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Live Coverage Of Aftermath Of Paris Terror Attacks; Aired 6-7p ET

Aired November 14, 2015 - 18:00   ET

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

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[18:00:00] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Poppy Harlow, live in Paris. This is CNN's continuing special coverage of the horrific terrorist attacks that played across the city last night. It is midnight here in Paris. It is 6:00 a.m. in New York. And we are following the latest developments.

French officials warning that there could be more attackers out there. That is the latest news. They could be right here in Paris. Just a day after ISIS terrorists claim they were the one who carried out the worst violence the city has seen in decades. Officials saying at least seven terrorists working in teams of coordinated effort targeting six different locations across Paris, including a concert hall, as you see behind me, that Bataclan concert hall, also soccer stadium on the outskirts of Paris, and a restaurant. The kinds of places, everyone, ordinary people go to enjoy Friday night.

In all, we know at this hour, 129 people were killed, 352 wounded in shootings, suicide bombings. We know an American college student, 23- year-old design student, is among the dead, 89 of the victims found inside that concert hall behind me. One survivor describing it as a bloodbath with three of the attackers firing and reloading firing and reloading, some at pointblank range, for at least ten minutes.

And now, there's word from Belgium there have been multiple arrests in Belgium linked to the attacks here. Of course, this all comes just ten months after the horrific "Charlie Hebdo" massacre, just weeks since downing of the Russian jetliner over Sharm el-Sheikh that ISIS claimed responsibility for and just days after twin deadly bombings in Beirut that claimed 43 lives.

Joining me now is CNN chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto. Also CNN senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward.

Jim, let me begin with you. It is midnight here in Paris. Obviously, a city on its toes, heightened alert. But even more concern now that they may not have contained this web of terrorists.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are concerned because they don't know. And we are seeing some measures of that now. Our affiliate (INAUDIBLE) reporting that the father and brother of the French attacker involved here, who they have identified by fingerprints, someone known to authorities before this attacks, the father and brother had then detained. We don't know if there's substance to that, do they know of a direct connection or they are detaining them for questioning? There are some precedent for rounding them up so you could dig deeper.

But another measure of the state of alert we have what turn out to be a false alarm, but he had a raid on the hotel Pullman, a big police presence around the Eiffel Tower that turned out to be false alarm. Why are they doing this? Because, as French official has told CNN, they do not know that they have all of the attackers. But they also know, they believe at least, and the French president hags said this, they believe the network behind the attack or these attacks goes larger than those seven attackers, that there had to be a support network that helped them get explosives, their guns, their cars, and that is why we are now seeing the investigation spread beyond France to Belgium, Germany.

HARLOW: We saw that after the "Charlie Hebdo" attack, just five minutes from here. And we saw (INAUDIBLE) coming out of the wood ward (ph) and stands for days.

SCIUTTO: That's right. That's right. You had the one attack of "Charlie Hebdo," and (INAUDIBLE) taking over the kosher market there. So that is the fear. But there are other questions, right? Which is how you had such an extensive operation, seven attackers carried out these deadly attacks with a horrible death count, as we know, nearly 129, 352 injured with the state of alert that has been here. Because we know that French authorities have been looking out for this kind of thing.

This is an enormous network. It is international as we know. And we know they're getting help, the French getting help from American authorities, et cetera. You have intelligence cooperation. They were watching for this kind of thing and yet it was able to happen.

HARLOW: And you said 5,000 people that they really should be tracking right now.

SCIUTTO: The French estimate there are 5,000 suspected jihadi in France. It is impossible to keep them under surveillance because you would need at least 50,000 by a factor of 10 to keep one person under surveillance, even 50,000 operatives to do that. They can't do that. That's impossible.

You had that with the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks, those one of the brothers who have been under surveillance. He was taken on surveillance, this happened. You have that here to some degree in one of the attackers, French attacker, known to authorities. They believe he had been radicalized. They did not have evidence they had gone on to terrorist activities. And that's a trouble. Of course, you can't. There's no pre-crime unit here, right, within free society. You cannot arrest people purely on suspicion that they might do something. And that's a really challenge to this.

[18:05:05] HARLOW: Jim Sciutto, thank you very much for the reporting. Jim will be with us throughout the evening.

Clarissa Ward also senior international correspondent on top of this. Clarissa, you spoke to a man and a son who survived the attack that is

absolutely a chilling account. What did they tell you?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Poppy. A horrifying account. This man was really just desperate with fear that his son could potentially have been killed in the awful situation. They went on a Friday night to enjoy a concert and instead met with a bloodbath. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN LEADER, PARIS ATTACK SURVIVOR: We heard this bang, bang, bang, and like everybody else, we thought it was fireworks or part of the show. And then I felt something go past my ear, I don't know -- was it a bullet or something, I didn't know what it was. And then I realized something's coming out, something's going towards the stage, at that point I think everybody understood, everybody threw themselves on the ground, because I stuck my head up to from the desk to see what was going on. I saw two shooters, one was changing his magazine, so he had a whole lot of magazine in front of him. He had a big vest on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: What did he look like?

LEADER: A young fellow, nothing particular at all. Someone just nothing particular at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Did you hear him speak at all?

LEADER: I did. I heard him one point he said something about Syria, I think you heard it better, Oscar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. He said you need to think about Syria but in French like there wasn't any accent or anything.

LEADER: Yes. It was obviously native French speaker. I could see one of the guys covering, doing was crowd control, and the other guy was executing. So there was no chance. There was an incident ten months ago here in Europe. (INAUDIBLE). There is no chance of anybody being here because these guys were organized. One was covering the crowd. The other doing the shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Is that one of the worst moments of your life, fearing your son could have been hit?

LEADER: Well, yes, because I was screaming out his name I thought he couldn't be far away. He should shout out dad or something or stop or something and he wasn't there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Have you ever seen a dead body before?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it was my first time. And I was lying next to one which I'm really -- was not in a comfortable position at that moment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: You must have been very, very frightened. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WARD: And you heard there Poppy, both of them say they spoke French without an accent. They said undoubtedly French nationals. We now know as Jim Sciutto was just telling you that at least one of those French national attackers was well-known to authorities. He had a long rap sheet and he was radicalized. And if that nexus, really, that is the main concern here it was the same thing with "Charlie Hebdo." (INAUDIBLE) who took over the kosher supermarket, both of them had long rap sheets as well as being radicalized. And that's the toxic brew that you have the criminal element, the criminal know-how, and the background. These men are well-trained in dodging police, and buying weapons and they are sophisticated in their knowledge of how to operate within those criminal elements. But at the same time, extremely dangerous because they're highly radicalized -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Absolutely. And Clarissa, just for viewers, I mean, you have such extensive knowledge on this. You have reported in the wake of "Charlie Hebdo" so intensely on the issue of radicalization witness France. I think it's important to note they don't have to go back to Syria to be radicalized. Much of this radicalization is happening especially among criminals in the prisons here in Paris.

WARD: That's right, Poppy. (INAUDIBLE) actually met in a Parisian jail, (INAUDIBLE) and that's where they first came in to contact with Jemal Begal (ph) who was an Al-Qaeda operative who essentially radicalized them. What you have in France is a very real problem with disaffected youth. Now, that's a problem you have in many countries across the world. But what you are seeing now particularly in Europe is that these young disaffected youths can get on a plane to Turkey, drive on into Syria, learn how to use sophisticated weapons, learn how to make a bomb, and learn how to pull off incredibly sophisticated and complex and multipronged attack like this one. And that is what has authorities not just in France but all over the European continent, particularly we know now there's a Belgium connection. We also saw a Belgium connection with the Koachi brothers in "Charlie Hebdo." So this is really a concern for all European nations. What to do with disaffected youth? How to prevent them from being radicalized and it's not an easy solution. There are no easy solutions, Poppy.

HARLOW: Absolutely not. Clarissa Ward, thank you very much for the reporting. Much more from Clarissa ahead this hour.

I do want to bring in former CIA operative Bob Baer, also CNN global affairs analyst, Kimberly Dozier.

Bob, to you first. When you look at and listen to what Clarissa just said, she is absolutely right, disaffected youth across Europe. It's not a problem that is just endemic in France. When you look at this and you look at the radicalization in Syria, but also internally in France, and a French national now identified as one of the attackers, what needs to be done to contain the terror threat?

[18:10:28] BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Well, that's the problem. There's no easy solution, Poppy. This is an Algerian population that has been there since the Second World War. They are essentially French but they have not been able to integrate into French society. They can't make their way up in the elite, high unemployment, and a lot of them have turned to crime. They're criminal gangs around Paris, very dangerous. This is something we haven't seen, you know, it's the last ten years it's happened and French don't know what to do about it. And the easy access to weapons and explosives, and ability to identify with a cause, like Islamic state is an explosive solution. And if there were an easy out on this, I just - you know, no one has told it to me yet. By the way, the French police --

HARLOW: But Bob, why does have it to be an easy out, Bob? I mean, we are talking about 129 lives claimed here, 352 people, 99 of them right now in critical condition. What is the long, difficult, expensive resource intensive answer? What does this country need to do?

BAER: How do you integrate a population that is inherently you can't integrate in France? I lived there three years as an American. I had a very hard time. I spoke French. It is very hard to do. It's harder for Algerians and North Africans in general. And then you add to the problem of more refugees in France that I guarantee you, after this attack is going to turn right with le pen. This is very dangerous brew in Europe. And I don't see it getting better very quickly.

HARLOW: Kimberly Dozier, to you. We heard this week President Obama in his interview with George Stephanopoulos say that ISIS has been contained, not defeated, not decapitated in his words but contained. And to be fair, he meant on the battlefield in Syria and Iraq. When you look at what has played out over the last three weeks, the downing of the Russian jetliner, the coordinated dual bombings in Beirut that claimed 43 lives. And as I stand here, the six coordinated attacks all of which is claimed credit for, is this a new ISIS?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It's a maturation of ISIS. And I can tell you some U.S. officials listening to the president saying that winced because they are busy watching 1500 possible suspects in this country, in the United States, who have some ISIS sympathies. They are also seeing so many hundreds of fighters leave Syria and move to parts of Europe. They have been concerned that this migrant crisis would mask a movement of illicit traffic, everything from would-be terrorists to the criminal gangs that can make it easier to access weapons.

You can get a Kalashnikov in parts of Europe for around $500, the kind of weapons that used in these attacks. So their concern is that this is now shown a wider population of would-be terrorists how easy this is to do in an open city. Yes, it was sophisticated, compared to other attacks that we've seen across the west but it isn't sophisticated compared to what you've seen in a war zone. This is standard attack for Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, hit a number of different targets at same time. It really isn't that hard to plan.

HARLOW: Bob Baer, Kimberly Dozier, thank you very much. You will be with us for our coverage throughout the evening. We are going to take a quick break. We will have much more live from

Paris as continuing coverage of the terror attack continues after this.

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[18:18:32] HARLOW: Welcome back. I'm Poppy Harlow, live in Paris. Our continuing coverage of the aftermath of the tragedy of the terror attack that rattled this city last. Staff and students at Cal State Long Beach University in the United States right now mourning the loss of one of their own. 23-year-old Nohemi Gonzalez was killed in these attacks last night. She was out having dinner with her other friends who are studying abroad here, like so many do a Friday night. ISIS claims to have carried out the coordinated six attacks. Nohemi was a junior at University. She was in Paris for a semester abroad. She was studying design.

CNN's Paul Vercammen joins me now with more from Long Beach.

We just heard, Paul, the president, (INAUDIBLE) of the university speaking. What did she say to describe this 23-year-old girl who has now lost her life?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they describe her on this campus as buoyant and jovial and really a superstar in design. The mood on the campus right now, Poppy, tragic, sad, heartbreaking, just some of the words they used. And then they began to describe Nohemi. And as a design student, she was actually a senior, they corrected that. Apparently extremely gifted one of her professors just telling me off-camera seconds ago, so talented that everybody in the department knew her. And not only was she gifted but she was sharing. She was a mentor. He talked about how close-knit this family is and how they worked long, long hours and how Nohemi was a positive influence on everyone and excited about going off to Paris.

Another member of the faculty telling me that from what he understands, they had gone out for a night on the town, so to speak, going to dine out, fresco on the cafes, long beach state people with them and they had simply sat down with the unimaginable happened. They heard gunfire.

And, Poppy, let me give you just more of a characterization of just how dynamic of a student that Nohemi was. She engaged in this global competition put on by Biomimickry. She and three of her colleagues and we might have a photo of this for you, there were some 70 entries from 22 countries around the world and Nohemi's group finished second in the competition. And we get some indications to the kind of person she was.

Clearly involved in sustainable agriculture, healthy foods and more. What she designed, according to the competition, was called poly- snack. And it was basically a biodegradable bag that contained fruits and nuts and after you ate it, you were able to go ahead and plant something and that was a very complex project, one she was rewarded for internationally, Poppy. HARLOW: You know, Paul, you hear the numbers, 129 dead, 352 injured,

and now all of the individual stories, this just one of all of those brutally, brutally murdered in this attack yesterday.

Paul Vercammen live for us in Long Beach. Thank you very much.

And coming up later in the program, we will have a full list for you of the victims who have been identified at this hour and a little bit more about each of them. So stay with us for that.

Meantime, the U.S. department of homeland security says, it has no active intelligence to suggest that any attacks are eminent in the United States. However, cities including New York City are increasing security out of precaution. Extra police officers have been deployed to protect potential targets like Times Square and also the statue of liberty.

U.S. officials working around the clock this weekend in touch with their French counterparts on this investigation. And as we learned earlier, from Julie Kayyem, the FBI now has jurisdiction in this in because an American has been killed in this attack.

Joining me from Washington, CNN justice correspondent Evan Perez, also with him, former FBI deputy director, Tom Fuentes who is with us from China.

Evan, let me begin with you. Just speak to that a little bit, the fact that now that we know that there has been an American casualty. The FBI will have a more integral role in this investigation, if you will.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy. We expect, now that the FBI is going to be working a lot more closely with the French authorities to try to figure out exactly what happened here. They have a criminal investigation now that is ongoing. They expect that the French will be able to brief them a lot more readily, a lot more, you know, as soon as they have information because now the FBI has jurisdiction.

And one of the things that is already happening is I was told just last night the FBI convened a conference call with special agents in charge around the country. And one of the things that the deputy director of the FBI told them to do was simply to go back and review all of their cases. They want to make sure that this is an opportunity to go back and check to see whether anybody who is on their radar who possibly might use this event as a trigger to go out and do something. This is something that they did. They are treating this almost like what happened after the garland attack. If you remember two attackers tried to shoot up a prophet Muhammad contest in Texas and that caused the FBI to start doing 24/7 surveillance on a lot of suspects around the country. We ended up having a couple dozen of arrests as a result of that. And so, we expect now that there's more activity from the FBI. They are shaking the trees, as one official calls it simply because they want to make sure they don't take any chances, Poppy.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Evan, thank you very much.

And Tom Fuentes, to you, as you look at this, from your perspective, as former assistant director of the FBI, you know, it's sort of unreal to think that ISIS has claimed responsibility for three attacks in the last three weeks, downing of the Russian jetliner, Beirut, the coordinated attacks this week, and now in Paris here. Do you believe there's a reason we're seeing these play out around the world and not in the United States at this point in time?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I think, Poppy, partly because the other countries, particularly in Europe, have more of ISIS than anybody, you know. They have had tens of thousands of individuals go to Syria and join and learn to fight, and learn to use weapons and then return back to their countries in Europe, and then they can train others there. So you have French nationals and others in those countries who are, you know, able to be trained by the people who have come back from the battlefield, you know, to try to train themselves. We don't have as many in the U.S. and yet it's overwhelming here. So it's a matter of time it could happen here. You know, the FBI director has already stated that the bureau has active ISIS investigations in every single one of our states, all 50 states.

[18:25:30] HARLOW: Right.

FUENTES: So in a sense, it's a matter of time.

HARLOW: That's a scary, scary thought. Tom Fuentes, do you believe that, as we look at the evolution of ISIS, you know, today, obviously with the G-20, and you had U.S. secretary of state John Kerry meeting with other leaders and also Russia's foreign secretary Sergey Lavrov coming out and sort of laying out their plan or their hope, if you will, for the future of Syria and what should happen to the Assad regime in Syria. We'll see it leads to elections that carry outlined there. But do you believe anything can change in terms of ISIS expanding ability and threat until the situation in Syria is handled?

FUENTES: I think, even if the situation is handled, that may take another couple of decades to do so. I think it is still not going to stop the entire problem. You know you can contain a virus, like Ebola, we don't talk about Ebola anymore, but you cannot contain the ideology. The ideology goes on. And I should add that attacks in Paris and Belgium were planned for the week of 9/11. And it was the police and the FBI working with them throughout Europe that foiled those plots just days before the U.S. embassy in Paris was going to be attacked. We never heard anything about those arrests because, of course, we had our own 9/11 coverage, which was obviously extensive, and for good reason.

So this has been going on in Europe for decades. It's not a new phenomenon. It's just expanded phenomenon. And what used to be Al- Qaeda that is really kind of morphed into ISIS. The people that might have originally followed Al-Qaeda now follow ISIS. And in a sense, it doesn't matter. They'll follow somebody else if they're out there, you know, spreading the ideology, spreading the hate, and spreading the word that they should attack and kill in their own country. HARLOW: But then you are saying you can't contain ISIS. We heard the

president this week say ISIS has been contained, meaning on the battlefield in Syria and Iraq. Tom, is it a mistake to try to fight ISIS on the battlefield in Syria and Iraq rather than fighting them on the streets of cities across the globe?

FUENTES: We don't think it's a mistake, Poppy, but we have had two presidents in a row say that we're not going to allow Al-Qaeda or extremists Islamic groups to have a place to do their training, to have a spot to expand their training academies, you know, meaning Afghanistan and Iraq. So we eliminated that. But now, one-third of Syria, one-third of Iraq are giant training grounds, more prolific than existed in the past and thousands -- bin Laden would not have been able to accommodate the thousands of people that showed up to train in Afghanistan at his camps back in the late '90s compared to what they can do now all over Syria, all over Iraq. So until the present caliphate eliminated you're going to have training grounds. And again, it's still ideology. Only takes a handful of people to do these kind of attacks.

HARLOW: Tom Fuentes thank you very much for joining us. We are going to take a quick break. We will have much more of our live coverage from Paris right after this.

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[18:33:07] HARLOW: Welcome back to our special live coverage in the wake of the terror attacks that rattled Paris last night. I'm Poppy Harlow. It's just past midnight here and Parisians trying to grips with the stark reality of what has happened to their streets and people of their city.

A hundred and twenty nine people were killed last night, 352 wounded. Numbers, not seen here in terms of an attack on Paris since World War II. France declared three days of national mourning. The city is in a state of emergency. Across Paris, memorials spreading up at site of Friday's terror attacks. All six attacks coordinated and claimed by ISIS.

Names are rolling in of people gunned down in the Paris music theater, the Bataclan concert hall right behind me. They went to see a rock show, a band, that has come here from palm desert, California, and to have a little fun on Friday night. And while the music played, gunmen walked in and opened fire.

A British man named Nick Alexander was killed at the theater. He was working with the rock group called Eagles of Death Metal. He sold band merchandise at the venue. Alexander's family tells "the Guardian" newspaper it is with huge sorrow that we can confirm that our beloved Nick lost his life at Bataclan last night. Nick was not just our brother, son, and uncle, he was everyone's best friend, generous, funny, and fiercely loyal. Nick died doing what he loved. Nick Alexander was 36 years old.

And this woman named Lola Salinis also killed at the theater last night. Her family says we have just had confirmation of the death of Lola. We are all beyond sad. Thank you to all of those who helped us and testify of the sympathy today. She worked for a French roller derby team, according to her father.

We will have much more of our live coverage from Paris. And we will bring you the names of more of the victims as we become aware of them. Our special live coverage from Paris continues right after this.

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[18:39:27] HARLOW: Welcome back to continuing live coverage from Paris, I'm Poppy Harlow joined by my colleague Jim Sciutto. As we are analyzing what we know thus far, the latest is that 129 people have been killed, 352 have been wounded. French president Francois Hollande vowing a ruthless, a quote "ruthless response" to what he deems an act of war on the French people. He blames ISIS for the shootings and suicide bombings that targeted this very busy, bustling tourist area of Paris and five other spots. Also, a soccer stadium on the outskirts of Paris. We know seven terrorists were killed last night. We know one of them has been identified as a French national, officials warning that more suspects tonight could be out there.

So Jim Sciutto, to you, this coming from a French source in the last few hours. More suspects could be out there. This investigation spans far beyond Paris and France. This goes to the outskirts of Brussels.

[18:40:31] SCIUTTO: It does. What you have French authorities and frankly European authorities trying to do now is assess how big the web is behind these attacks and then try to contain it. The fact is they don't know. And that's why you've seen a lot of steps in last several hours. We saw a false alarm in a hotel. They thought there might be attackers there. They raided the rooms, turns out they were not.

We have now seen our colleagues at affiliate, rather, DFMTV reporting that they have arrested the father and brother of the French national you mentioned, the one identified attacker, so far. He was identified, I learned earlier, by his fingerprints, arresting them, possibly just a question. We don't know the substance of those arrest. We know there's a connection. Are they searching for a connection? And you have, as you say, senior French official telling us that they are not certain that there may be other attackers out there. So they have to find that out to make sure there's not more attacks.

HARLOW: I do want to -- Jim stay with me for this because we have some brand-new video in to us here at CNN that is just extraordinary. Before I air it, I do want to tell you that it's very troubling. What I am about to show you is a shoot-out, last night between French police and the terrorists that attacked the theater right behind me. Watch.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

HARLOW: So Jim, as you're watching this, this is the first time that we are seeing any of this. What happen comes to your mind? SCIUTTO: Well, it reminds me of the video we saw the "Charlie Hebdo"

attackers on street, just a five-minute walk down here in the midst of the attack. What happen did that tell us? And what did this tell us that these were trained gunmen, right? And we heard that already from eyewitnesses inside that theater. I was in touch through a friend who had friends inside the theater last night describing the systemic, the methodical way that they carried out their attacks. One of the witnesses said they shot us like birds. They lined them up on the floor, they shot, they reloaded, they shot, and they reloaded. It shows an element of training, which is a concern. And there is a concern that some of these attackers came from Syria, where they might have experience on the battlefield, training perhaps on the battlefield and come here. And that is, you know, one of the many signs and warning signs from these attacks where you have the war in affect from Syria spilling over into the streets of major European city.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Major European cities. I mean, look what has happened in the last three weeks from the Russian plane to Beirut this week, 43 dead there, 129 dead here. It's astonishing.

SCIUTTO: And tonight you have the raids in Belgium as well. And there is arrest in Germany that they believe may be connected.

HARLOW: And how far will this go?

SCIUTTO: So we talk about the web, I believe it is the web that extent beyond France.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Jim Sciutto, thank you very much.

With me now is Doctor Qanta Ahmed. She is the author of "the land of the invisible women fee mal doctor's journey in the Saudi kingdom," also an expert on Islamic studies.

And you wrote an op-ed about this, doctor. And you say that this attack here in Paris specifically, you see it as an attack against Islam, against Islam itself. Tell me more.

DR. QANTA AHMED, AUTHOR, IN THE LAND OF INVISIBLE WOMEN: It's entirely. I think the attacks in Paris, designed to kick at the heart of France and the heart of Europe. But this is Islamism also making war on Islam. The prime victims of Islamism, or as in American, we often call it radical Islam or Muslims in Muslim-majority countries. And we are now going to see 7.5 percent of France's population who identifies Muslim also face the pressures of fears towards them as well as reprisals possibly, which I'm concerned about.

And in addition, they are losing their youth and they're losing some of their populations into radicalization as we know. France sent more individuals into Syria to pursue ISIS than any other country. So this is an assault on humanity which includes Muslims.

I think this attack exhibits -- also exhibits two of the six tenets of Islamism. It has a particular war on secularism. This is not only because of Francois Hollande is part of the coalition against ISIS. It is because France is the birth of (INAUDIBLE). France enshrined the idea of secularism (INAUDIBLE) democracy. Something that we embraced here in the United States. Islamism is at war with secularism whether it's girls' education or whether it is the right to have religious freedom and freedom of expression and speech in a democratic structure. This is hugely symbolic.

[18:45:14] HARLOW: I'm also interested in how concerned you may be about the fact that this could become quite politicized in terms of, you know, there's been a big debate about all of the flood of migrants fleeing, persecution in Syria, fleeing the civil war there, coming in here, coming through Greece, into Europe. Now, we have one of these attackers found with Syrian passport. And you have got one where they are confirmed by the Greek government to have gone through this Greek island that a lot of migrants travel through to make that journey here into Europe. Are you concerned at all about what this does in terms of further stigmatizing some migrants?

AHMED: Not only migrants but all Muslims in Europe. I think that migrants have been very stigmatized in general. But remember, in last 20 years Europe's Muslim population has grown by 14 million, and will do so in the next 20 years. It going to go from 44 million to about 60 million.

In France, even though it's taken - even though two-thirds of the migrants coming to France are Muslim, it has by no means taken the bulk of refugees from Syria. However, parties like marine le pen's party, the national front party, is going to be the victor from this appalling attempt. That party very quickly in election's December 6th and December 13th, is going to from being marginalized extremist party to holding real regional power in France. And that is because this galvanizes anti-immigration sentiment and can negate France's reputation as the protector in other of human rights.

France is inspired much of America's democracy. We have the statue of liberty, which a gift from France, and it enshrines our values, too.

HARLOW: Qanta Ahmed, thank you very much, doctor, for joining me with your perspective on all of this. I appreciate it very much.

And we will take a quick break. Our live continuing coverage of the terror attack in Paris continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:51:38] HARLOW: Welcome back. I'm Poppy Harlow joining us live from Paris tonight with our continuing coverage of the terror attack that has claimed 129 lives. It has left 352 others injured, 99 of them at this hour in the hospital in critical condition. We are learning more about these attacks. The attackers ISIS claiming responsibility for the six-pronged coordinated attack here last night.

And I want to show you some extraordinary new video that we have just received moments ago. It was first received by the French publication (INAUDIBLE). It is a shoot-out between French police and terrorists right outside a theater that is right behind me, the Bataclan music hall. It is very disturb to go watch. Here it is. (VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

HARLOW: Again, that is just a small slice of what we saw take place last night outside this music hall where we know at least 89 people were murdered. Some of them lying down and shot at point-blank range by these terrorists. Seven of those terrorists killed either by detonating their own explosive devices they were wearing or shot by French police.

I do want to go now to Pamela Brown, who is following other critical news tonight. A big democratic debate tonight in Washington with more on the politics of the day -- Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy. And what you have been covering in Paris will drastically change the discussion of the Democratic debate tonight. For more on that I want to turn to CNN's senior political correspondent Brianna Kielar. She is in Des Moines, Iowa.

And Brianna, we are hearing that Bernie Sanders is not happy about the new line of questioning for tonight. Is that right?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, that's right. The Sanders campaign is not happy with it. Let me just tell you what happened throughout the day today.

There was a conference, call between CBS News, which is hosting this debate and the campaigns. And according to a call participant, Mark Longabaugh, a top aide to Bernie Sanders who was on the call representing the Sanders campaign, took issue when CBS explained that it was going to front load the debate with more emphasis on national security, on terrorism, on foreign policy in direct response to the attacks in Paris, which happened as the debate team from CBS was rehearsing yesterday. So they quickly sort of changed how they were going to approach certainly the beginning of this debate.

According to this call participant that I spoke with, they said the Sanders aide lost it for several minutes on the call, saying this was not the debate that we agreed to. This is turning into a foreign policy debate that it wasn't supposed to be.

And I was told this was met by stunned silence from the other campaigns that ultimately CBS said this is how we're going to be doing things. This is our emphasis. And that the Clinton and O'Malley campaigns agreed with CBS's changes.

Now, we did speak. And I should say Dan Merica (ph), our producer here on the ground as well talked to Jeff Weaver (ph), the campaign manager for Bernie Sanders, and Weaver told that there were last minute changes. And that the campaign really wanted to keep to the agreed-upon format. That actually said one thing CBS said they would change is shortening those introductory statements at the beginning, which certainly are something that I think candidates who aren't as well-known let's say Hillary Clinton, that it works more in their favor. And Weaver was saying that they were pushing back on that. And ultimately they prevailed. So you are hearing two very different stories. But Pamela, all of

this is happening as we are seeing on, just three lecterns on the stage tonight. Martin O'Malley, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. And since the last debate, Joe Biden has made clear he was not running and that has certainly played to Hillary Clinton's advantage. So certainly Sanders was looking for a moment here tonight where he could really set himself apart. And I think the general consensus is that talking about foreign policy is something where Hillary Clinton is very fluent. And perhaps that didn't work into Sanders' campaign plans. And certainly, they seem to take issue with it, although, there are disparities about what happened on this call.

BROWN: Very, very interesting. And speaking of Hillary Clinton, how do you think she will talk about her experience as secretary of state with the questioning of national security? Because it really could cut both ways.

KEILAR: No, it could. Depending what her answers are, if she has policy prescriptions about how she would handle things in this specific case, certainly that is something that could create vulnerability for her. But at the same time, I think what her campaign is relying on is the fact that when it comes to foreign policy, with her background of being secretary of state, just that she will sound as if she has a better grasp of what's going on. That she will be more fluent in the language of foreign policy which isn't to say that senator Sanders, you know, doesn't have some experience. Obviously, he is a senator. He deals with foreign policy. Martin O'Malley has had experience as governor, some executive experience that he is certainly not steeped in foreign policy. Neither of them, the way Hillary Clinton is. She is going to stress that and just seem like the person who is more in command of understanding what's happening.

BROWN: We'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

Brianna Keilar, thank you so much.

And we will have much more just ahead. Our live coverage of the terrorist attacks in Paris continues right after this break.

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