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New Video Shows Terror Plot in Progress; Muslim Man Understands Terrorist Lure; New Information on AirAsia 8501; Russian Spy Ship Arrives in Havana

Aired January 20, 2015 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Somewhere in the United States right now, there could be a single person, a lone wolf, plotting to carry out a terror attack. This is an inescapable truth of the times. We just saw the case of Christopher Cornell. He was allegedly plotting to carry out an attack on the U.S. capitol.

And now, we have new stunning undercover video that shows the thinking of a would-be terrorist plotting a similar attack, revealing how he could hatch a plan and why he would be so hard to stop.

Here is CNN's national correspondent, Susan Candiotti, with the chilling video.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The video is convincing. Watch the man sitting in the front seat.

(CROSSTALK)

CANDIOTTI: A hidden camera rolling inside a car. Amin El Kalithi (ph) sounds like his mind's made up.

AMIN EL KALITHI (ph), PLANNING TERRORISM ATTACK: Listen, I'm going to go alone. You're not going with me. I'm going to put everything on my body and go inside, like a real place, maybe capitol or somewhere who -- main people.

CANDIOTTI: A rare frightening look inside the mind of a would-be suicide bomber, ready to strap on a vest with explosives and blow himself up at the U.S. capitol. A lone wolf stopped by an FBI undercover sting.

ANDREW MCCABE, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI: The difference here is not just the clear intent to strike us here but the pursuit of the capability to be able to conduct that attack. I think the tape shows that very well.

CANDIOTTI: El Kalithi (ph), an unemployed deejay seeking revenge on the U.S. for its war on terror. He's convinced God's telling him to kill.

EL KALITHI (ph): This is not about happiness. This is about Allah.

CANDIOTTI: El Kalithi (ph) is in a hurry. The Moroccan national is living illegally in the U.S., dealing with assault charges.

EL KALITHI (ph): I'm done. I'm done. My work is done.

CANDIOTTI: Willing to die, he's inside a store buying nails for shrapnel for his body bomb. Bragging about the size of the nails, excited about the damage he can do.

EL KALITHI (ph): I got big ones. The ones that's going to make damage, right. Don't be nervous, man. No, man.

CANDIOTTI: Again, he brings up his target, the U.S. Congress.

EL KALITHI (ph): I want to go somewhere with those suits, those heads, just them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

EL KALITHI (ph): All of those people.

CANDIOTTI: Undercover agents drive him to a landfill, setting up a test bomb for his suicide vest. Back inside the car, undercover agents using a cell phone show him how easy it is to detonate a bomb.

UNIDENTIFIED AGENT: We're going to call it. You're going to call it.

CANDIOTTI: He gives him the phone and moments later --

(EXPLOSION)

EL KALITHI (ph): Oh.

CANDIOTTI: The time is getting closer.

EL KALITHI (ph): I'm not thinking about anything. Nothing. I have my decision. I seen some stuff in my dreams.

CANDIOTTI: And his dream includes shooting anyone who gets in his way.

In a hotel room with undercover agents, he practices with a MAC-10.

UNIDENTIFIED AGENT: (INAUDIBLE). It doesn't take much. You just pull it and it shoots.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Ready to target the capitol, he drives to a D.C. garage, puts on what he thinks is a real suicide vest, and grabs a loaded gun. Both are duds, provided by the FBI, and agents take him down.

MCCABE: Individuals who are self-radicalized can exist off the radar as it were for a long time until they're ready to actually go out and act. That's the scenario that causes us the most concern.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): After pleading guilty, El Kalithi (ph) gets a 30-year sentence. He tells a judge, I just want to say I love Allah.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: That is frightening.

Let me bring in my next guest, Abdelkader Benali, Moroccan born, raised in the Netherlands. Totally not related to what we just talked about, but there's a tie. He's a Muslim who understands what it means to be lured, perhaps, for some, to jihad.

Abdelkader, welcome.

ABDELKADER BENALI, NOVELIST & MOROCCAN-BORN MUSLIM: Hi, Brooke. Thank you very much.

BALDWIN: I was really moved by this opinion piece you wrote. What you write about is very different from what we just saw in that piece out of Washington, but there's the similar theme here. Young, impressionable Muslims feeling disconnected from mainstream society. You wrote about this in "The New York Times." It was an op-ed entitled "From Teenage Angst to Jihad." In it, you tell the story about yourself. You write about being 13 years of age, arguing with a teacher and classmates about the Prophet Muhammad. You say the people in that moment, those kids in that classroom looked at you like you were a madman. Tell me what happened.

BENALI: Oh, yeah. I felt disconnected from reality that moment. At that time, a novel came out in which the Prophet Muhammad is depicted as a human being with all his vices. I found it an insult to my religion. I said, how can a writer write about the Prophet Muhammad? He's the perfect man.

I got into this argument with my history teacher in the classroom. He said to me, well, you know, this is free speech, freedom of expression. It's a novelist doing his work. You can't be angered by that. I got really, really upset. I started this heated argument, and I got really angry. I mean, steam was coming out of my ears. You know, for feeling that my opinion, my religious feeling at that time, was not being respected. I got very, very angry. At one point, I was shocked, like, why don't you show some respect for Muhammad?

As if he was the writer of the book, as if he was part of a whole group of people being against me. The history teacher, intelligent enough, sent me out of class. That moment, being there alone, you know, saying to myself, why am I so angry? Why do I feel ashamed? That's a feeling I think a lot of young Muslim men in Europe, in the United States can relate to.

BALDWIN: It was so personal for you in that moment as a 13-year-old young man that you write about this in your piece. You say, I know from my own experience that the lure of extremism can be very powerful when you grow up in a world where the media and everyone around you seems to mock and insult your culture. I mean, obviously, you know, you stayed on the right path, but you indicated this desire for revenge.

BENALI: Yeah, I became a novelist. I used to channel my anger. I use it as a transformational power, you could say. But there are young people who feel rejected by society, who feel that media, you know, is mocking their religion, is condescending toward their religion. And they do not feel their anger is being heard. They have the feeling they're still secondhand, second-class citizens in a secular society. I think the great challenge of Muslims in Europe and America is how do we deal with the sacred religious, with something we hold sacred in a secular society, how to deal with this when it comes to freedom of speech, what is the position of religion in this society?

BALDWIN: What is the answer to that? We have so many very, very smart people on the show. I'm asking about these people who feel legitimately marginalized. Some of them go the wrong way.

BENALI: Oh, yeah. Well, I think being listened to is the most important. I go into prisons. I go into schools, and I talk about this. And there are young people, young men who recognize it. They recognize that I know about their anger. The moment they feel understood by this, they want to tell their story. Being -- having this feeling of this person, of society is accepting my anger is accepting it, you know, to be spoke the out gives people a relief, gives them the feeling that they belong to that society. I think at this moment, when it comes to the big themes about secular society and Islam, a lot of Muslims in Europe, you know, do not feel listened to, do not feel understood. And first of all, 99 percent of the Muslims in Europe, peace loving, love their society, love being in Europe. But there is a small margin of people who radicalize and go into terrorism.

BALDWIN: But shouldn't there be other people in addition to novelists -- and I think it's wonderful what you're doing, going into these prisons. But shouldn't it be higher levels who are the people who do this listening to keep these people from taking the wrong path?

BENALI: Well, there should be more of them. We should be more aware. For one thing, a lone wolf, somebody who commits terrorism, it's very, very difficult to find out who is doing what and then turn them back. One who goes into terrorism, they're individuals. But we as a community, we have to stand up. There are writers, artists, directors, but also mothers and fathers. Mothers and fathers sending their children to school and saying, listen, you are a citizen of our society. There's equality for everybody. Do not feel ashamed of your position. Do not feel ashamed of your religion. And go open into the debate and don't worry. Your vulnerability is great. And I think now -- I mean, when that happened to me, you know, that was 25 years ago. I felt so alone. And that situation is different now. People talk to each other about this.

BALDWIN: But you can remember, in a second, you know, talking about this. I can tell it takes you back to being 13 all over again.

BENALI: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

BALDWIN: Abdelkader Benali, thank you so much. I commend you for listening. We need more of you. Thank you, sir.

Coming up next, new information that shows this AirAsia flight climbed to this altitude by some 6,000 feet in its final moments. This is according to one official. That is faster than a fighter jet. We'll talk to Richard Quest. He'll join me next for more on that.

Plus, on the eve of the biggest U.S. diplomatic trip to Cuba in three decades, a Russian spy ship docks in a Havana harbor. Here it is, live pictures. We'll go live to Havana coming up here on CNN.

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BALDWIN: We have some new details today about the tragic crash of AirAsia flight 8501. Indonesia's transportation minister said this jet climbed at a speed of 6,000 feet per minute -- that apparently is faster than a fighter jet -- just seconds before it crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 162 passengers and crew on board.

So let's bring in our aviation correspondent, Richard Quest, who is in Davos, Switzerland.

Richard, let me ask, you know, if you're going 6,000 feet a minute, what are possible scenarios as to why that would happen?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, the first thing is, yes, there's no question the average plane will ascend or descend at about 15,000 feet a minute. Is it unusual or unheard of for a plane to go up by 6,000? No, I've spoken to pilots today who say they've done it. I think we need to sort of suggest in an emergency, you most certainly can climb by that sort of level. What could cause this?

Brooke, what you're looking at is was this a controlled climb by 6,000 feet a minute, or was it an updraft because of the weather that was taking it up at that sort of level or some combination of both. The people I'm talking to now, what they're starting to believe happened is the bad weather created a scenario where the pilot or the updraft lifted the plane up by a dramatic amount and then something happened to the engines, causing it to stall. Those are the scenarios that people are now looking at and working out what happened. But we will get more details, Brooke. Now we've got both of the flight recorders.

BALDWIN: So, I mean, basic physics 101. If you increase the speed or velocity at which a plane goes up, once it turns back around and hits the water, wouldn't that -- it would mean that it would have a greater impact as it hit water, correct?

QUEST: Well, the first thing is, of course, as you increase the altitude, as the nose goes up to increase the altitude, the speed goes down. That's obviously because the plane is now requiring more power to go up. If you're climbing at 6,000 feet a minute, then clearly you're going to need a serious amount of power. Also, anything, and I mean anything, that disrupts the air flow or that causes a problem with your speed, your margin has become very, very narrow. What we also now believe from rumor, and these are just rumors, what the cockpit voice recorder shows is a lot of noise, a lot of warning sounds. That would be consistent with the plane going into a stall with various systems sending out warnings and with the aircraft failing in flight.

BALDWIN: All right, Richard Quest. We continue to wait for more answers. Thank you so much, in Switzerland for me.

Next, on the eve of this historic diplomatic talk between the U.S. and Cuba, an unexpected visitor off the coast of Havana in the form of this Russian spy ship. What's it doing there? We will take you live to Havana for that.

Plus, the hunt for terrorists. Brand new arrests across Europe and anti-terror raids, and they come as the manhunt heats up for this mastermind of the terror plot in Belgium.

You're watching CNN. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A very curious ship has sailed into Havana's harbor today. We have a picture. Here you go. This one. A Russian ship specializing in intelligence gathering. Translation, this is a spy ship. And what do you know, a delegation from the U.S. State Department travels to Havana tomorrow, while a congressional delegation was there just yesterday. Coincidence?

CNN's Patrick Oppmann joins me now live from Havana.

Which, by the way, I'm told the ship is right there over your shoulder, Patrick Oppmann. Why is it there?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, not even 100 yards from our CNN Havana bureau. Let's take a look at it. Arrived in Cuba, in Havana this morning. Something of a surprise. The ship was here last year. As you can see from the antennas, from the dishes, all this high-tech spy stuff, this ship is essentially used to soak up whether it's e-mails, phone calls, any kind of digital intelligence that this spy ship can gather.

But here's the interesting thing. While it is a spy ship, its purpose here is not at all secret. It's parked just feet away from our office. This is a very heavily traveled part of the city. This is where cruise ships usually come in. Not usually where you see a spy hit parked. So is this Vladimir Putin trying to send a message? We don't know. Cuban authorities haven't said anything. U.S. Authorities haven't said anything. Of course, highest level U.S. delegation is due to arrive in Havana tomorrow to begin talks about normalizing relations.

So while there is hope and expectation that Cuba will normalize relations with the U.S., still the specter of the Cold War literally in the background as this Russian spy ship that really has no other purpose to be here, other than to monitor communications in the U.S. Has arrived, you know, pretty convenient timing.

BALDWIN: How about that for a live shot, Patrick Oppmann? I think it's important, too, to broaden this out. The Cuba news and headlines made in the last couple months, but also we know tonight is the State of the Union. Former Cuban prisoner Alan Gross will be sitting, part of the first lady's box tonight in D.C. No doubt the president in his address will talk about Cuba. How will what you're standing in front of, you know, and what the president addresses, how might that cast relations in a different light, Patrick?

OPPMANN: Well, absolutely. You'd expect the president to talk about turning the page in Cuba/U.S. relations. Here we have a blast from the past, from the Cold War past, when Russia used Cuba as a base for missiles, spying, intelligence gathering. It was just last year Vladimir Putin was here and signed a new agreement with Cuba to cooperate on intelligence gathering capabilities. The very agreement that's brought this ship here today. Certainly opponents of the president's new policy, we expect, will seize on this, the fact that Cuba is once again home for Russian intelligence gathering on the United States -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: We'll watch for the president tonight and how he addresses Cuba.

Patrick Oppmann, live in Havana. Thank you, sir.