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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield
ISIS Operates Sophisticated Propaganda Machine; Peterson Benched Until Legal Issues Are Sesolved; A Look at the Cult-Like Appeal of ISIS
Aired September 17, 2014 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The president has just spoken to members of the United States military in Tampa. It happened this hour, all about the new plan to response to is.
As he was shaking hands, look at all the telephones, many of the troop members wanting to record this for posterity, they could not have been perhaps thinking about what else is going on at the same time as he makes this speech, and that is that ISIS is still out there with its message, just releasing a brand-new video responding directly to President Obama's plan to, quote, "destroy and disrupt" this terror group.
Take a look. This video effectively seems to dare American troops to come after ISIS members in Iraq. The title of the video is "Flames of War," and it highlights the extremist group's ability to use modern media and weaponry for its propaganda and its recruitment.
So far, ISIS has been very effective in using different mediums to recruit soldiers, and one of the biggest concerns is American citizens joining its ranks.
Westerners waging jihad, fighting alongside ISIS and other terror groups, is not a new phenomenon. Ever since 9/11, in fact, the FBI and the Justice Department have been trying to stay ahead of wannabe terrorists.
But what draws these seemingly comfortable Americans to give up their comfortable life here and travel to war-torn countries to fight, just what is it?
In one recent case, the target was a Boston graduate student who's friends with a man now suspected of having ties to ISIS and its propaganda wing.
In tapes obtained by CNN national correspondent Deborah Feyerick, we hear the excitement and the hard sell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When it comes to jihad and recruitment, the conversation between two American, one in Boston, the other in Somalia, is as relevant today as it was eight years ago when it was initially recorded.
RECRUITER: Come with Ahmed, come with Daniel, come with everybody, come now, though. Now.
FEYERICK: An American in Somalia aggressively trying to recruit Boston grad student Tarek Mehanna in 2006, referring to him as brother or "akhi" in Arabic.
RECRUITER: I'm telling you, akhi, this is the life, man. There is no other life except for this.
It's -- akhi, it's 100 percent. One percent, akhi. It is more than you even think it is.
TAREK MEHANNE: Dude, I just want to be somewhere where I can pray five times a day.
RECRUITER: Akhi, pray five days a day. Do you know where I am? You can't even smoke cigarettes. It is illegal.
FEYERICK: The hard sale is laced with religious words and ideas intended to reel in the potential recruit.
What we're hearing so far, does this sound like the same kind of message that are being put out by recruiters today?
PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: This is the exactly the same message that ISIS recruiters over social media, other forms are putting out today. You have to join. It's your religious duty.
FEYERICK: The friend turned recruiter makes it clear everything will be arranged once Mehanna lands.
RECRUITER: Check this out. Come here. You don't even have to have a dime in your pocket. I will set you up with everything.
I'll have people pick you up, a place for you stay and, heck, if you want, I can have a wife waiting for you.
MEHANNA: That's what I want. That's what I'm there for.
FEYERICK: The recruiter refocuses Mehanna back on jihad, referring to fighting as making sandwiches.
RECRUITER: Yeah, but you know what? The truth is, once you see the brothers, you are not going to get married. You're going to want to like just make sandwich all day and hang with us.
FEYERICK: And getting there is easy, promises the recruiter. Travel first to Dubai, meet a handler, then buy a ticket to Somalia.
RECRUITER: Don't make your flight until you get to Dubai because they're -- once you get to Dubai --
MEHANNA: Then arrange it from there. MEHANNA: Call me. Yes. We are also going to set you up with some
people so you got somewhat of a visa. There is really no such thing as a visa.
FEYERICK: The eager recruiter is being coached by another American from Alabama named Omar.
RECRUITER: What was that Omar? You're coming as a tourist, so bring tourist clothes and money to buy stuff. But don't bring anything huge. Don't bring anything too small. You're a tourist.
FEYERICK: Federal officials say Omar Hamami is an al-Shabaab operative in key propagandist for the Somali terror group, killed in action in 2013.
RECRUITER: He said that you should make your intention now and know that you get your ajr, even if you were to die along the way.
But I'm telling you, akhi, I'm talking about, like if you can leave tomorrow, do it.
CRUICKSHANK: Often the dream turns to nightmare. The reality there is this brutal civil war where you have different Islamist factions killing each other. A lot of them become disillusioned.
FEYERICK: In the end, Tarek Mehanna was convicted on terror charges.
The recruiter returned to the United States and testified against Mehanna at trial and then officials say he allegedly turned his life around.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD: You heard that conversation. Please make note, there were no explicit invitations to come and bomb something or behead someone. No, just come hang with us.
This was just an appeal to the student to come and belong to something bigger than himself, and ahead, I'm going to talk to a man who says ISIS and other terror groups use the same techniques that religious cult leaders do to recruit their fighters. That's after this quick break.
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BANFIELD: ISIS activities like publicized beheadings are so barbaric and so repulsive you might automatically assume the group has zero appeal among sophisticated Westerners, but you'd be wrong.
The terror group has proven very effective in getting its message out and recruited more than 30,000 followers. Of those, about half are foreigners from more than 80 different countries. About 2,000 of them are believed to be Westerners. So exactly what is the appeal to Westerners who are otherwise intelligent and educated? Listen to what Matthew Olsen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told a House homeland security hearing just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW OLSEN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER: Importantly, the group also views itself as the now leader of a global jihadist movement. It operates the most sophisticated propaganda machine of any terrorist organization. It turns out timely, high- quality media, and it uses social media to secure a widespread following.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Instead of thinking of ISIS as merely an Islamic terror group, it may be more helpful to consider it a type of religious cult.
Steve Hassan, the founder of Freedom of Mind, an organization dedicated to exposing destructive cults and cult behavior, joins me live now from Boston.
I'd like to get your take on this, because as I was listening to the conversation in Deborah Feyerick's package that just preceded this interview, it sounded as though the recruiter only talked about a brotherhood, a friendship, free lifestyle, don't even bring money.
And then he even went so far as to say, don't worry about being upset about your parents. You can call them when you get here and just say sorry. And that sounds just like most cults out there.
STEVE HASSAN, FOUNDER, FREEDOM OF MIND: Ashleigh, I've been helping people get out of cults since 1976 when my family rescued me out of a cult myself.
And when I was listening to that tape, it reminded me of the exhortations of Jim Jones's cult saying, Come to Jonestown. It's a paradise. It's wonderful. And that keys in on one of the key principles of destructive cults, which is deceptive recruiting.
People are not making informed choices. They're being lied to. Information is being withheld and they're systematically, incrementally asked to change their behaviors, to hold information back from family and friends and controlling behavior, information, thoughts and emotions to create a new identity that's dependent and obedient on the authority figure.
And as a licensed therapist, I've been helping people for decades around the world. And, unfortunately, we need to come to terms with the reality that social psychology is a science now of how to take people, break them down, make them over in the image of a cult leader.
BANFIELD: Yes.
HASSAN: The good news is the human spirit wants to be free and people can get out. And therefore former members are the best tool we have for inoculating the general public against types of cults like this.
BANFIELD: So, Steve, let me ask you something. Our director of the program, Scotty (ph), made a great observation when he was listening to this tape and it was that it sounded almost like this guy was selling time shares or cruises. The demand for this effort to be now, come now, drop everything now, this real hard sell, that's usually - that's usually what gets your spidy senses tingling and people usually draw back from that. But it seems to be working in this respect. Why?
HASSAN: So I've - exactly. So I've written three books on the subject. People like Philip Zimbardo (ph) of Stanford taught a course at Stanford called the psychology of mind control. Robert Shaldini (ph) wrote a book called "Influence." They're using all of the techniques that we're teaching people in college courses on brainwashing and mind control and undue influence. They're applying it for what I think is a political cult. This is a political cult using religion and a perversion of Islam as the shield. But in fact it's a systematic effort to create an army of basically tranced-out followers.
BANFIELD: It's absolutely fascinating. And I so appreciate your time. Steve Hassan, thank you.
HASSAN: My pleasure.
BANFIELD: Another story that we're following right now, the domestic violence problem within the NFL. The Minnesota Vikings coach has spoken just moments ago, in fact, and says he made a mistake in the case of the star player Adrian Peterson who's facing child abuse charges.
We've also got some breaking news on Nike. Remember how it didn't say right away what it would do about its sponsorship of that player? Well, now it's saying so. That's next.
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BANFIELD: He was out and then in and now out again. I'm talking about the Minnesota Vikings star Adrian Peterson. He is not going to be playing for that team until his legal issues are resolved. And we've just learned also that Nike has decided to suspend its sponsorship of him.
Peterson is charged with child abuse for allegedly whipping his four- year-old child with a switch, hard enough to draw blood. He says he was just disciplining his child. His next hearing, though, isn't until next month, so it's going to be a while before he's allowed back on the field if he is allowed back.
And what about that sort of back and forth in terms of the punishment? Well, the chairman and the owner of the Vikings actually was asked about this and just gave this statement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZYGI WILF, VIKINGS OWNER/CHAIRMAN: We made a mistake and we needed to get this right. We embrace our role in the community and the responsibilities that go with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: I want to bring in Kate Fagan. She's a columnist for ESPN.
I don't get it. We made a mistake. We're trying to get it right. Look, we have had NFL in the news with this kind of problem for several weeks now. How are we still getting this mistake needing correcting?
KATE FAGAN, COLUMNIST, ESPN.COM: Well, I think the NFL is actually surprised that all this stuff is staying in the news. They've never been in a position where they've gotten this much pushback on social media, from fans. I mean we've -- so many allegations in the past, so many convictions, and short suspensions. So I think the NFL, right now, is in unchartered territory. So they've never seen this. They've never had to react to this.
BANFIELD: They're winging it.
FAGAN: Yes, they're winging it.
BANFIELD: Shooting from the hip.
FAGAN: They're totally winging it. This is stuff they've never had to do before. So this is why you're seeing like, yes, he's -- what are we doing? And then another team having pressure to react the same way. It's like dominos falling right now.
BANFIELD: Still don't have either. And the fact that Nike has now made it's -- correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Nike usually takes a long deliberative time before they make decisions like this.
FAGAN: Yes.
BANFIELD: In the past, they have waited out very long controversies before either making a decision to drop or keep a player. This time, boom.
FAGAN: Yes, absolutely. I mean you look at the Lance case, the Lance Armstrong case. It was a long time for -
BANFIELD: They took forever.
FAGAN: Right. They didn't drop Tiger Woods when he was in his entire controversy. So I think Nike is probably looking at what's going on right now, looking at, again, social media, what the fans are saying and they realize this is a lightning rod issue and they better do something quickly. And I mean also keep in mind that Adrian Peterson was once probably a key athlete for them. He's kind of an aging running back now, not the same position as a Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods.
BANFIELD: OK.
FAGAN: Not the same type of moving the needle.
BANFIELD: But one of the best in the biz, right, if not the best?
FAGAN: Certainly, yes. Absolutely. But he actually had a year off from Nike in 2012 when he wasn't sponsored by them. So I think this was probably a quicker, easier decision for them because he wasn't one of their core athletes the way he used to be.
BANFIELD: Hey, by the way, could you just remind me what he's getting paid every week even though he's not on the field?
FAGAN: Perfect question. Yes, just under $700,000 a week.
BANFIELD: Every week.
FAGAN: Every single week. Yes.
BANFIELD: $700,000 a week -
FAGAN: Yes.
BANFIELD: To stay off the field. He gets to keep his pay under this kind of - this -- remind me the difference between deactivation and being on the exempt commissioner's (INAUDIBLE)?
FAGAN: This is -- we're kind of on the fly, too, here in the sports media. This is a very seldom-used exempt list where the player has to consent to go on it to handle off-the-field issues.
BANFIELD: Yes.
FAGAN: And there's really no timetable that the NFL Players Association can't come in with an appeal because the player has consented to do it.
BANFIELD: I read your take on why we really need to start working towards a grassroots effort to teach young men who may be heading towards the sporting arena -
FAGAN: Yes.
BANFIELD: That they need to really think about this stuff. Stop calling women sissies. Stop doing that sort of thing which degrades women and then maybe they won't feel like, you know, what happens in the spur of anger.
FAGAN: Yes.
BANFIELD: That said -
FAGAN: Uh-huh.
BANFIELD: Money really talks.
FAGAN: Yes, absolutely. I mean --
BANFIELD: I mean you can't deny that punishment, when other players see what's going on, it's going to make a huge difference. FAGAN: Right. Yes, I mean why is -- why are the Vikings doing this?
Because Radisson, who sponsors the Vikings, pulled their sponsorship, suspended their sponsorship, which obviously caught the Vikings' attention much more than -
BANFIELD: (INAUDIBLE).
FAGAN: You and I sitting here talking about the language that goes around women in football.
BANFIELD: Yes. Kate Fagan, good to see you. Thanks for coming in. Sorry it was an abbreviated interview because the president was speaking.
FAGAN: That's fine.
BANFIELD: And he trumps all of us.
FAGAN: That's right. That's right. Thanks for having me.
BANFIELD: Thank you so much. Nice to have you.
Thank you for watching, everyone. It's so good to have you with us.
Continuing our live coverage of all of the day's breaking events, my colleague Wolf starts right after this quick break.
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