers of hostages to deal with. With all of that playing out here concerns had been growing around the world about the potential for similar attacks as we have been reporting. But tonight, the State Department is asking U.S. Citizens to maintain a high level vigilance. And the U.S. Intelligence Community has apparently shifted into high gear.
Pamela Brown joins us with more on that. So you've been talking to law enforcement, intelligence officials? What are you hearing, Pam?
PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it's new, as law enforcement officials are saying they have been expecting an attack like what we saw in Paris and what happened there is really a realization of one their biggest concerns about the threat of terror activity in western countries.
What's so striking here to U.S. officials is just the sophistication of the tactics and techniques used by the suspects suggesting formal training and the fact that the suspects didn't immediately martyr themselves like we have typically seen in recent terrorism acts. They essentially dragged this out instilling terror and fear in the community. Keeping the story alive likely with the knowledge that they would eventually die, Anderson.
And this also shows that the boundaries between all the different terrorist affiliates seems to be breaking down here. The threat is metastasizing and turning into a global network. As we know that the suspects -- three of the suspects talked about how they have been influenced by ISIS and AQAP in Yemen. Anderson.
COOPER: And, you know, since the Mumbai attacks we have seen just an escalating number of these kind of smaller scale attacks with handfuls of gunmen with some level of training. We've seen in Kabul. We have seen it in Pakistan. Certainly, we've now seen in Paris. How much of the concern that this is sort of the new phase -- the shifting of tactics, the shifting away from large scale tactics where the intelligence officials say a number of groups still would like to take out but maybe harder to take out...
BROWN: Right.
COOPER: ... than this smaller scale ones?
BROWN: Absolutely. You hit the nail on the head, Anderson. Officials are saying that what we saw in Paris shows how were moving from a world of mega tear in the 9/11 era to these decentralized autonomous technical smaller scale and essentially harder to detect operations. What we saw in Paris is a step up from the unsophisticated lone wolf attacks that we've seen recently. And that concern was reflected in today's FBI, DHS joint warning that was sent out to law enforcement agencies across the country highlighting the tactics and techniques used by the suspects.
So, you know, that was also a sentiment, Anderson, that was echoed by Britain's M15 head who warn that more terrorist attacks are to come. There is this sense, Anderson, that in some ways this could just be the beginning. It's like the war on drugs, you know, it seems like there's no end in sight as one official told me.
COOPER: And, yeah, and that was a sentiment echoed by Phil Mudd a former CIA and FBI. just in the last hour. Pam Brown, appreciate the update. Here in Paris the threat has been playing out hour by hour and still remains. We new photos of the woman still believed to be at large.
Two pictures of her obtain by the French Daily Le Monde of the fugitive. The object she's pointing there -- a cross bow. Additionally, we are learning more about the two brothers who were killed at the print shop and what's been found in their car. Jim Sciutto is getting that. Jim, what are you learning?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is from French Prosecutors learn tonight that in their car they found flags both for AQAP al-Qaeda and the Arabian Peninsula -- that is al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen -- and for ISIS interestingly enough. Although all the claims to this point had been themselves claiming that they were part of al-Qaeda and Yemen as well as the contacts the French authorities have been aware of, the training that one of the brothers took from al-Qaeda in Yemen prior to this attack. But interesting they had both those flags.
Another thing they found in their car -- we spoke about this earlier, Anderson -- is GoPro camera, you know, just a great demonstration of the era were in here. All these heavy weapons, the flags of these two very threatening terrorist groups, but also a GoPro camera, you know, a camera that kids use when they go skiing. What we don't know yet is if they found anything on that GoPro camera, did they use it at any part in these attacks to film the attacks as they were carrying them out.
COOPER: You know, those are actually very important details. One on the camera, there had been a lot of talk in Jihadist circles in social media circles, kind of said of the fact that there were hadn't been video taken by the attackers. Often we've seen video taken by attackers themselves which are then used later on for recruitment, for propaganda purposes. The fact that a GoPro camera was found seems to indicate that they hoped at some point to record some activity whether not they actually were able to. So it would be interesting to see if any video from that actually does come out -- the video that exist obviously of the attack here on Charlie Hebdo that was taken by journalist who work in the same building.
Also, Jim, I'm fascinated about the fact that they had both al-Qaeda and the Arabian Peninsula flag and ISIS, it raises to me just a number of questions about how much direction they really did have, and how much of it was more kind if there was more a kind of talk and trying to bolster themselves, if they're just collecting Jihadist flags from group which have been in competition with each other to try to use it at some point. It does raise questions. And again that's something law enforcement will be trying to figure out
About how much of these operations really were directed by any other larger group, obviously, we know Cherif Kouachi claiming in an interview before the final attack took place -- the final authorities moved in -- claiming that he did in fact travel to Syria and in fact is well as directed and overseen by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. But it's unclear whether that may have just been talk.
SCIUTTO: Well, it's interesting because there's a whole range of possibilities here. You can have training from al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula without direction. They could have gone there, learned weapons training and then chosen the target and the timing on their own.
This is the part -- this is the new reality we're dealing with here. I've gotten briefings from intelligence officials in recent months about how al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups, its franchisees and in effect have become more dispersed to smaller groups, harder to track, ranging from lone wolves, inspired by the propaganda online, but picking the targets, doing everything their own, perhaps in the middle ground, attackers like this, they received some training, but might have picked the targets on their own, rather than having direct direction. But this is something that the investigators are still trying to pinpoint as they traced back these attacks both here and in northeast of Paris.
COOPER: Jim, passing in details tonight, and thanks very much. I want to bring Dan O'Shea. The former Navy SEAL and went on head of the hostage working group, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, also former CIA officer and Bin Laden hunter, Gary Berntsen. Hala Gorani is joining us as well here.
Dan, let's start off with you. I'm just wondering, what your thoughts are given all that's taken place just in the last 24 hours and what to expect next?
DAN O'SHEA, FMR. NAVY SEAL COMMANDER: Well, this is the worst fears that are being realized, were seeing the crows coming home to roost of these individuals that are being trained, or they getting combat experience on -- Iraq and Syria, and else where, throughout the Middle East, Africa and other places and they're bringing back Jihad to France and England and Austria last month.
So this is very, very challenging because this could be just the start the tip of the iceberg of what we're seeing here played out in Paris over he last couple of days.
COOPER: And Gary, I do -- I mean not to instill fear or try to spread fear, but I do think it's important to be informed. I mean I have talked to a number the former intelligence officials on this program over several days who said they believed it's only a matter of time until there is something like this potentially in the United States given the low level of training, one actually needs to carry out something like this, and the high impact they can have on social media and in the public.
GARY BERNTSEN, RETIRED CIA OFFICER: Clearly, it doesn't take a lot of training to be able to handle, you know, firearms, to handle weapons. Couple of hours in the woods with some decent trainers, you know, I want to see the trade (inaudible) that these guys used, you know, as you look at their cams. Was there pre-surveillance activity, all these things? And as you stated it, it doesn't take a lot of, you know, expertise to do this.
You know, the West is full of countries that have, you know, we're soft targets. You know, we have an open border the United States. People can walk across, they can sell fund, you know, we're going to need better Intel, we're going to need to get a lot better and a lot of ways if we want to be able to confront, what could be a sort of new wave here and this may be in early example of this next pace of these struggles going to look like.
COOPER: And, Hala, even though this, there's still the huge manhunt underway for this female terrorist suspect -- plans are still moving forward Sunday -- a huge show of solidarity, the people of Paris, political leaders from around western Europe, are said to be coming here and they made those announcements publicly, a show of support in the phase of this terror of threat.
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, and the same perhaps as an individual, you need closure if -- in order to process grief. Perhaps as the nation as well, France needs that with the big demonstration. And you're talking about the highest levels of European leadership almost like a state funeral.
Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, the prime minister of Spain, the prime minister of the U.K., all converging on Paris to show support for several reasons -- one because of course it's the right thing to do. Two, because in all those countries as well, there are fears of home grown Jihadists, of people who gone to fight in the Middle East, who might come back in the U.K. as well and might cause problems there as well. It's a European problem.
COOPER: Dan, the question now of this fourth suspect, the woman, believed to be a woman Jihadist -- the girlfriend of the terrorist who was killed at the grocery store. You know, there had been this question whether or not she actually have been in the supermarket. It's not clear if that is actually the case. It doesn't seem likely, given the difficulty for her that have actually been able to escape.
I frankly just don't see how that's possible. But assume she does, I think surprised a lot of people to see her face when police put it out early this morning. And it does kind of open ones eye to the reality, the variety of kind of suspects who may be involved in something like this. One can't just imagine if it's a guy with the beard. It could frankly be just about anybody.
O'SHEA: That's a very good point. And the fact that I brought up with on your show in the past that, you know, 10 years ago and we dealt with all of these crises in Iraq, you know, 2014 let's say when al-Qaeda was doing this hostage scares and spreading camping with the beheading which ISIS is taking to the forefront here in recent months.
But when we talk about foreign fighters coming to Iraq, these were fighters coming from the Gulf States in the Middle East -- Syria, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco. But now, these foreign fighters are coming back from France and England and we got a hundred plus fighters from the U.S. that are fighting in Syria and Iraq right now under the ISIS flag.
So this is what's very challenging is that the fact that so many Westerners and they're coming in all colors, creeds, you know, genders if you will that are being motivated and inspired by this. Because again, we're looking for this one woman still in the mix, but the bigger picture is the neighborhood that foster this, the bigger cell, the folks either indirectly supporting these three or these four by a logistics or financing or training like Gary alluded to earlier.
That's the bigger concern, is how big of a mix now are being inspired by these acts that are now happening in France. They have in the last month in Austria. There was an attack in Canada the month before the shooting at the monument. So this is as others are starting to say this is the third wave of what's now coming back. And it's very challenging because you're exactly right, Anderson. It's not necessarily a guy that looks Middle Eastern with a beard, it could be anyone.
COOPER: And, Gary, you know, authorities have said to me, you know, an individual -- lone individual is often the hardest attacked to rather prevent. That person may not have a social media profile, may not have be on the radar of law enforcement. The larger a cell gets, the more opportunities there are to connect the dots to try to prevent an attack like this.
But we still don't know the full extent of this cell here. And it just really goes to show the difficulties for intelligence officials or law enforcer personnel to keep track of this sure number of suspects they have, particularly here in France, the sure number of people it takes to track somebody. Apparently this brothers though they were know, you know at least one of them had served time, that they were on the radar of intelligence officials here, they have been under at some times, some form of surveillance. But it seems like they kind of lay low for a while. Cherif Kouachi got a job in a fish market, seem to be not involved in anything. And clearly, French Intelligence stopped following him or stopped in paying as much attention to him as they have previously.
BERNTSEN: Anderson, the Europeans and the French in particular have problems that are the result of also 751 no-go-zones in France where you have Islamic communities that have formed councils that are managing these areas. And the police don't go in. If you look at Sweden there are 55 no-go-zones there. You know, fire fighters or ambulance drivers go in there and they're attacked. Their vehicles are lit on fire, their tires are slashed, and the Europeans have not pushed back against this. They can't surveil people inside this no go zones if they get and go in there.
And so, consequentially, you have, you know hundreds of thousands people living in areas on enclaves that are completely separated from the government. The government has no control of them and then they can walk out of that no-go-zone and do an attack. The Europeans have lost their minds by allowing these things to be created. We don't have that in the United States thank goodness but the Europeans are faced...
COOPER: Hala...
BERNTSEN: ... with much larger numbers of Jihadists and these enclaves.
COOPER: ... and Hala, this really does raise I mean a lot of concerns moving forward and a lot of questions about how do you assimilate large numbers of new immigrants to the country who may not want to embrace a French, you know, a French way of life as immigrants traditionally do in the United States.
GORANI: And I think you can point the finger of blame both ways according to so many people who look at the French situation. This is decades and decades of missed opportunities and at integration with some of these communities. So, yes, you do have and this is true.
Enclaves, the police is hesitant to go in where there are sort of stealth governing groups that create sort of separate little entities within these enclaves, that is true. But at same time there has to be at some point a conversation in this country and other European countries about how you create a national identity and where young men don't feel necessarily that they get their identity -- a young men who are at the very extreme fringes of criminality where they will not feel like they get their identity and are available for brainwashing by these groups. That is definitely a conversation that needs to have.
COOPER: Hala Gorani, I appreciate you being with us. Dan O'Shea it's always great to have you on the program, Gary Berntsen as well on the stories under these circumstances. Up next in this hour, how these days are terror and the reaction to all this been playing out have been resonating in the Muslim community here, we'll be right back.
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COOPER: Welcome back. We've been talking about the climate that either gives rise to violent extremism or hopefully discourages and it helps law enforcement contain it. The key here in France around the world maybe found in the larger Muslim community. Joining us now is Arwa Damon who spent time today with people who lived along side the Kouachi brothers. Obviously also you're -- you speak Arabic fluently, a native speaker.
You spend a lot of time in communities like this. Mark McCain in our last hour from the Global Mail said that he talked to a neighbor who was concerned about the Kouachi brothers claimed to have actually seen the cash and weapons inside their house and was threatened to not go to police. It's a different message you got from a lot of other people in the neighborhood.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is very different because we first started off going to the mosque where the younger brother Cherif was known to have prayed. But interestingly the officials there were telling us the worshipers there are telling that they barely saw him.
When his image first came out, they didn't even make the initial connection that he was actually someone who worship at their mosque. He only showed on Fridays during these big occasions. But then when we went to his apartment building, a lot of people that really didn't want to talk living bombarded by the press, those who did speak off camera were saying that he was actually quite polite, very quiet -- that yes at times they did hear loud noises perhaps arguments coming from his apartment. They saw him at a couple occasions with his wife she was in the full black hijab and then outside of the local kebab shop where he would stop and have a meal every once in awhile.
The groups that were gathered there were saying that they were stunned when they saw his image on television. They said that they had absolutely no idea whatsoever from his behavior that he had such radical intentions. And one man even remembered how he would help old women carry their groceries.
COOPER: You know there had been a number of reports that Cherif Kouachi -- he got a job in a -- as a fishmonger in a fish market basically laying low one of his former employers was quoted saying all he talks about is the price of fish never talking about policy or anything like that. The question is was that part an intentional kind of laying low to try to make sure that law enforcement wasn't tracking them, didn't have any concerns about them as they plan this operation or not.
DAMON: It very well could be because after his release from jail I remember he was detained 2004-2005 because he'd been radicalized then he had a contingent to go fight the war in Iraq. It seems that upon his release of 7/08, he did undertake his concerted effort not to necessarily stand out and that's one of the key issues here. You have these individuals that don't fit that stereotype of what a lot of people believe that you're Muslim terrorist would look like. These people that easily blend into the population and then they're the ones that emerge being the most radical.
COOPER: We should also say the law enforcement at the time did believe that he may have had a role in an attempt to breakout two Algerian nationals who were being held in a French prison for a prior terror attack. They said there wasn't enough evidence to actually bring them to trial, though the other suspect and the third suspect -- the manager of the supermarket -- he actually was caught and was put on trial and serve time in relation to that effort breaking them out of jail.
Arwa Damond, I appreciate the reporting. We do want to get additional perspective now from Jonathan Laurence, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of the Emancipation of Europe's Muslims. Thank you very much for being with us, I appreciate it.
I'm wondering your thoughts on all that you have seen taking place just in the last several days and also what it means for France moving forward as a society.
JANATHAN LAURENCE, SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: Well it's an extremely difficult time for French-Muslims especially as a new minority that has not yet entirely found their place politically or even in terms of being able to live their religious lives fully and this is going to set back the clock I think a lot on majority and minority relations.
COOPER: There also is the concern among many people -- French people I've talked to today about this contingency drive that you wedged further between Muslim society in France and the rest of society politically wedged, socially wedged that already exist. And in some efforts, that's really part of so many of the terrorist who want to have happen. They want there to be this wedged between the groups. There want there to be this idea of being at war against the religion of Islam which feeds into the notion these terrorist are trying to push.
LAURENCE: That's exactly right. They want to polarize. They want to divide and that is why it's so striking that one of the first things that happened during today's Friday prayers for example in Bordeaux was a call by the main imam there to participate in some days national unity march. One of the first delegations to arrive right here before even the interior ministry arrive was a delegation from one of the major French-Muslim Federation. So I think they're very careful about avoiding any of those traps.
COOPER: Although we have seen in a number of Western European countries, new immigrants particularly from Muslim countries not making as much effort to assimilate into the larger population. We've seen that in Sweden, obviously in England, here in France and as one of the guests earlier was talking about, there are kind of no go-zones where police don't even really go into and again it does cut both ways. They're having criticisms of French government's, prior governments and even current ones reaching out to Muslim communities but there is this lack of assimilation in many quarters.
LAURENCE: Well, I think we have to distinguish between ethic enclaves on the one hand, we're familiar with those from the United States, little Italy and China Town and no go-zones on the other which has to do with the rule of law actually stopping at the boarders of certain neighborhoods. Those are very different. I think that when it comes to new migrant populations, this is quite natural that they choose to congregate together, they have shops that remind them their country of origin, they had share of languages, perhaps prayer spaces. The question is overtime whether or not there's opportunity to get out if they want to.
And so making sure that that's not a solid line drawn around them but rather a dotted line in which they could leave if they want to. But also which they could identify with their community if that's what they choose. And I think that a lot of French-Muslims don't feel that they can do so comfortably, you know, say that they're Muslim and French and proud to be so.
COOPER: Critical days in the days ahead and weeks and months ahead. Jonathan Laurence I appreciate you being with us, thank you very much.
LAURENCE: Thank you.
COOPER: There's a lot more to cover from more on the story. Now there's a course you go to cnn.com. Just ahead, she is right now the most wanted woman in France. Tonight, the companion of one of the terrorist killed today, a suspect in the killing of a French police woman at Thursday morning.
The search for this woman has put her on the spotlight in the growing range of female Jihadists, more on here ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well in Paris another large manhunt, a huge manhunt is under way after a chaotic day of standoffs, gunfire and lock downs. This 26-year-old woman is believed to be on the run. Her name is Hayat Boumedienne.
She's a housemaid of the terrorist who was killed today after taking hostages inside a Jew supermarket. She is now certainly the most wanted women in all of France. She's also a reminder that the face of terrorism is not just male and hasn't been for some time. Randi Kaye looks at that.
KAYE: Look closely. That Jihadist behind the veil is a mother of two. Her name used to be Sally Jones. But after she converted to Islam, she reportedly changed it to Sakinah Hussain.
This photo with the AK-47 is a far cry from this one from 2004 published in the Daily Mail. It shows her celebrating the birth of her new baby. Now, she's believed to be an ISIS fighter in Syria.
She moved there from the U.K. after meeting a hacker-turned-militant online. She told the London Times that her youngest child is with her too and that he's taken the Muslim name Hamza. She was widely quoted online saying, "My son and I love life with the beheaders."
This Jihadist is also from Britain. She's reportedly a 21 year old medical student who goes by the name Mujahidah Bint Usama. On Twitter, she posted this disturbing image, a woman in a white doctor's coat and black burqa holding a human head.
The posting read, "Dream job, a terrorist doc." And included a smiley face and love hearts. In other posting, she reportedly praise Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and shared images of the execution by ISIS of US journalist Steven Sotloff.
In September, terror analysts estimated that as many as 15% of ISIS foreign recruits could be female with up to 200 women from at least 14 different countries. Experts say the women are motivated by the idea of meeting a Jihadist husband. They're hoping for the prestige that comes with husbands who die as martyrs.
Long before ISIS, the Israeli Palestinian conflict also gave rise to female terrorists including this grandmother. She tried to blow up Israeli soldiers in Gaza in 2006 but died after detonating explosives in her belt. Her family reportedly said she wanted to become a martyr.
And what about this woman, Colleen LaRose who goes by the name Jihad Jane after converting to Islam online? She traveled to Europe in 2009, part of a plot to shoot and kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks after he depicted the head of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad on a dog. She was arrested after returning to Philadelphia. LaRose was sentenced last January to 10 years in prison.
All women looking to make a name for themselves in martyrdom, and the list is growing. Randi Kaye, CNN New York.
COOPER: Joining me now is Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour and here in Paris terrorism expert Samuel Laurent, he's the author of Al-Qaida en France. The notion of female Jihadist, it's something I think a lot of people in the west have not paid a lot of attention too but it seems to be on the rise.
SAMUEL LAURENT, AUTHOR "AL-QAIDA EN FRANCE": Exactly. It's something that is expanding at a dramatic speed especially now with ISIS. For about a year, ISIS has been using a lot of propaganda through Internet, through videos and so on. And the youngsters are very vulnerable to that and that is actually many young, very young woman have been flowing to Syria and to Iraq and have been dragged into those ideas.
We saw some 14 year old teenagers, not only one, many in France that were moving to Syria or attempting to move to Syria. So actually they were very seduced by these ideas which depict a very simple life, somehow a life of principle of values based on Koran, based on religion and some of those young women are lacking basically those values in our society. And they're finding something very attractive to them.
So they're moving, yes--
COOPER: And it seems like it's being sold to them as sort of a form of empowerment when -- in a culture that perhaps they don't feel that sense.
LAURENT: I can't be sure that they don't know basically. You know, those girls which are moving to Islam do not know Islam, have a very tiny knowledge of Islam. Most of them do not speak Arabic. Hardly, none of them has read Koran but had just basically got some very brief summary done by the Jihadi who basically, you know, teach them. But actually, yes it's a paradoxical thing in this culture which is basically enslaving women in the Jihadi group is seen as an empowerment for those youngsters and those weak, and I would say weak minds.
COOPER: Christiane, obviously, there's a lot of questions now about and I knew you spoke with the foreign administer in Paris. He told you there are about 30 percent of foreign fighters who've gone to Syria and Iraq are actually women.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're very concerned about that. I was actually really surprised when he told me that in the course of the conversation about the threat that France specifically faces, slightly greater than many of the other Western European country because more of them have gone over there.
And he was talking about those who are about 30 percent as you say are women and that's a fear for those coming back. You know, following off from what your guess has been saying, this idea of women going to fight for these courses or going to join these courses. Again, the foreign minister warned very, very strongly about this, you know, in an interview with me even before this attack that actually they're not getting to fight really, most of them, they are being enslaved. They are just sexual tools. They are just basically tools of this movement here right now and that is something very, very -- a problem for Western European law enforcement or governance.
How to convince, not just these men who tend to go over there but to convince women not to go over there because they're not going to have a glorious life. They're going to be enslaved and that is something that's very concerning. But you know, yes we're seeing an uptake in various anecdotal evidence of female Jihadists that Randi Kaye just said.
But remember, it's not just in the Muslim jihad. We had in Europe. In the '70s and '80s, there were many women who are part of the very left-wing terrorist groups that were around in Europe at that time. So, it's not unusual -- it's not as many as men but there are ...
COOPER: Yes.
AMANPOUR: ... women throughout history in these groups.
COOPER: Even I remember, during, in Sri Lanka, in the Tamil movement...
AMANPOUR: Yes.
COOPER: Huge numbers of female suicide bombers were involved. In that similar -- from an Intelligence standpoint, how much of a failure of Intelligence here in France have we seen in the fact that this assail was able to become operational?
LAURENT: OK. This assail specifically, I would say that this is probably the biggest failure we ever experienced even after Mohammed Merah and even after Mehdi Nemmouche in Brussels.
Actually, what happened is that it is obviously very difficult to track all the jihadi that we currently have. But those assails were really the core. They were the oldest. You know, some...
COOPER: Known into law enforcement for more than it. I mean in some case more than a decade.
LAURENT: Exactly. Known to law enforcement since 2005 for one of them and actually, the point is that it's very disturbing that the U.S. were keeping an eye on them, were closely monitoring them, forbidding them from entering the territory. Why France have let them, basically let one of them flew to Yemen and get trained there in the Al-Qaeda camp.
COOPER: Yes.
LAURENT: Gaining knowledge of weapon that he used here, just basically right the -- right behind us.
COOPER: And with the job, there's going to be a lot of looking at and a lot of soul-searching in French Intelligence to look -- try how to rectify that failure. Samuel, I appreciate you being with us again, Christiane as well,
Samuel Laurent.
Up next. The need so many people here feel to carry on, stand up, show solidarity, show that they are not afraid especially for Charlie Hebdo to continue. More on that ahead.
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COOPER: Well even in their grief, colleagues of the murder in Charlie Hebdo staffers are vowing to carry on the next edition of the weekly, will be published next week on Wednesday AFP reporting that as many of the million copies will be printed.
Today, one of the publication's surviving cartoonist Luz attended an editorial meeting. He was not in the office when the terrorist stormed in, Luc Hermann works in the office right across of the hall from the Charlie Hebdo. He heard the -- he came for the aftermath of the slaughter, saw the aftermath.
He joins with me now along with Aresh Derambarsh - excuse me -- Derambarsh who published the work of the four cartoonists who were murdered. He was also their friend.
I'm sorry, I said your -- mispronounced your last name. I know this is the first time you have actually come so close to the offices and seen this memorial. For you, I'm sorry for you loss.
To see the outpouring of support in -- here in France, in Amsterdam, in Berlin, to see memorials like this, the President of United States coming to French embassy, how has that been for you?
ARESH DERAMBARSH, FRENCH PUBLISHER: First of all I want to thank you. That's -- you -- all brothers. We are one civilization (inaudible) say no against the terrorists. When I came here, I was scared but people have to know something, we will never give up against the terrorists. Never. We will -- to the battle now, for the freedom of speech and we want to show to everyone, to the world that France is up the heights.
We will -- don't let this situation alone Great Britain, we'll say on other country, France is we first to say no against the terrorists.
COOPER: If the objective of the terrorist and it certainly was, it was not only to silence Charlie Hebdo but to have a blow against freedom of expression and freedom of speech. Without a doubt, they failed in that. If anything, they have amplified the voices of those who have died and amplified the voices calling for solidarity.
DERAMBARSH: They must not pretend to know that. There is one difference between your country and here. In U.S.A, you've got lots of community. Muslim communities, Jewish communities, Christian communities. In France, we have only one community, the French Republican community.
We have got the same value, freedom of speech, democracy but I want to say to the all Muslim communities French, that we are brothers. We are French.
You are not only Muslim. You are not only Jewish. We are all French. This battle, we will win it together.
I want to give all my condolences to the victims, to the family. And I want to say something that I knew the person that died two days ago. Charb, Cabu, Wolinski and Tignous, they're a friend for me.
When I took a lunch with Charb, two weeks before the Christmas, we said, take care. I hope you will have a good Christmas. And I said to him, be careful my friend, for you, with your job, you can die. He said to me, "Never -- who wants to die, to kill an artist." For him, he is only one who has a pen. The pen for him, the consequence was to kill them. That's why I was so sad and angry now.
COOPER: Yeah.
DERAMBARSH: But France, they had the best answer. France is not that first of all the war. We have to meditation about what happens to our country because of French, free French, kills another French. This is the most problem for us.
COOPER: Look, Sunday, there is going to be a massive outpouring. World leaders are coming to be here as well. I asked someone who lives here to see this -- to see that the reaction, this has had. What does that make you think?
LUC HERMANN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PREMIERES LIGNES: I was very moved coming here to this set here that an American was going to come and that the other, that it's going to be massive. Lots of people, I believe other capitals are also in Europe who will be -- would be participating.
We're all organizing our families to go there. I have a 16-year-old son. He said, I want to come and it's cool. They all said, we all will be in the streets marching for the freedom of speech Sunday, Sunday afternoon.
COOPER: Is that something you plan to attend as well?
DERAMBARSH: Yes. It's so important to us. I want -- I want to say just something to your president, President Barack Obama. Thank you President because what you did yesterday to come to the French embassy for her, for you and for me, for French people, he's amazing person.
You said that American person is just next French, for us is very warm and thank you to ...
COOPER: And you feel that -- you feel that global support. You feel that sense of solidarity right now.
DERAMBARSH: Yes. Because the solidarity is important now because we are brothers on the -- when you -- unfortunately, you had the 11 -- 9/11, we were here. Just to remember that (inaudible), her presidency was the first presidency on the world that came to New York, on the first sign that a president on the world, that was Barack Obama. He came to the French embassy. We never forget that. Thank you so much.
COOPER: Russ, I'm so sorry for your loss and your friends...
DERAMBARSH: Thank you very much.
COOPER: ... and thank you for being with us, Luc as well. Thank you very much. Just ahead, more on what has been an extraordinary day here and other big developments including the possibility that retired general David Petraeus will face federal criminal charges, felony charges. That's a huge surprise for a lot of people. That when we come back.
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COOPER: We're live in Paris. We can have more on today's standoffs, three suspected terrorists killed. The hunt now on for female suspects, still at large. Let's get the latest of the other stories we're following, Randi Kaye in his 360 Bullet. Randi?
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, prosecutors in the Justice Department are recommending that charges be filed again to David Petraeus for giving classified information to his former mistress while he was the director of the CIA.
A federal law enforcement official says there is enough evidence for felony charges. The CIA and the Justice Department are not commenting. Mitt Romney, may be eyeing another run for the White House, Romney told the small group of Republican donors in New York that he is seriously considering a presidential bid for 2016 according to a source who is in the room. And the FBI has released this sketch. The person of interest in the explosion outside the local NAACP office in Colorado and announce a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
A makeshift bomb detonated Tuesday morning, but did not ignite a gasoline can that was placed beside it. No one was injured. Anderson?
COOPER: Randi thanks very much. We will be right back.
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COOPER: And it has been an extraordinary 24 hours, extraordinary civil days here in France and the story is still not over. The manhunt continues a huge rally plan here on Sunday. Stay with CNN for continuing coverage that does it for us. We appreciate you watching. Our coverage continues right now however with CNN tonight and Don Lemon. Don?
