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AQAP: We Were Behind It; A Look at Sleeper-Cell Scenarios; Charlie Hebdo to Print Additional 2 Million Copies

Aired January 14, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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

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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: Hello. Welcome to @THISHOUR. I'm Christine Romans sitting in for Michaela Pereira.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: And I'm John Berman, live in Paris.

New this morning, a major development in the attack that took place one week ago right behind me, now, a claim of responsibility, a commander of al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula boasts in an online video.

He says his terror group ordered, planned, funded the attack on the "Charlie Hebdo" offices that killed 12 people and set off three days of terror here in the French capital. This al Qaeda commander says, quote, "we clarified to the Islamic world that one who chose the target, laid the plan, financed the operation, and appointed its emir is the leadership of the organization.

That new message comes on this day, the first publication of the satirical magazine, "Charlie Hebdo," since the attack hit the newsstands this morning. We visited stands all around the city, and they were already sold out, completely, dozens of people stuck at these kiosks, waiting to get their copies.

Still many Muslims here in France were offended that the caricature of the prophet Mohammed is on the cover and people took offense in many other nations as well.

While that's going on, authorities here in France tell us that 54 people have been detained for defending or glorifying terrorism. That's against the law here. It carries a sentence if convicted of somewhere between 18 months and up to seven years, and some of these people detained have already been convicted.

We're going to cover all angles of the story today, lots to discuss, many new developments. First, I want to bring in our senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, for more on this claim of responsibility.

Nick, this video from a commander of al Qaeda in Yemen, they claimed responsibility for the attack that took place right behind me.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And they report to give some sort of detail as to the kind of people in the leadership who are behind the planning of this.

Now, the statement is given by a media spokesman, Nasr Ibn Ali al- Ansi, and he's clear in his 12-minute speech that Ayman al-Zawahiri, the successor to the deceased Osama bin Laden, the head of al-Qaeda, a man not really seen much in the spotlight over the past months of so, was involved in the planning, but operational command, they claim, was done by an American citizen now deceased, Anwar al-Awlaki.

Now, he's of Yemeni descent, but was killed by a drone strike in 2011. And that's particularly important, John, because if we're to believe the contents of this claim of responsibility, then investigators are now going to work out precisely what kind of trail and links there are between that Yemeni group and the brothers in Paris.

They said they work for al Qaeda in Yemen, in phone calls to journalists, allegedly in the streets as well. U.S., Yemeni, French officials have hinted and, in fact, confirmed that Said, the older brother, went to Yemen on a number of occasions. Perhaps Cherif went maybe even, our Pamela Brown heard, on the passports of Said in 2011.

The key question people are asking, surely now, is if planning was in place, the logistics, resources, targeting in place in 2011, was it really the case that those brothers did nothing for three years, were dormant, hid away, stayed off radar, and then launched the attack?

Or was there some sort of communication between Yemen and the al-Qaeda affiliates there and then those brothers to launch and finish the preparation for that attack? A key question investigators must be looking at now.

BERMAN: Nick, a point of clarification here, this video only claims responsibility for the attack that took place behind me, the attack on offices of "Charlie Hebdo."

What does it say about the attack by Amedy Coulibaly on the kosher market here?

PATON WALSH: That's a key point about this video. Yes, you're right. It's just about the Kouachi brothers that this statement claimed responsibility for.

It says that Amedy Coulibaly, behind the attack that killed five on the kosher grocery store a few days later, that, in fact, they said that was not theirs but a coincidence of timing and of good fortune as well.

Now remember that Amedy Coulibaly, he left behind a lengthy statement in which he pledged allegiance to ISIS, to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of ISIS in northern Syria and Iraq. Now that's key, because many observers have observed now that ISIS and al Qaeda, particularly in Syria with their affiliates there, often compete for resources, territory.

It's obviously clear that using social media and because of the savagery ISIS are known for, they've somewhat become more the cutting edge -- it's horrible to say that phrase -- but the cutting edge of global jihad in the past year or so.

But with this statement it's al Qaeda now trying to step back into the spotlight, so to speak, and say they were behind one of the most deadly attacks at a European capital in the last ten years, John.

BERMAN: All right, Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much for laying out what is in that video, what it means.

I want to bring in our national security analyst, Fran Townsend, to discuss this. She's a former -- she is a current member of the CIA external advisory board, also director of homeland security.

And, Fran, there was a key question raised by Nick. The key question is was this actually planned, the attack, way back in 2011, or was it inspired in 2011, given money to grow and really conceived and hatched here.

I want to ask something specific. I want to ask, in the intelligence community where you operate, what is believed to be the current capability of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: There's no question, John, that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula remains, as we've heard in testimony of the director of national intelligence and the CIA director, the most operationally capable al Qaeda group in terms of its ability to target the United States.

So on pure capability, you would say they demonstrated consistently over the years. They've the most sophisticated bomb maker. There have been multiple plots disrupted by Saudi intelligence service and Western intelligence services, directed against the United States and in particular U.S. aviation, the underwear bomber being best known, but there was also the computer cartridge tape in a cargo plane. There was another one with a vest that was disrupted by the Saudi intelligence service.

So, look, they are very capable, and they're very determined. They are clear they want to attack the United States, and so from that perspective, the claim would be credible.

Of course, we haven't seen the sort of typical martyrdom video. A lot of times that takes months for them to release. So we can't make a judgment, but al-Ansi speaks for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. We've heard from him frequently through this (inaudible), their media arm.

And so at least on its face it has credibility. And I think that they are doing greater assessments now.

BERMAN: You brought up Nasr Ibn Ali al-Ansi. What more do we know about this guy? Is he a spokesman? He's on this video. Is he an operational leader?

TOWNSEND: Not clear that he's an operational leader. Sort of the West's familiarity with him comes from the release of these videos. He's the guy who appeared in the video and gave 72 hours to the U.S. government, claiming that they were then going to execute Luke Somers.

Remember, there was then the failed U.S. raid. Both the captors and the hostages, including Luke Somers, were killed in that raid, that raid attempt. He then issued another video statement blaming President Obama.

In November he had issued a video statement calling for attacks against those countries that were participating in the coalition in Iraq and Syria against ISIS. So we see he sort of seems to be a strategist, if you will, and a spokesperson, but he's recognized certainly as speaking on behalf of the group.

BERMAN: A credible spokesman in the sense that if he says it, you can believe it's on behalf of the organization.

Fran Townsend, stick around. We've a lot more questions to you.

Up next, following the terror money trail. Who paid for these attacks? Who helped plan them? We'll ask many more questions about everything that happened here in Paris.

ROMANS: The plot to poison the speaker of the house, John Boehner's bartender is behind bars for allegedly wanting to kill the top lawmaker in the House. That incredible story, that's ahead @THISHOUR.

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BERMAN: Welcome back. John Berman here, live in Paris. A major development today in the devastating attack here one week ago today at the offices of "Charlie Hebdo," al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula now says that its late leader, Anwar al-Awlaki, planned this attack years ago, that the group paid for it and planned the whole thing.

A U.S. official tells CNN that one of the Kouachi brothers left Yemen, where the group is based, with up to $20,000 to carry out these attacks.

I want to bring back Fran Townsend to talk more about this, along with our terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank. Paul also wrote a terrific book, "Asian Storm," about the spy inside al Qaeda in Yemen who led the CIA to al-Awlaki. It was a U.S. drone that killed al-Awlaki in 2011.

And, Paul, that gets to the central question here. This video claims that al Qaeda in Yemen planned this attack, said Anwar al Awlaki was directly involved. That was back in 2011. That is when these brothers, or at least one of them, was in Yemen. Is that how that group operates, planning an attack?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Short answer, yes, it's exactly how that group operates. Anwar al-Awlaki was looking to recruit Europeans for attacks back in Europe, the idea being that they would be trained in Yemen and sent back to Europe for attacks.

We know that because Morten Storm, this double agent, told us about this. In fact, he was asked by al Awlaki to do this, to try and find these European recruits, while he was working for Western intelligence.

We also know from Morten storm that al-Awlaki was telling these recruits that when they went back to Europe, they should camouflage their radicalism. And it appears that's what the Kouachi brothers did because in June 2014, they were taken off the French surveillance list because they were judged no longer radical.

And it's after that it appears that they then put this plot into operation, perhaps because they sensed they were being no longer followed.

So it's quite possible that this is a sleeper-cell scenario here. We haven't seen that many kind of sleeper-cell plots in the past of this duration, it should be pointed out, however. Mostly when these Westerners go and get training with al Qaeda, it's been six months to a year after which they have launched an attack or a plot, and we saw that with London bombings, for example, and a plot in New York to attack subways in 2009.

BERMAN: Paul, it's a frightening scenario if it went as you said. It almost follows the exact map of what you say al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been trying to do for years, launching a sleeper sell in the West.

Which gets me, Fran, to a key question here. This happened in France. Could this type of operation, with this type of sleeper cell -- that's the term that Paul used right there -- a group of people who sort of drifted off the radar for a few years, it happened in France, could that happen in the United States?

TOWNSEND: Sure. But we should be clear that the population that has left France and gone to fight and then returned is much larger, as we understand it, than what we hear from law enforcement officials here in the United States, and so just the size and the scope of the problem is much larger, which makes it a harder problem for the French to address.

It's why, as Paul says, they're constantly looking at who they have under surveillance, who can they take off the surveillance list so that they can focus on the most radical. Could it happen in the United States? Certainly, it could. As Paul says, this is a longer time, though, for them to be quiet. We don't really understand why yet. We know that authorities are looking into that. Was it because of the death of Anwar al Awlaki that that delayed them? Was it because they had difficulty getting weapons? And one of the reasons they may have coordinated with (INAUDIBLE) is because he did have access to weapons. And so all of those sorts of facts are the kind of things that intelligence and law enforcement officials are trying to understand now so they can apply that understanding in other countries around the world where they will look to identify sleeper cells.

BERMAN: Paul, speak to me of the symbolic significance, the apparently continued symbolic significance, of Anwar al Awlaki. This man was killed by U.S. drones in 2011, yet you still have these people who carried out this brutal attack right behind me claiming allegiance to him and the group saying that he directed this operation. CRUICKSHANK: Well he has still huge symbolic significance, John. This

is an American who inspired a generation of Western extremists to plot attacks - to launch attacks. Somebody who was a very charismatic preacher who put out all these videos which are still online and Western extremists still consume all this stuff online. He's still very, very popular indeed. He's the guy that inspired the Boston bombings. He inspired that attack on the streets of London against a soldier in 2013.

Also, somebody who was previously operational. And I think one of the worries is going to be that maybe there were other Western extremists who also met al Awlaki before he was killed and could still be waiting to launch their operations. I think that's certainly a possibility now. Whether that's in Germany or in the U.K., or even in the United States, there's going to be a lot of concern about his enduring legacy, both in inspiring attacks, but also in planning them from beyond the grave.

BERMAN: I think those are exactly the types of thing the U.S. intelligence, not to mention European intelligence, officials are tracing right at this very moment. Fran Townsend, Paul Cruickshank, our thanks to you.

Let's go back to Christine in New York. Christine?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Great discussion, guys. Thanks, John. Up next, it's hot off the presses, flying off the stands, "Charlie Hebdo" selling out around the world in defiance of the terrorists whose aim was to stop the presses. The details ahead @THISHOUR.

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BERMAN: Everywhere you look in Paris this morning, at least this part of Paris, there were lines. Lines at newsstands to buy the latest copy of "Charlie Hebdo." This is the first time the satirical magazine was published since the attacks that took place one week ago behind me. They printed 3 million copies and it was not enough. Now they say they'll put out an additional 2 million, at least. That is more than 80 times the normal run of this magazine. The new cover, which CNN is not showing, it shows a teary-eyed Prophet Muhammad saying - a sign that says, "Je suis Charlie," "I am Charlie," and another message that says, "All is forgiven."

Joining me to talk about this, CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, and I'm also joined by senior international corespondent Arwa Damon. Arwa is in a Muslim neighborhood in north Paris. And Arwa, we're going to get to you in one minute.

Brian, first, the excitement here on the streets. It was everywhere. We couldn't get a copy when we went to the newsstands.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: It took a long time for me to get a hold of, you're right. And now even more copies are being printed. 5 million are going to be printed and the distributors are reassuring people, if you want one, we'll get you one, but it will take days to print all the copies. We went out to one of the train stations here trying to talk to people who were in line, and here's what a few of them told us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I went to the newspaper store at 8:00 in the morning and they told me they had only 100 copies. They sold everything in 15 minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have - (INAUDIBLE) This is the last I was thinking, Larry, I will find one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want my copy. Really, I want my copy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STELTER: I love that graphic on screen. Up 8,000 percent. This magazine suddenly a worldwide symbol. It is on display today at the news museum, the Newseum in Washington even.

BERMAN: Thanks so much, Brian. Now Arwa, I wanted to bring you into this discussion, because what Brian and I saw in this part of Paris today, central Paris, touristy Paris, as well, was enormous excitement for everyone to get their hands on a copy of this magazine in support for the people putting it out. You are in a much different place from us, even though it's only a few miles away. It's a Muslim neighborhood in north Paris. What has the reaction there been?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORESPONDENT: First of all, there's a kiosk right around the corner where actually the 125 copies that they had there, they were gone by 7:00 A.M. That being said, the majority of the Muslims that we've been speaking to throughout the entire day say that they wish the image of the Prophet had not been used again. Because no matter what the message behind it, even though written across it is "All is forgiven," it is still just as offensive as it's always been. And there's a key point to be made here. We did see an expression of solidarity with the victims of the horrific violence, the attacks that took place last week. But that expression of solidarity by the Muslim community, the majority of the Muslim community here in Paris, does not mean that they support the use of the image of Prophet Muhammad and they continue to tell us that they feel that it is just going to further heighten the tensions here and that it's a provocative move and it's an unnecessary one, they believe, to take it that far. Especially at such a sensitive time.

BERMAN: It's an interesting thing to hear that message, Arwa. And just because people are offended by it there, it's not inconsistent with something we heard here behind us a couple of hours ago. There was a Muslim man who came here to the offices of "Charlie Hebdo" and was visibly yelling, condemning the attacks here. You can still condemn the attacks here behind me and say you are offended by this magazine and wish that Muhammad has not been put on the cover, correct, Arwa?

DAMON: Exactly. And that's the issue here. A lot of the Muslims that we've been speaking to say that as a community, they were already feeling alienated in France. France has been embroiled in this debate about national identity for years right now and exactly what it means to be Muslim in France. Many of them feel as if this notion of France is for the French is growing increasingly predominant. They are upset. They are anxious about the future. They are disillusioned. They feel as if the use of the image of the Prophet has once again been a strike at the very core of their faith, and a deliberate strike at that. So, yes, they most certainly are against violence, especially violence that's being carried out allegedly in the name of Islam. But at the same time, they just as vehemently object to the use of the image of the Prophet.

BERMAN: There has been Jihadi-inspired violence here in Paris. There has also been 50 attacks against Muslims here in Paris in the last week. Arwa Damon, thanks so much. Quick button, Brian, just got new information about --

STELTER: I just heard for the spokesman for the distributor putting this magazine out. We've been saying 5 million, I've been wondering how that's going to happen. Well he says, 1 million today, 1 million tomorrow, 1 million Friday, and then 1 million over the weekend. So basically every day there will be new copies coming to these newsstands. Even though it is offending many, it will be basically ubiquitous here in France.

BERMAN: So that's new news, as they say, Christine Romans. 1 million copies of "Charlie Hebdo" a day, I imagine, until people stop buying it and that could be for some time. Christine?

ROMANS: Thanks, guys. Thanks, John. Ahead @THISHOUR, the most wanted woman in the world right now, her husband was one of the men behind the terror attack in Paris and now she's on the run. Why would anyone back a Jihadist movement that ultimately robs you of an education or a job? We'll take you behind the veil next.

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