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ISIS Militants Storm Two Villages in Northern Syria; Keystone XL Pipeline Bill Vetoed by President Obama

Aired February 24, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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


ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's unclear exactly what the circumstances were behind the kidnapping, whether or not this was a criminal activity, as the police commissioner did come out and say or if there is another group that is perhaps ultimately behind it at this stage. Investigation is understandably still ongoing.

The FBI also reportedly collaborating with the Nigerian authorities to try to bring her back. The great concern at this stage, Ana, is that this group, this criminal group, perhaps if that ransom is not paid, could capitalize on the opportunity, the fact they do now have a western hostage and perhaps sell her on to one of the key terrorist groups that is known to operate in Nigeria, and that is Boko Haram.

But this very much still an investigation under way at this stage. Now, according to the police commissioner, as well, two of those men that were amongst the five involved in the kidnapping were wearing masks. As they were driving away, they were firing weapons into the air. So if this was a criminal act, it most certainly seems to have been a well-planned and well-executed one.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Do we know anymore about what's being done to try to rescue her or to find her?

DAMON: You know, at this stage, we really just have what the police commissioner is putting out there, and that is that they are investigating this and they are trying to locate her. Nigeria is a very difficult country to try to launch this kind of an investigation. And just to give you an idea, the schoolgirls, the 300-plus schoolgirls that were kidnapped last year have yet to be found. Granted, this did take place in a different part of the country than the one that Boko Haram is known to operate in. But the authorities there are already stretched very thin, trying to deal with the terrorist threat. Exactly how many resources they can dedicate to try to free this hostage, we really don't know at this stage. There's no specifics.

There's a lot of concern understandably about her fate, about whether or not she will, if this ransom is not paid, be sold off to other organizations. In terms of the state where this kidnapping took place. It's not that far away from the capital, 100 miles or so to the south. Not an area really known for this kind of activity. Not really an area where terrorist groups operate. Something of a surprise that this did, in fact, take place. But understandably, a lot of concern about this aid worker's fate.

CABRERA: All right. Arwa Damon, thank you.

Meantime in Syria, ISIS militants have stormed two villages in northern Iraq, kidnapping more than 70 Syrian Christians. Excuse me, this was actually in northern Syria. This is coming to us from human rights groups in this area. And while hundreds were able to run for their lives, dozens were captured. Among them, we're talking about women, children, and the elderly. Innocent civilians here.

This comes as CNN has learned the U.S. has now spent millions of dollars shipping more weapons to Iraq. Weapons including 10,000 m-16 rifles that will likely be used in the battle to take back the Iraqi city of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, which is now an ISIS stronghold.

Lieutenant colonel Scott Mann, retired U.S. army special forces is joining me.

And I want to talk to you about the fight for Mosul in just a moment. But first, let's talk with Ben Wedeman, our CNN senior international correspondent currently in Erbil.

And Ben, these Syrian Christians have occupied this land for centuries. What are you learning about the fate of these kidnapped Christians and why ISIS targeted them anyway?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, we understand from the Syrian human rights network that at around 4:00 this morning local time, an ISIS force approached these two villages in (INAUDIBLE) in northeastern Syria.

Now, the village was very lightly guarded. They were able to overcome the guards and break into homes, dragging away, according to this human rights network, between 70 and 100 people, mostly women, children, and the elderly.

In addition to that, around 700 families fled that area and went to the city where they're currently taking refuge in a church. Now, we understand that from another organization, the Syrian observatory for human rights, that before this attack took place, people overheard on radios ISIS fighters discussing capturing what they called crusaders, which is what ISIS calls essentially all Christians in this case.

Now, it's important to keep in mind that recently Kurdish fighters in northern Syria were able to retake the city of Kobani, and they have been pushing ISIS further and further back, retaking territory ISIS had occupied during the summer. And this may be ISIS simply opening up a new front to relieve the pressure in other parts of Syria - Ana.

CABRERA: All right. Ben Wedeman, thanks for your reporting.

Now Colonel, we saw what happened after the killing of the Jordanian pilot. Also, the beheading of the Egyptian Christians. We've seen a huge response from Arab nations. Do you expect to see a similar response to this incident?

LT. COL. SCOTT MANN, (RET.) U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCE: Well, I don't know that you're going to see the same response. I mean, Syria is already, you know, pushing back against ISIS in this. So I don't think that you'll probably see that much of an increased response with the kidnapping of Syrian Christians.

I do think, however, what they're doing by kidnapping these Christians and persecuting yazidis and others is just part of their larger narrative to demonstrate that they really are manufacturing a crusade here. I mean, that's what they're after.

CABRERA: And listen to what Republican senator Jeff Sessions said earlier, and then we'll talk on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: We need to work with the Iraqi army. It's not incapable of action. They can take action. And we need to help them move on the offensive and take back territory and remove the momentum that ISIS has obtained and maybe get this effort blunted. I think that's very doable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So when we talk about ISIS' plan to have this caliphate to take over these large swaths of territory, and you mentioned that this latest incident is just one more example, yet Iraq is still dealing with its own situation there. We know they abandoned their positions, dropped weapons, ran away when ISIS first arrived there. So with sending more military might, are you confident the Iraqi army can rise to the challenge in that country?

MANN: Well, they certainly got their work cut out for them, Ana. I mean, this military is pretty nascent. That is pretty new. And you know, it's going to take a lot of work to get them ready for that.

I think what I'm more concerned about, though, and a lot of the folks at the nonprofit stability institute that I run, what we're concerned about is this narrative or this tension between the Shia and the Sunni areas of Mosul. Because what really this is starting to shape up to be, and I think ISIS wants, is this perceived Shia assault on Mosul. So the Iraqi military, the Shia militias, you know, that's what's going to make it very difficult for the Iraqi military to achieve any success here.

CABRERA: And so, it goes back to the heart of the initial problem, which is clashing internally with the different religious factions and even tribal factions if that area. I mean, how do you breakthrough with that?

MANN: Well, I think the first thing we have to do is we have to look at what is it that, you know, what's the narrative that these guys are trying to spin, and what are they trying to draw us into here? I mean, taking back Mosul is important, but how we take back Mosul, I think, is extremely important as well.

And if the Sunni dominated areas around Mosul perceive the Iraqi military coming against them as a Shia dominated military, then you're going to have folks entering into the fray that are not even ideologically ISIS. They just see this as a Shia onslaught against Mosul.

So we've just got to be careful that we don't get drawn into, you knows, a sectarian fight between Shias and Sunnis that we're not ready to manage. We're going to have to deal with Mosul. But again, how we do it is going to take some work. And we need to be careful not to get drawn into their narrative in the process.

CABRERA: All right. Colonel Scott Mann, our thanks to you.

MANN: Thanks a lot.

CABRERA: Up next, the George Zimmerman case back in the spotlight after the department of justice makes a key decision on civil rights charges.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: The justice department does not plan to file civil rights charges against George Zimmerman. The former neighborhood watchman was acquitted in the shooting death three years ago this Thursday of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Now, the Florida teen was unarmed when he was shot and killed. His death set off massive protests.

CNN justice reporter Evan Perez is in Washington with more on this new DOJ decision - Evan.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Ana, you know, this was always going to be a tough case for the justice department civil rights division and FBI to bring. And today, they finally decided to tell the family that they were not able to find enough proof, enough evidence to be able to bring charges against George Zimmerman. And they said they interviewed 75 witnesses over the last three years looking at this case. They said they even talked to and looked at everything that the state of Florida had looked at in their prosecution, which ultimately failed in 2013. And they decided that they just couldn't get to the standard, which is to prove that George Zimmerman intended to violate the law, civil rights law, which is what they were looking at here.

There's a statement from Eric Holder, the attorney general, in which he says, though a comprehensive investigation found that the high standard for a federal hate crime prosecution cannot be met under the circumstances here, this young man's premature death necessitates we continue the dialogue and be unafraid of confronting the issues and tensions his passing brought to the surface.

We also have a statement, Ana, from the family of Trayvon Martin. They say, although, we are disappointed in these finding, it has steeled our resolve to continue traveling the country with the message of the Trayvon Martin foundation. We remain poised to do everything in our power to help eradicate senseless violence in our communities, because we don't want any other parents experience the unexplainable loss we have endured.

And Ana, it should mention here that the justice department investigation even went as far as looking at more of his more recent activities - arrest against him in Florida with police and they still couldn't find anything to bring charges, Ana.

CABRERA: Finally some closure for Trayvon Martin's family.

Evan Perez, thank you.

Up next, a possible change in what parents are told about peanuts and peanut butter. There could be a way to prevent peanut allergies our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has that info next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Now let's talk about what could be a breakthrough moment for peanut allergies. A new study showing parents should expose their children to this la gum (ph) at an early age to prevent them from contracting a potentially fatal allergy, some often said about on what most of us parents have been told previously.

Here's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, this could help address the concern that a lot of people have for some time, why is the rate of peanut allergies going up, seemingly, and what can be done about it?

And I can tell you I think what they have found as part of this particular study is a pretty big deal. What they basically did was they took groups of children who were at risk for developing allergies, they may have had eczema, they may have allergies to other food and they basically divided them into two groups. One group had early exposure to peanut or some sort of peanut extract. Another group had avoidance, no exposure at all until they were about five years old.

And the question was, which group is more likely to develop peanut allergies. Take a look at the numbers there. You can see out of 100, people who are exposed to peanuts, closer to two out of 100, people developed allergies to these kids. If you did not have exposure, you're in the avoidance group, it was closer to 13 or 14 out of 100, maybe a seven-fold difference between the two groups. That's a pretty remarkable thing.

And I can tell you, Ana, for a long time there's been this belief that look, there's so much concern about peanut allergies and they can be life threatening to be fair. But because of that concern, this idea of just avoidance has become common practice. Let's just avoid exposing kids to peanuts until they're at least a few years old.

And what this study seems to show is that that is probably not a good tactic, even if your kid is predisposed to allergies, even if you as a parent had allergies, if you introduce peanuts early on in life, or some sort of peanut extract, you may have a better chance of not developing allergies to peanuts ever in that child's life.

So this is really important. The big question now going forward I think is how does this translate to real practice? Are doctors going to start recommending or at least allowing parents to give kids peanuts early in life. And also, could this apply to other food allergies as well? But Ana, I think this is a very big deal in the world of food and

allergies and really just kind of clinical practice. And what this means for a lot of parents and kids out there who have been worried about this for some time.

Ana, back to you.

CABRERA: Thank you, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Now, a big development right now on the keystone XL pipeline bill. And we'll have more on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: We have this just in to CNN. Moments ago, the White House announced that President Obama has officially vetoed the legislation that would have given final approval to the keystone XL oil pipeline. No surprise here. The keystone would transport oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Republicans aren't believed to have enough votes to over ride this veto.

Now, the sexual assault allegations dodging superstar comedian Bill Cosby have clouded his legendary and history career. And tonight in the CNN special report, "No Laughing matter," Alisyn Camerota delves into the shocking allegations that really (INAUDIBLE) to Cosby's reputation into a downward spiral. Please be advised that this story does contain some graphic sexual content. Might be offensive to some viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was really going to groom me and mentor me and that he had a lot that he could offer me.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Barbara Bowman says Cosby invited her to see some of his shows. There was Seattle and then Reno. There he pressured her to perform a scene in his hotel room.

BARBARA BOWMAN, ACCUSED BILL COSBY OF RAPE: He turned out the lights, and he made me close my eyes and went through an exercise, a trust exercise. It was sexual.

CAMEROTA: It was sexual. He had his pants off.

CAMEROTA: BOWMAN:

CAMEROTA: And were you --

BOWMAN: Or down at least.

CAMEROTA: He had his pants down. And he forced your hand on him.

BOWMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And were you drugged? BOWMAN: I don't know. But I know that I was frigid and frozen with

fear and just went into a zone. And mechanically wept through the motions. I felt so violated, and I felt like disgusted. I couldn't tell anybody. I felt dirty.

CAMEROTA: Why was it not an option to tell anyone at the agency about what happened?

BOWMAN: I was full of shame and fear and disgust. It was just too far-fetched for anyone to believe.

CAMEROTA: How were you able to get past that to see him again?

BOWMAN: A coping mechanism, a survival mode kicked in. I just -- it -- I was so shocked that I wanted to just believe it didn't happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: CNN's Alisyn Camerota is joining me now.

Alisyn, you talked to a number of Cosby's accusers. What stood out most to you?

CAMEROTA: Well, there have been at least two dozen who have come forward in the past two months. And one of the things that stood out to me, and you'll hear that in Barbara Bowman's story. That's who you just heard a piece on tonight, you know, there was a fallacy out there that they didn't tell anybody, why aren't they coming forward now, why they didn't speak up then?

That's not true. As you will hear, she did (INAUDIBLE) to tell people, as did most of them. And they tried to tell people. They tries to get help. They told more than one person. They sometimes told their colleagues, their bosses. And nobody was ready to hear them until now. Now because there's been this ground swell of women, finally there's power in their story. But they did attempt it. And Barbara Bowman's story is fairly universal in how she carried this with her for the next 30 years, we'll like still hear about that.

CABRERA: All right, Alisyn Camerota, we appreciate that.

CAMEROTA: Thanks. And I just want to say one last thing. Bill, we did reach out to Bill Cosby. He denied our request for an interview. And his lawyers have said that these claims and these allegations are pure in (INAUDIBLE) and fabricated lies.

CABRERA: All right. We will watch the special tonight at 9:00 eastern.

"The LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.