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Possible ISIS Terror Cell in Geneva; Christian Soldier's Open Letter to all Muslims; Special Documentary on Pregnancy Complications. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired December 11, 2015 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Also ahead, an American soldier, writes this open letter to Muslims, after Donald trump proposes a ban on Muslims coming to the U.S. this incredible perspective here that he woke in the wake of Paris and San Bernardino coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:34:34] BALDWIN: Just past the bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
This U.S. intelligence report has just warned of a new terror threat. One posed by fake passports. Officials are claiming that ISIS actually has a machine capable of making these passports. Here was the director of the FBI responding to this threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you concerned that ISIS has the ability to create fraudulent passports or other identification documents for its operatives that has a practical -- that is a practical matter it would be almost impossible to detect?
[15:35:09] JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: Yes, Mr. Chairman. The intelligence community is concerned that they have the ability -- the capability to manufacture fraudulent passports which is a concern in any setting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: This as we are also getting word this afternoon of a possible ISIS terror cell in Geneva, Switzerland. Right now six terror suspects linked to the Paris attacks. They are on the run. And a source, it is telling CNN that those extremists, who were discussing possible attacks in Geneva, also mention attacks on Toronto and Chicago, as well.
So, joining me now Stefan De Vries, a Paris-based correspondent who we have talked to a number of times. He's been incredible with us.
Stefan, thank you so much. I want to ask you about this passport machine in just a second. But I want just you to react to the fact that looking down this Geneva police chief saying there is the possibility of the presence of an Islamic state terror cell there. Why say this publicly? Your reaction? STEFAN DE VRIES, DUTCH CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, yesterday the
secret services of Switzerland got the information off the U.S. intelligence services that probably six persons were hiding in or around Geneva. The alert level was immediately stepped up in Geneva and the surroundings. And the Swiss police had enough information to believe that this six pose a direct threat to Swiss security. And they also disclosed this information to the Swiss media, which basically led to a well sort of panic in Swiss city. But they had enough reasons to believe that their information was correct. And apparently they were already looking for them for a couple of days.
Geneva now is on the French border. So it is pretty likely, well, it's plausible that suspects from France went to Switzerland. Switzerland is pretty easy to cross the border. But until now they haven't found these persons. But they still have reasons to believe that these six suspects are still in Switzerland.
BALDWIN: And we understand that a trigger for this Geneva terror alert, that there's this precise threat, an associate of that Salah Abdeslam, the so-called eighth Paris attacker had crossed into Switzerland. He and this associate, they are still at large, as well. And so when you look at the map of Europe and you think of all these points that are now involved with all of this, I'm wondering how are European countries talking to each other? I know they have to be sharing intelligence.
DE VRIES: Yes, well that was, of course, one of the weak points before the attacks already in January, with the Charlie Hebdo attacks. One of the weak points in Europe is the lack of information between the European intelligence services. Now, within the European Unions there are basically no borders anymore. So it is pretty easy to travel from one country to another country. You can compare it from traveling from the state of Kentucky to the state of Texas, four instance. There are no border controls.
Now this is in theory not a problem. But the problem is that all these intelligence services they really don't want to exchange information. This has changed a little bit. But the thing is that a lot of politicians think that this touches the sovereignty of the national countries.
Now one of the problems with the attacks on the 13th of November was that one of the main suspects, Salah Abdeslam was able to go to Belgium, just north of Paris. Only a two-hour car ride from Paris. Because the border guards did not have the information that he was a suspect.
Now, there has been a lot of talks in the last couple of weeks since the attacks in Paris. And one of the goals of the European union now is to improve collaboration, but also to -- the go ahead for the so- called passenger name register, which is a huge database of all European passengers taking an airplane inside Europe, with all the data, their names, their credit cards, much more information. This is something that France has been trying to push, the European parliament was not really keen on adapting this plan. But it is looking like this plan will never go -- nevertheless go ahead before Christmas, something that was basically unimaginable a couple of weeks ago. So it shows how close the European intelligence services are collaborating now right now.
BALDWIN: Well, the unimaginable has happened.
Stefan De Vries thank you. Live in Paris tonight.
Coming up next, after Donald Trump's proposal to ban Muslims coming to the United States, a Christian soldier's open letter to all Muslims. It has been shared hundreds of thousands of times around the world. More of his message.
Plus we'll talk to Captain Davis Swann and ask what it was that made him share this. And his response to Donald Trump. That's next.
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[15:44:15] BALDWIN: Dear Muslims, this is how this letter opens. This is a letter penned by an American Christian soldier who writes, I don't hate you. I don't fear you. I don't want you to leave this country. Those words from one Blackhawk pilot captain David Swan. Swan was deployed to northern Iraq in 2009. But now in the wake of the terror attacks, both of course here at home and abroad he was brought to write this simple letter. It's a letter that has been shared he just told me at commercial break more than a million times in a single week. And so, this is also in the wake of Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban earlier this week.
So captain, it is an honor and a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining me and thank you for your service.
CAPTAIN DAVID SWAN, U.S. BALCKHAWK PILOT: Thank you for having me.
BALDWIN: So let's just begin because I would rather hear it in your voice than mine. Would you mind reading a piece of this letter?
[15:45:03] SWAN: Sure. In the section you guys asked me to read was really where I want to show that I stand with my fellow Americans and Muslims that are in my community. It says, we share a common enemy in the radical Islamist. They want to drive us apart, and to fear each other. They want your children to grow up hating my children. They want you to believe our way of life is evil and that we must be punished for it. They produce a barrage of internet propaganda aimed at isolating your children from those not like them in attempts to recruit them to do evil on their behalf. Every terrorist attack is an attack against innocent people, and attack against peace and normalcy. It's designed to stir a violent response from those attacked and create more hatred between us and them, and sadly it is working.
BALDWIN: Captain Swan, what specifically, we have had a lot that's happened lately, what specifically prompted you to take the time to write this?
SWAN: I actually wrote it the day after the Paris attacks because I knew it was coming with this further division that seems to be happening between Muslims and non-Muslims. But, I want to share a really convicting story about a friend of mine named Fasel. He lives here in Nashville where I live. Fasel is a Muslim and an Iraqi refugee. He came here to the U.S. in the early '90s to escape genocide when Saddam was gassing the Kurds. He actually saw most of his family slaughtered right in front of him.
He fled to Turkey. He lived in a refugee camp there for about three years, and then Nashville was one of the cities that accepted, you know, a large population of those refugees to come to the U.S. Well fast forward 25 years, Fasel is now the head janitor at the elementary school where my church meets. We are a small church. We don't have our own building yet. But anyway, every Sunday morning, Fasel, an Iraqi Muslim immigrant, unlocks the doors at the school for us so we can set up our church and worship Jesus.
I wrote it because I fear that Americans -- I believe that Americans are allowing fear to let them behave or make them behave in a very un- American way. I don't know if I could come up with a more convicting story than Fasel's to show the unity that I share with the Muslims in my community. And you know, this is the kind of thing our founding fathers wrote about. It's not just -- it's not just what they believe the country should be. It's who they were. And that's why I joined the military to protect.
BALDWIN: We are grateful you did. And, you know, hearing a story about Fasel, also reading about your time in northern Iraq and how the Kurds were with you, it is incredibly convicting. Following that up, though, you write this one line where you talk about fear and hate, we must neutralize them. How would you propose we do this in this -- in this atmosphere of hate rhetoric?
SWAN: Yes. It's certainly that rhetoric is aiding our enemies. You know, fighting terrorism is something that must be done in our department of defense, our intelligence agencies. They have a tough job to deal with it. And I realize, me being part of the military, I'm, you know, I'm part of that. And we must deal with it.
But, you know, another thing you got to do to defeat terrorism is make your communities tight-knit, and close. It's hard to hate up close. So I just -- I encourage people, not to give cross side looks at each other, not to assume something about somebody, I mean, being an immigrant in this country and building a life here is like the most American thing you can do. That's how this country was built. So don't, you know, don't look at somebody that looks different than you and stray away from them, you know. Invite them into your homes, bring them cookies, have them over for dinner, learn about them. I think you'd be surprised that there's -- you have a lot more commonalities than differences.
BALDWIN: It's all those little things. I'm so glad we are going into the weekend and hearing your message. It's the little things that add up to one big thing.
Captain David Swan, thank you so much for sharing the letter, for taking the time with me. Appreciate it.
SWAN: Thank you. BALDWIN: Coming up next, Christy Turlington Burns joins me live on a
statistic that may surprise you. That's next.
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[15:54:26] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, AC 360: Ladies and gentlemen, the 2015 CNN hero of the year is Maggie Doyne.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: When you heard your name said on the stage --
MAGGIE DOYNE, 2015 CNN HERO: From Anderson Cooper's mouth?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: From Anderson Cooper's mouth. What went through your mind?
DOYNE: Just joy. Juts pure joy and gratitude.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: What does it feel like?
DOYNE: I'm proud. I'm proud that I took that step and I'm happy for the kids. This is really for them. They are the ones that have had the hard stories and the struggles and have overcome so much.
[15:55:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: What do you want people to know about the children of Nepal?
DOYNE: There's hundreds of thousands of girls who are not enrolled into school. There are many orphan children as a result of civil war and disease and starvation and I can't do it alone. We all have to do it together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: How will this money help you do that?
DOYNE: I'm building a brand-new school and I'm going to take in more kids. It's gas in the tank. It's, you know, remembering what this is all about and why we do it. So I'm taking this become to Nepal and for Nepal and for my kids and I'm just going to keep going.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: We're terrifically proud of you, young lady.
DOYNE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Keep on doing it.
DOYNE: Thanks, Michaela.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: How about that? She was our CNN 2015 hero of the year. Please watch the whole show "CNN HEROES, an all-star tribute" tomorrow at 8:00 eastern on CNN.
And now to this, a startling statistic I had no idea I will say until I started reading about this. Every day in the United States two women die because of complications from pregnancy or childbirth. This is happening in a country that spends more on health care than any other country in the world.
CNN digital studio is joining forces with the producers of a newly released film series. It is called "giving birth in America." The series follows four pregnant women. Here's a clip from Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Women of low income and women living in certain zip codes have a very hard time accessing the high risk OB clinic. Now, we are at a situation where we're taking patients and saying we will do your care for free while we figure it out because you are pregnant and because your baby will be born.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They told me my Medicaid didn't kick in yet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have it as approved. So what happened? Did they switch you to an HMO maybe?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. Not sure yet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's just a shame. That's a shame. All right, my love. Did they tell you how much it was going to cost?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like $50, I believe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, so it's pretty high.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: "Giving birth in America" is produced by Global Maternal Health Advocate and the founder of Every Mother Counts Christy Turlington Burns who is here with me in New York.
It is such a pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much for swinging by CNN in this series. When you think this is America, how is this possible? What -- I mean two women dying each day from childbirth or pregnancy?
CHRISTY TURLINGTON BURNS, FOUNDER, EVERY MOTHER COUNTS: That's right. Here in America which is always a shocker to every other audience I speak to around the world. This is unacceptable, right? Most of these deaths are preventable. So because we know how to save these lives, we should be doing a better job, especially at the cost you mentioned.
BALDWIN: So then what prompted specifically this series?
BURNS: Well, you know, I got into this whole space because I had a complication after delivering my first child 12 years ago here in New York City. BALDWIN: Wow. What happened?
BURNS: I had a postpartum hemorrhage. Something -- I great birth experience but in the aftermath there are unexpected things that happen that you can't always predict when and to whom it will happen to. So being in the right care, having access and the quality of health care providers that most women should have at that time is essential. And we're trying to work at making sure that all women have that access.
BALDWIN: I want to play one more clip. This is from rural Montana.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All my friends that have had babies since we have lived here it's just straight up scheduled inductions. If not scheduled C-sections because they have to drive. I'm sure that's part of it, it's just easier.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So -- I mean you point out your birth complication happened here in New York city but still, the rural needs in this country, you almost don't -- you don't realize it, right?
BURNS: That's true. The Montana story in particular is pretty eye opening because you could almost argue that it's the same as Sub- Saharan Africa or another part of the world that distance is a huge factor.
Here we have a woman in Montana who just lives far away from care and there are very few health providers in that state. So she goes home and postpartum a complication arises. And because she is so far away, this is a dangerous scenario for a woman. Perfectly healthy. Mother of other children that rely on her. And you could just break it down and see but these are universal challenges and universal solutions exist for these barriers.
BALDWIN: I love you're giving these mothers a voice as well. In the final 45 seconds, tell me about your foundation.
BURNS: Sure. Every Mother Counts was basically was started after I made my first documentary film "No Woman No Cry" five years ago with the hope that we would be a place where more people could get engaged, take action, share their stories. So a big part of what we do when we share the challenges around the world through film and storytelling, we also providing solutions. And we want other people to engaging in that conversation. This shouldn't be a policy level only conversation. Some of the things it touches all of us so we have a voice in this situation. We can make improvements if we work together.
BALDWIN: If we work together. The series, it's an entire series on CNN.com. Just go to CNN.com/mothers.
Christy Turlington Burns, nice to meet you. Thank you so much for coming through.
And thank you so much for being here. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We will see you back on Monday. In the meantime, "the LEAD" with Jim Sciutto starts right now.
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