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ISIS Threat; Family of North Carolina Murder Victims Speaks Out; American Sniper Trial

Aired February 12, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: At this point in time, we have friends and family members who are grieving at a funeral for three Muslim students who were murdered Wednesday. As loved ones mourn, they insist that hate was the motivation for the killings. Yusor Mohammad Abu Salha, Yusor's husband, Barakat, and Razan Mohammad are to be buried within hours. Investigators say Craig Stephen Hicks shot each of them in the head. Chapel Hill police say they're not ruling out a hate crime but, at this point, the attack appears to be over a parking issue with this apartment complex where the shooter and the couple lived.

Meantime, the sister's father says this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My daughter, yes, sir, honest to God, told us on more than two occasions that this man came knocking at the door and fighting about everything with a gun on his belt more than twice. She told us, "Daddy, I think he hates us for who we are and how we look."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, family members of the victims, Deah's aunt and cousin, Suhir and Dana Barakat.

And just to both of you, I offer my condolences for your loss. Thank you so much for taking time the today.

DANA BARAKAT, COUSIN OF VICTIM: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Suhir, let me just begin with you.

I understand you were the one. You called Deah's parents to offer your condolences. I cannot imagine how difficult that phone conversation must have been. How are they doing? How are the two of you doing?

SUHIR BARAKAT, AUNT OF VICTIM: It's a very difficult time for the parents.

They're in the stage of shock and can't believe what happened. It's a tremendous tragedy. You know, words can't serve to be -- talk about here in this tragedy. It's a very difficult time for everybody and for us, everybody, all the friends and everybody who know him and everybody who doesn't know him to believe what happens, and for his wife and her sister also.

BALDWIN: Dana, let me ask you.

I know the last time you saw Deah was at a family wedding. Tell me about him. Tell me about your relationship.

D. BARAKAT: Yes.

Last time we saw Deah was at his older sister Suzanne's (ph) wedding. He has an amazing personality. He just -- he always had a smile on his face and he just always knew how to make everyone smile, wonderful personality and very passionate about everything he does.

BALDWIN: It sounds to me like you looked up to him. I heard you want to be a dentist. You were in Honduras volunteering, because it sounds like this was something he was pretty passionate about as well, a pretty selfless young man.

D. BARAKAT: Yes.

You know, he was fund-raising for his trip he was going on to -- for Syria. And after he saw I went to Honduras and I was interested in dentistry, he texted me long texts about all, like, different sections in dentistry and how to get in and what to do.

And then he offered me to go with him on his trip. Yes. And he was just really passionate and always wanted to help everyone around him. And I hope one day to follow his footsteps for the success he set out for himself, because he's not only my cousin, but he's also my role model.

BALDWIN: Let me ask you about what we're hearing from the family, that these murders were targeted because of their faith, because of their culture and because of the way they dressed. This is what we're hearing from your family.

Based upon any conversations you have had with Deah, this is to either of you, how do you feel about what happened, the motivation?

D. BARAKAT: Right now, all we can really say about the subject is we basically just pray for our family and we just demand justice for what happened.

BALDWIN: Suhir, any final words?

S. BARAKAT: We just ask the authority for justice to prevail.

BALDWIN: Dana and Suhir Barakat, thank you so much. Again, my condolences to you both.

S. BARAKAT: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Got some news out of Iraq to pass along now. There are reports ISIS fighters are overrunning the Western town of al-Baghdadi. That could endanger U.S. Marines stationed at a nearby air base. CNN's Phil Black is in the north, where Kurdish fighters are locked in a battle that could have huge consequences for the war against ISIS -- Phil.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These Kurdish fighters are holding onto very important ground.

Known as Peshmerga, they say ISIS attacks them every day, sometimes by driving huge truck bombs into their defenses.

(on camera): This is probably the most contested piece of territory in all of Northern Iraq at the moment, because, from this position, the Peshmerga have effectively cut off ISIS from being resupplied across the border in Syria.

(voice-over): An ISIS outpost is just 800 yards away. For the Kurds, taking and holding at this crossroad is a key objective in their strategy of surrounding and choking off Mosul, the ISIS stronghold in Northern Iraq.

And it's another sign of the huge progress the Kurds have made in rolling back ISIS initially conquered so easily.

MASROUR BARZANI, KURDISTAN REGIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: So, we had to drive them out of this entire region.

BLACK: The head of the Kurdistan's security council says the Peshmerga have taken back almost all the ground they can until the new retrained Iraqi army is ready to take the field.

BARZANI: There are some limitations of how far we can go, because we don't want to create any political sensitivities with the Arabs. And for the rest of the region, we need cooperation and the Iraqi army to participate.

BLACK: Much of the territory claimed by Kurdish forces has been scarred dramatically by war, homes flattened, villages wiped out.

(on camera): ISIS blew up some of these homes as they retreated. Others, they rigged with explosives to detonate when people returned. Locals say four were killed here when they opened the front door.

(voice-over): Across this recent battlefield, people have started returning to what's left of their homes, even as the war against ISIS still rages only a short distance away.

Phil Black, CNN, near Mosul, Northern Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Phil Black, thank you.

We also now have more proof that the world's most wanted woman has linked up with ISIS. Hayat Boumeddiene, the widow of the gunman who attacked that kosher market in Paris, has just broken her silence, apparently giving an interview to this ISIS French-language magazine "Dar al Islam."

In this magazine, she says she has safely reached the Islamic State in Syria. It's a claim that would coincide with CNN's own reporting that she made her way from France, through Turkey into Syria. She said reaching ISIS territory was easy. She calls for others to follow in her footsteps and in the footsteps of her terrorist husband.

But something she doesn't mention is specifically her role in the Paris attacks.

I have got CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank with me.

Let me just begin with there had been speculation that she was, in fact, linked to ISIS, but thus far and even in this interview with the magazine, there is no proof that she's joined the group, correct?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: They're not providing any proof, something like a photograph.

Of course, any photograph that they provide should will be fully veiled. You would only see her eyes. But they're not even providing a photograph at this point. I think if she had joined up with ISIS, we can expect a lot more propaganda from them to come on this.

It really allows them to take ownership of that attack in Paris last month by her companion, Amedy Coulibaly. It's that surveillance footage outside a Jewish institution in Paris where they were both actually there last summer, suggesting that she had a role in that attack.

BALDWIN: What was the crux of her interview?

CRUICKSHANK: She was basically telling jihadis around the world, keep up the struggle, come to Syria and Iraq. She was telling women to support their husbands in jihad, that kind of stuff.

She didn't provide any new detail about her role in that Paris attack, though.

BALDWIN: There is the interview with Hayat Boumeddiene in this magazine. Then there's the interview with the ringleader of that Belgium attack that we covered a couple of weeks ago. What is he saying? Where is he? He's in Syria now.

CRUICKSHANK: That's what ISIS are claiming, that Abdel-hamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader in the major plot against Belgium last month, that Belgian officials believe that ISIS was behind, according to ISIS, he's granted them an interview. They have a few pages of his remarks about that plot, about managing to evade this big international manhunt to try and find him and get safely back to Syria.

From the ISIS point of view, this is a double propaganda whammy. But clearly, we don't know if these claims are true at this point. BALDWIN: And doubling down on propaganda because really that's what

they're all about, right, even though it's over the death, the murder of that Jordanian pilot who was put in this cage and burned alive. Not only then did they put the video out, but there are still photos in this magazine?

CRUICKSHANK: There are new photos in this magazine which are even more horrendous, if you can believe that, than the actual video, pictures taken in the aftermath of him being burned to death.

As you can imagine, they're absolutely horrible. They're really doubling down on this. There's also a long theological, pseudo- theological exposition about why this was justified from their point of view, from an Islamic perspective, eye for eye and all kind of other stuff.

Obviously, the vast majority of Muslims around the world absolutely horrified by this act of complete barbarism.

BALDWIN: Paul Cruickshank, thank you.

Just in here, the Senate confirming Ash Carter as the new secretary of defense, the vote 93-5. Carter here, the former number two at the Pentagon, replaces Chuck Hagel after less than two years on the job. The war against ISIS one of the biggest priorities at this moment.

Coming up next, the head of the FBI quoting a provocative Broadway show today, saying everyone is a little bit racist. We will speak live with the African-American police officer who wrote an opinion letter, an open opinion letter to Ferguson protesters to respond. We will talk to him again.

Plus, after this plane crash was caught on camera, the airline decided to test its pilots. But many of them completely failed. Hear why.

And the widow of the American sniper Chris Kyle takes the stand in the trial of his alleged killer. Hear her emotional words about what happened the day he was shot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: Many people in our white majority culture have unconscious racial biases and react differently to a white face than a black face.

In fact, we all, white and black, carry various biases around with us. I am reminded of the song from the Broadway hit "Avenue Q," everyone is a little bit racist, a part of which goes like this. Look around and will you find no one is really colorblind. Maybe it's a fact we all should face. Everyone makes judgments based on race.

You should be grateful I did not try to sing that.

(LAUGHTER) (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: FBI Director James Comey using a pop culture reference and a bit of humor there while discussing a very serious topic today at Georgetown University in D.C. in a speech entitled "Hard Truths: Law Enforcement and Race."

This is the first time Comey has weighed in publicly on the need to address racial bias among members of law enforcement nationwide. He said it factors into poor relations between law enforcement and minorities.

But Comey also said minorities living in high-crime areas must recognize the dangers officers face.

Let me bring in an officer currently serving in New Mexico. He is Anwar Sanders of the New Mexico Police Department.

Officer Sanders, welcome back.

ANWAR SANDERS, NEW MEXICO POLICE DEPARTMENT: How you doing, Brooke? Thanks for having me again.

BALDWIN: I'm doing all right. My day is better now that we get you back.

Let me just begin we talked a few months ago here on the show, and just to remind everyone, you were an active police officer and you wrote this very honest open letter to protesters in the wake of what happened in Ferguson, Missouri. For people who weren't watching, can you just remind us what that message was?

SANDERS: Yes.

The letter, the message was my relationship with communities being a black man. And it's more like, what are we going to do now? That was more my letter is, what are we going to now in the wake of those incidents in Ferguson and New York?

BALDWIN: Let's get to the what are we going to do now here in a second.

We heard James Comey quoting "Avenue Q." It's like that provocative puppet show. It's about sex and porn and religion and race. Nothing is taboo in this show. To hear him quote it, essentially saying everyone in society, not just police, make judgments based upon race, would you agree with that?

SANDERS: I wouldn't say everybody makes their judgments based off of race because I don't, so I can't say everybody does because I am definitely in that minority that doesn't.

I do feel like everyone has a stereotype about someone as soon as they see them. It could be based off of what they're wearing. It could be based off of where they're at, their posture, their demeanor, the things they say. I feel like everybody does make a stereotype about somebody. I don't think it's necessarily because of their race.

BALDWIN: So you never, ever, ever wake up one day and see somebody, whatever their color, and think anything differently? You're totally unbiased?

SANDERS: No. I don't think like that. It's based off of the things you do.

And I feel like people do form a stereotype of people, and I just don't necessarily think it's always because of race. I just think the world we live in is one of stereotypes and everyone has an opinion and that's just the way it is. I don't think it's necessarily race, though.

BALDWIN: On that note, let me play something else he said. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMEY: After years of police work, officers often can't help but be influenced by the cynicism they feel. A mental shortcut becomes almost irresistible and maybe even rational by some lights.

The two young black men on one side of the street look like so many others that officer has locked up. Two white men on the other side of the street, even in the same clothes, do not. The officer does not make the same association about the two white guys, whether that officer is white or black.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I just wanted to go to that, Anwar, because it speaks maybe to part of your point. You're saying maybe it's not a race thing. It's based upon somebody's preconceived notion. It may be based upon a neighborhood or a previous experience leads one to look at someone as different, correct?

SANDERS: Correct.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Finish your thought on that. I'm curious.

SANDERS: I do. I do agree with that.

I feel like your cultured in to things in your neighborhood. You see certain type of activities, you're prone to make an assumption based off of that activity again.

So if you're prone to seeing a black male do something and a white male do something, when you see them do those certain things, you're going to go back to your preconceived notion.

If I may, let me share some numbers real quick that might speak on this.

BALDWIN: Sure.

SANDERS: The uniform crime report from the federal government in the years 2009 through 2012 has some interesting numbers. OK?

They reported 56,259 homicides, OK? With those homicides, 1,491 of them were use of force from officers; 915 of those men that got killed by officers were white men. That's 61.4 percent. And 481 were black men. So, that's 32 percent. A lot of people don't understand. You know, it's not just black men getting killed by officers.

There is also white males being killed as well. And with that number, it's even more interesting -- 19,000 of those 56,000 were black males that got killed, and 17,000 of those, 19,000, were black-on-black murders. So when you are working in these high crime areas that are predominantly black communities, they just got to understand that officers see these numbers and, you know, they act accordingly.

The fact of the matter is some of these neighborhoods are just really dangerous places to work.

BALDWIN: Based upon facts, based upon numbers, based upon arrests in previous neighborhoods.

Let me ask just you before I let you go quickly, Anwar, has anything changed personally for you since the last time we spoke on all of this?

SANDERS: Yes.

I mean, like I said in my letter, I was frightened about, you know, what was going to happen in the wake of the Ferguson riots and the New York situation. And everything that I thought would happen was. Now we're getting -- cops are getting ambushed more. We got the cops in New York that are getting killed in their cars.

Now people are loosening up the car tires of cops in hopes that while they're driving down the street, the tries will fall off and they will die. And they're stealing stuff from our cars. They're shooting up cops' houses. It's just gotten out of control and it's one of those trends that I hope passes soon.

BALDWIN: I hope so too. I hope so too. And I commend you for your work and coming on and speaking with me again, Anwar Sanders. Thank you.

Coming up next, after this terrifying plane crash that was caught on camera on this dash cam, TransAsia tested its pilots and 10 of them failed. What does that mean for the airline? That's coming up.

Also ahead, the attorney for the man who killed American sniper Chris Kyle argues his psychosis was so severe, he didn't know what he was doing was wrong. Will that defense work? We will have that conversation ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: TransAsia Airways is grounding 10 pilots for failing a

proficiency test recommended by officials in the wake of last week's deadly crash in Taipei.

And the test they failed was just part of the oral part of the examination. These 39 different pilots who passed must now complete this simulator test, all of this as recovery crews are continuing to search for one remaining victim who is yet to be found.

At least 42 people were killed when the wing of that ATR turboprop clipped that bridge, sending the plane careening into the river.

Aviation correspondent Richard Quest is with me with more.

First, so after this crash happened, these pilots were tested, what was the test? What were the questions?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Right.

We now know that the right engine failed, the number two engine failed and it appears number one engine was switched off. So this test was all about how pilots respond when there is an engine failure.

BALDWIN: OK.

QUEST: It's the most often tested, if you will, thing they do in the simulator. It is absolute basic aeronautics and aviation for commercial pilots, how you respond when there is a failure of one engine and making a decision of which engine and how you deal with it.

And what happened at TransAsia is that a large number of pilots either were away and didn't take the test, or they failed the test.

BALDWIN: And 10 of failed, right, 10?

QUEST: Out of 49. And this is exceptionally worrying for the airline because it clearly shows they either didn't take the test or they weren't sufficiently aware of how to handle this particular emergency situation.

They have been told, you have got a month to study. Retake the test. If you fail the test then, you're fired.

BALDWIN: So, what happens to these 10 who failed?

QUEST: They have got a month now to get back up to speed. It's not unusual. Pilots do fail sometimes in the sim tests, but what they were being tested on...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: You're saying aeronautics 101.

QUEST: Oh, this was pretty basic stuff. This was absolutely crucial to all pilots, how you handle a failure of an engine on takeoff.

BALDWIN: OK.

And then just finally, former Korean Air executive sentenced to a year in prison over macadamia nuts?

QUEST: Yes. This is the story of Heather Cho.

She's the daughter of the chairman. She was the vice president. You will remember, we have had lots of deep apologies from Heather Cho. She basically ordered the plane back to the gate so that she could have the chief purser removed, because one of the flight attendants in first class served her macadamia nuts in a bag, not on a plate.

BALDWIN: You're serious?

QUEST: No, no, it's a well-documented case.

She apparently -- the case is known as nut rage. She went ballistic. She poked the chief flight attendant with her file. She made him kneel on the floor and apologize.

She has done tearful apologies up the wazoo for days. But now the judge said, you treated that plane as if it was your own private aircraft. You're going to prison for a year. Another ally makes that got months to try to get the chief flight attendant to change his story.

BALDWIN: Not rage?

QUEST: Not rage. If somebody offers you macadamia nuts on a plane, make sure they are served on a plate, not in a bag.

BALDWIN: Richard Quest, I will my peanuts in a bag. And I'm good with that.

QUEST: Thank you, Ma'am.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much.