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CNN NEWSROOM
White House: Radical Islam Not Accurate; From Girlfriend to Jihad Jane; Judge Denies Delay in Boston Bombing Trial
Aired January 14, 2015 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: New details are emerging in the attack on a Paris magazine one week ago today. The top commander of the al Qaeda branch in Yemen says his group gave the order to attack in 2011. In the videotape claim of responsibility, he calls the killers, Cherif and Said Kouachi, heroes.
Sources tell CNN, that's when the funding was laid out in 2011. U.S. investigators believe the terror group gave one of the brothers as much as $20,000 to finance the massacre.
Plus, here's a new look at the brothers -- these images taken from inside a gas station when they were on the run from the magazine killings and before their final standoff with police.
Right now part of the investigation into the Paris attacks is focused on finding Hayat Boumediene. She's the partner of Amedy Coulibaly who murdered four hostages in a Jewish grocery store. Boumediene is believed to be in Syria possibly taking refuge among ISIS fighters.
But how did Boumediene go from a bikini clad woman seen here to a hijab-wearing Jihadi Jane?
Ana Cabrera joins us with more on that. Good morning -- Ana.
ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
We're learning of more and more western Muslim females becoming radicalized. The big question is what has changed? What tactics are today's terrorists using to specifically target or lure western women?
The experts we've been talking to suggest there are a number of factors that are drawing women into the world of violent extremism.
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CABRERA: She's among the most dangerous women in the world. Just 26 years old, Hayat Boumediene -- cameras catching her arriving at the Istanbul Airport on January 2. Authorities now believe she's somewhere in Syria. Her boyfriend Amedy Coulibaly pledging allegiance to ISIS before allegedly taking the lives of four people inside a kosher food store in Paris last week along with a policewoman. His lawyer claims Boumediene is even more radical than her boyfriend. Authorities say Boumediene also had ties to the Kouachi brothers who stormed the offices of "Charlie Hebdo". They say she exchanged about 500 phone calls with the wife of Cherif Kouachi in 2014.
So how did this Western Muslim woman become one of the world's most wanted? That's unclear.
ZUNERA MAZHAR, MUSLIM OUTRAGED BY ATTACK: It's that sense of belonging and unfortunately, a lot of times this sense of belonging is coming from, you know, seeking a higher purpose.
CABRERA: Zunera Mazhar knows how easy it can be to fall prey to a radical ideology. It almost happened to her after 9/11.
MAZHAR: I really had a struggle to find my place in this society. I started getting on the blogs, getting on the forums. I saw this extreme version of Islam. I was 18 at the time.
CABRERA: 19-year-old Shannon Conley's family says something similar happened to their daughter. The Colorado teen is set to be sentenced later this month after admitting she tried to go to Syria to marry an ISIS fighter and become a nurse in an ISIS camp.
Her lawyer claimed she went online to learn more about Islam but got trapped in a web of an Internet-savvy jihadi organization with sophisticated marketing.
So what is it about their messaging, do you think, that is connecting with women?
DR. ANDREA STANTON, UNIVERSITY OF DENVER: I think first and foremost, there's now an appeal being made to women. ISIS has done a really good job of suggesting precisely that. Look, you have a role here too, women. Extremism is not just for men.
CABRERA: Religious studies scholar, Dr. Andrea Stanton suggests bringing women into the ranks is a new phenomenon.
STANTON: I think that it would appeal particularly to women who grow up in a Western European or North American context because they expect more equitable treatment.
CABRERA: Look no further than yet another case -- three Denver area high schoolers just 15, 16 and 17 years old. The Girls ran away from home in October and made it halfway to Syria before they were stopped by authorities in Germany. A group that tracks international terrorists analyzed the girls' social media activity and discovered they had been in communication with female recruiters. So-called "ISIS sisters".
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know we need more who can go out there and say, "Wait, this is not Islam."
CABRERA: Compelled to speak out after what has happened in Paris, Mazhar posted this iReport on cnn.com hoping to start an educated conversation about Islam which she believes saved her when she was drifting towards radicalization.
MAZHAR: I was able to get out of it as I read about more open-minded scholars. It allowed me to kind of come back and revert from that and really realize that the meaning of Islam just like any other religion is oneness.
CABRERA: A message she wants to teach her six-year-old daughter and the rest of the world.
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CABRERA: Now, Dr. Stanton also wants to emphasize that younger women may be especially vulnerable to these Islamic extremists because they're at a more impressionable age and especially in western societies where there can be mixed messages about how a Muslim woman should act or how she should dress could create some uncertainty leading many of these people in the age of technology to the Internet where inevitably Carol, they encounter these radical ideologies.
COSTELLO: It's all so hard to understand. Ana Cabrera -- many thanks to you.
For more on what draws some Western women to terror groups like al Qaeda and ISIS, I want to bring in Karla Cunningham. She's an expert in female terrorists and extreme violence. Welcome -- Karla.
KARLA CUNNINGHAM, EXPERT ON FEMALE TERRORISTS: Thank you. Nice to be here.
COSTELLO: Nice to have you here.
So I understand young women are impressionable and they're vulnerable. But still, you get in league with these extremists and you wear a burqa, you have no rights. You can't drive. You can't go outside without a male escort. Do girls not realize these things?
CUNNINGHAM: I think they don't realize sometimes what they're getting into. I think they have a rather romanticized understanding of where they're going and what they might be doing. And there are differences in terms of their roles once they get there. I think we have the sense that they are probably pretty oppressed but I think that it's probably a little bit different than that.
There's going to be a range of roles that they have including women recruiting women. So I think we have to be a little bit careful in thinking about how these women are operating over there because I don't think we have enough information about that.
COSTELLO: I was just going to ask you that. What would life be like if you fell in with them and you traveled to Syria like Hayat Boumediene?
CUNNINGHAM: You know, I think it could be a number of different things. I think you could find yourself having a more active role. Clearly women are being used to help recruit other women in particular. This is a new strategy, by the way. The Ku Klux Klan used this, years ago and found it to be a very effective technique to keep people close to the organization.
It could be that these individuals are training for more operational roles and I think that there is some evidence to that effect. But I think a lot of these individuals believe that they are going there to be supportive and are willing to engage in a lot of those kinds of roles. I mean I've heard of, you know, sort of the sexual exploitation of women and I don't think that we really know. I think we need more information.
COSTELLO: I'll give you an example. In Nigeria, the school girls who were captured, I'm sure their lives are terrible right now because some of them are being --
CUNNINGHAM: Right.
COSTELLO: -- well even by ISIS we hear stories of women being sold into sexual slavery or forced to marry people. Those stories surely are getting out online.
CUNNINGHAM: You would think so. But I think there's probably a rationalization that these individuals perhaps deserve this treatment. They're apostates (ph) for their legitimate targets versus individuals who willingly join the organization. And what's interesting about this is this has sort of -- it sort of has legs. It reminds me very much of early gang theory and why young women joined gangs here in the United States years ago.
The sort of discussion was, geez, these women are there and they are kind of being used by these men. And yet when researchers went in and actually studied them, they found that in fact their roles were quite diverse and I think probably something like that is happening inside a group like ISIS.
COSTELLO: Karla Cunningham, thanks for your insight. I appreciate it.
CUNNINGHAM: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a new look just minutes after the deadly massacre one week ago -- the Kouachi brothers in a shootout with police and their escape moments later. We'll show you more next.
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COSTELLO: As the new edition of "Charlie Hebdo" sells out in France and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula admits responsibility for the deadly magazine attack, we're getting a new look at the Kouachi brothers and the shootout with police in Paris a week ago and their escape in a getaway car moments later -- very chilling video.
Jim Sciutto is here to talk about what we're seeing in this video. I know you have examined this video and well, needless to say it's frightening. Tell us what you see.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's see. As we go through it there, one of the first things you notice is just the circumstances of this. Reminder to our viewers this took place after the shooting here at "Charlie Hebdo" and before they had their first encounter with police.
Just notice, one, he raises his finger. He's shouting "we have avenged the Prophet Mohammed". He shouts that three times. The raising of the finger is a common symbol with Islamic extremists, makes the point that there is only one God which is part of a typical traditional saying. Muslims will say there is only one God and his prophet is Mohammed.
Other thing here, you see this moment as one of the shooters, his gun appears to jam. The other one helps him clear the chamber and put another magazine in before they drive away. Just the fact that they had the time to do that in broad daylight on a Paris street after committing mass murder is really alarming.
Now, they get into the car as you see here and they're going to pull up the street -- this is just behind me around the corner as they leave the offices of "Charlie Hebdo". And you'll see the person who filmed this on their cell phone, jumbles a bit and then catches them down the street as they come face to face with a police car, opened fire on that police car with automatic weapons and that car backing up rapidly. Of course, the police here greatly out gunned by these two attackers.
You're going to see them advance. They get back in the car in almost Hollywood style but again showing their training. You have the driver in the left-hand side and the gunman in the passenger side shooting out the window as he goes. If you have ever seen those pictures of the windshield of that police car, just a tight grouping of bullets in the window shows the level of skill with an automatic weapon that is uncommon and goes to the training that they had. It really is alarming to watch -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It's interesting that the people shooting this video at first thought it was fake. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.
SCIUTTO: You know, it's one of those natural reactions. You're an eyewitness and it would be so surprising to imagine gunmen in the middle of Paris streets carrying something like this out. So you make an assumption that well, maybe it's the police perhaps. Those black outfits that they're wearing are not unlike what you see the British counter terror police wearing. We saw them in action last week as they broke up, as they laid siege on the Kosher market.
And also I think just the assumption that it would be so hard to accept that this kind of terror could happen so much in the open here in Paris. There have been other terror attacks here but just not to this scale and not to this level of brazenness. You know, you learn a lot from these videos.
But one is the level of training and that's a great concern particularly Carol as we learn more today about the attackers' tied -- alleged ties to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula where it's believed they went to Yemen to get training. But now there's increasing evidence that they had other forms of support including financial support for this attack -- Carol. Another alarming look at those moments a week ago today that really terrorized this city and the country.
COSTELLO: All right. Jim Sciutto -- many thanks. I'll be right back.
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COSTELLO: We're learning the Paris terror attacks will not delay the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. His attorneys had sought a delay insisting that media coverage of the attack and the attention focused on the Kouachi brothers and Tsarnaev and his now dead brother made it impossible to seat an impartial jury.
But just a short time ago, the judge heartily disagreed. Jury selection is set to resume tomorrow.
I'm joined now by Heather Abbott. Her life changed forever on April 15th, 2013 when she went to watch the Boston Marathon. She was badly injured in the bombings that day. Doctors amputated her left leg below the knee.
Thank you, Heather, for being with me -- I appreciate it.
HEATHER ABBOTT, BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING SURVIVOR: Thank you for having me.
COSTELLO: Is it difficult for you knowing that the trial is coming up and that you'll sort of have to relive this?
ABBOTT: It is difficult. I'm definitely looking forward to it being put in the past and behind me as I'm sure many of the other survivors are too.
COSTELLO: You know, that's what I kind of enjoy about Bostonians the most. They are just so pragmatic. I mean I like when you say I just want to put it behind me and get it over with. You're not going to dwell on it. And I think that's admirable.
ABBOTT: Thank you. Yes. I mean it is going to be a difficult time. And there is going to be some reliving of that day, no doubt. But also I think some of that is going to be part of the healing process and seeing this finally put to rest.
COSTELLO: Do you plan to attend the trial?
ABBOTT: At this point I do plan to attend at least parts of the trial. But I really don't know what to expect once I get there so I'm not sure how much I'll actually attend.
COSTELLO: Do you think Tsarnaev should get the death penalty if he's convicted?
ABBOTT: You know, I really can't say I have a strong opinion one way or the other. I try not to spend a lot of time thinking about it because ultimately it's not my decision. And regardless of the outcome, it's not going to change my circumstances.
COSTELLO: Tell us about what your life is like now.
ABBOTT: Well, my life is different than it was before the bombing in a lot of respects. But I've tried to make it as similar as I possibly can. You know, living with a prosthetic leg is much different than my life with two legs. Lots of things are different.
But I'm back to work. I'm back to going to the gym and doing the activities that I like. I go paddle boarding and I wear high heels still. So I'm trying to get on with life and do the best that I can.
COSTELLO: I love that. And we saw pictures of you crossing the finish line at the Boston Marathon in 2014. What was that like?
ABBOTT: That was pretty incredible. One of the people that was instrumental in getting me to safety that day of the bombing, Erin Chatham (ph), ran the marathon that year for the first time and I really wanted to cross the finish line with her. So I got to run the last half mile with her. It was just such a great feeling to cross that finish line and be in such a different place than I was when I met her the year before.
COSTELLO: It's just incredible. And what great pictures because you both look -- I mean your faces are filled with joy. And that's awesome to see.
ABBOTT: Yes. It was a very happy day.
COSTELLO: Tell us about your foundation.
ABBOTT: So I recently started the Heather Abbott Foundation and I was inspired to start it because when I became an amputee I got a very fast lesson in the costs that are associated with prosthetic devices and the lack of funding for those through health insurance and it was very sad to me to know that people are not able to get back to doing activities that they like or would like to try simply because they can't afford it.
So I thought that since I really wanted to have something good come out of such a terrible situation for me and something better to concentrate on than my amputation and the Boston Marathon bombing, I hope people eventually will remember me for the Heather Abbott Foundation and the prosthetic devices that will eventually be given out to amputees, victims of traumatic incidents like I was.
COSTELLO: So have people been receptive? Have they been donating? Or have you just begun?
ABBOTT: We've just begun. We just became incorporated about a month ago. But it's gotten a pretty good reception so far and lots of people have shown interest. We're hoping to do a big launch in April.
COSTELLO: Thank you so much for talking with us -- Heather. Heather Abbott, I appreciate it.
ABBOTT: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
COSTELLO: You're welcome.
Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.
"@THISHOUR" starts after a break.
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