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At This Hour

More Women Joining Jihad; Ohio Man Arrested for Threatening Speaker Boehner; Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility for "Charlie Hebdo" Attack; Boko Haram Attacks Become More Intense

Aired January 14, 2015 - 11:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, a claim of responsibility for the Paris attacks. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula releasing a video statement calling the brothers behind the attacks heroes. The group's commander said it chose the target, laid out the plan, and financed the operation.

Meanwhile, authorities still searching for this woman, Hayat Boumeddiene. She's a 26 year old believed to be the girlfriend of the terrorists killed in the attack on the Paris kosher store.

Women participation in jihad is more common in the past four years. Our Arwa Damon spoke with a young woman who supports jihad and who supports the Paris attacks.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I can't really tell you why I cried for them so much. I was so angry that they were dead. Why? Why kill them?

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ROMANS: Joining me now is CNN global affairs analyst, Kimberly Dozier.

Kimberly, one of the things is terror has long been the purview of men, and we're seeing more women are supporting and answering the call to become terrorists. Why?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Christine, this is not so new. There were 20 women suicide bombers who were used by al Qaeda in Iraq during its bombing campaign during the occupation there. Palestinian women have used women suicide bombers. A few years back, it's been lost in the midst of the Internet, al Qaeda's Ayman al Zawahiri's wife issues a letter calling on women Muslims to join the jihad. ISIS has taken recruitment of these women to a whole different level. Say you're a young woman who reaches out online. U.S. officials tell me they use these Madison Avenue-style tactics. They will pair that young woman with an attractive looking male who will entice them to come to Syria and join the jihad telling them, we'll marry you to an important fighter and you'll have status within our organization and be part of something that you're not back home. ROMANS: Whether you're a man or a woman in the whole game of jihad,

you are looking for something. We see it over and over again.

Peter Bergen wrote a piece on CNN.com pointing out that women should be turned off by this movement. He said, "It's a strange kind of equal opportunity. You can be part of the holy war that seeks to install Taliban-style utopia that will ensure you will never have a job or get an education." Intellectually, it doesn't make sense but it's appealing to people.

DOZIER: ISIS has put out photographs that they created a women's brigade where women help search at checkpoints to see if Syrians are trying to sneak weapons through or men are trying to disguise themselves as women. They're not just part of staying at home and keeping the home fires burning. They are actually part of the fight.

ROMANS: The U.S. has had several women try to join Islamic terrorist movements. The most famous, so-called Jihad Jane, who traveled to Europe to scope out an attack on a Swedish artist who had drawn a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. More recently, a 19-year-old Colorado resident and we even have the sister of a would-be jihadi in Chicago who was going to go with her brother and wanted to go with her brother. A teenage girl. What can be done to stop the trend?

DOZIER: This is one of the reasons that the White House and U.S. counterterrorism officials I have spoken to have talked about trying to take the word "Islam" out of the language, calling these people criminal extremists opposed to Islamic militants. They don't want to let the militants use the cachet of the religion, the faith, as a way to bring these people onboard. It really does become a war of ideas. Otherwise, the same sort of things that draw the young men to this fight, the chance to be part of something that's larger than themselves and something they may not get in poor communities, whether it be Europe or the United States, that's what they are traveling to join overseas.

ROMANS: You look at Anwar al Awlaki, who inspired these brothers, he grew up with means. His father was very important. He had a good education, best schools. He didn't fit that profile of not having worldly things and looking for something in his life. It's a very complicated picture. No question.

Kimberly Dozier, thank you very much.

John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Christine. Great discussion.

Coming up for us in Paris, al Qaeda now claims responsibility for the attack that took place right behind me. Was the terror group really behind it and if they were, is this group now a much stronger foe than officials anticipated?

But first, the speaker of the House, was he almost assassinated? The plot to poison John Boehner exposed. That's ahead @THISHOUR. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Two U.S. astronauts on the international space station have been evacuated. The flight engineer and the commander moved from the American side to the Russian side of the station when an alarm sounded indicating a possible ammonia leak. A leak has not been confirmed. The American section of the space station has been isolated while the crew investigates. NASA is calling it a precautionary move and says both U.S. astronauts are safe.

Searchers have located most of the fuselage from the doomed AirAsia flight at the bottom of the Java Sea. Officials have said many of the more than 100 bodies might be found inside that fuselage. Divers are expected to look for them tomorrow. Officials unloaded content from the cockpit voice and flight data recorders and are scouring both for clues as to why this plane went down.

A lot of questions @THISHOUR about the tragedy Monday on a D.C. Metro train. One passenger died, more than 80 others sickened after the train filled with smoke. Federal officials blame an electrical malfunction in the tunnel but there are questions about the speed of the emergency response. "The Washington Post" says rescuers waited in the station before heading down into the tunnel. Some people say it took crews at least 40 minutes, 40 minutes in the smoke to get to the train, a train only about 800 feet away. They had to use force open doors. Officials have not explained why it took so long.

We're learning more details @THISHOUR about an Ohio bartender's alleged plot to kill John Boehner. Authorities say 44-year-old Michael Hoyt threatened to kill the House speaker by putting poison in his drink or shooting him. He has been indicted and is being evaluated at a federal prison hospital.

Our Athena Jones joins us from Washington.

Athena, this arrest went down in the fall. We're just learning details now. What happened here?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. That's right. This went down at the end of October. The indictment just came through at the beginning of this month, January 7th. I have that one-count indictment and the criminal complaint right here. Details of this case are bizarre. He worked as a bartender at the country club where John Boehner was a member. He was fired at the end of October. Managers say he was rude and angered some patrons. After he was fired, he called 911 himself, and he said something odd about wanting to apologize to his father. Police went to investigate. When they went to his house, he told them he was going to kill Boehner because Boehner was mean to him at the country club and because Boehner is responsible for Ebola. He also told police he had a loaded handgun, .380 Beretta automatic, and he would shoot Boehner and take off. He talked about how he could have put something in Boehner's drink at the country club while serving him and hearing voices that he himself was Jesus Christ and John Boehner was the devil. This is someone who has a history of mental illness.

The speaker hasn't had much comment until just now. He said under his breath in passing, "You can't make this stuff up."

But his number-two, house majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, did have this to say. Let's play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, (R-), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: It's a sad situation. I think this individual needs a great deal of help but the speaker needs to be protected.

JONES: As he said anything to his colleagues about threats?

MCCARTHY: No.

JONES: What about yourself? You're a leader now. You have a detail.

MCCARTHY: I think I'm OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: You may have heard that there. McCarthy said that Speaker Boehner hadn't mentioned a specific threat to any of the leadership or members of his caucus and that he believes he's OK. Very bizarre story though -- Christine?

ROMANS: Bizarre, but incredibly serious. This is someone obviously with a lot of emotional problems mental health problems sitting across the bar from the speaker of the House. Really, really bizarre. You can't make it up but also it's a wake-up call for the security details. No question.

Athena Jones, thank you so much.

John?

BERMAN: All right, thanks so much, Christine.

Up next, from Paris, caught on tape, the men behind the terror attack. This new video emerging that shows what happened as they were committing their deadly rampage. What does this video tell us? What clues does it give investigators about their training, and how they may have carried this out?

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BERMAN: A major development in the attacks here in Paris. A commander of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is on video claiming full responsibility for the attack here behind me at "Charlie Hebdo." This man on video says that this group chose the target, laid out the plan, and financed the operation. There's that video and there's also chilling new video in the moments that followed this attack behind me, the Kouachi brothers' massacre at the "Charlie Hebdo" magazine. In the video, brothers declare vengeance in the name of the Prophet Muhammad. Look at the video for yourself.

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BERMAN: Joining me now is our global affairs analyst, Colonel James Reese; and Paul Stockton, former assistant secretary of defense.

Colonel, let me start with you.

The first reaction to everyone I have spoken to is how calm and calculating these brothers were in the middle of this attack. They had just killed 10 people. Presumably, they were trying to escape, yet they looked to be taking their time to reload their weapons.

LT. COL. JAMES REESE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: John, it's a great point. What it shows me is over the years that they have done some training and they have put themselves in that position. After you shoot 10 people and when you're shooting, they are amped up and nerves are going. They were able to control their nerves and do a pretty good job.

BERMAN: Mr. Stockton, I want to show you another piece of this video where you do show a confrontation between the brothers and police who tried to get in their way. Watch this.

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(GUNFIRE)

(SHOUTING)

(GUNFIRE)

(SHOUTING)

(GUNFIRE)

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BERMAN: Mr. Stockton, officials here that I've spoke to point out the fact that these police who did confront these brothers, it's clear they just were not equipped to deal with this type of threat. Heavily armed men with these rifles. How do you deal with this level of threat?

PAUL STOCKTON, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The bravery is impressive. Going toward now we need to anticipate that adversaries will be we need to have the concepts of operation and the training so that our police forces are better prepared to handle increasingly sophisticated threats.

BERMAN: We're watching this one more time here.

Colonel Reese, these men are moving in military formation here. Two types of security are increased, in troop presence and in police presence. It seems that that troop presence is necessary to give people the feeling of safety.

REESE: You're right. The government has to show the French people that they have control of the situation. They have to put the forces out there. But that's only going to last for a period of time. That's not sustainable. So right now, it's a feel-good type of aspect. Get the troops out there. Let everyone see. Make things secure until everyone gets past this investigation. And in a week or so, this, too, shall pass.

BERMAN: Colonel James Reese, Paul Stockton, thank you so much for being with us.

And chilling moments. I know this country is looking to change things as they move towards. Some important discussions to be had in Paris and around the world.

Christine?

ROMANS: You're absolutely right, John.

Ahead @THISHOUR, they kill, kidnap and torture men, women and children in the name of Allah and are wreaking havoc across Niger. Why you should be concerned about Boko Haram, and how you can help its youngest victims.

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ROMANS: The Nigerian army today repelled an attack by Boko Haram, killing 40 of those militants. This is a very rare victory against the terrorists. It happened in the same area from which hundreds of schoolgirls were abducted last year. They're still gone. Boko Haram's attacks in Nigeria are becoming more intense, they are ruthless, they are indiscriminate. And officials are concerned they're not so much about tactics anymore. They think Boko Haram kills because it can.

Joining me is Ricardo Rene Laremont, professor and author.

Professor Laremont, what is Boko Haram's endgame here? It seems as though it was Sharia law, a rejection of Western values and Western education. But it seems as though this whole tactic has intensified into killing for killing's sake.

RICARDO RENE LAREMONT, PROFESSOR & AUTHOR: Well, it's a situation analogous to what we find with is in Iraq. In the sense that essentially northern Nigeria is being sectioned off from Nigeria itself. So where now there isn't an Iraq as we knew it or Syria as we knew it, we do not have a flir Nigeria as we knew it. They are essentially establishing their own sovereignty over the northeastern part of the country and the government isn't doing much about it.

ROMANS: The government isn't doing much about it at all, quite frankly. I mean, there were able to repeal or kill 40 militants today, a rare victory. The president, who is running for reelection, didn't even mention the killing of 2,000 people in his country by Boko Haram just a week ago in the last week. Will there be more of a response from the international community? Will there be more response from the Nigerian army?

LAREMONT: Well, the question you have to ask yourself is, why has the president not addressed the question in the north? It's really a situation that emerges from Nigeria's transition to democracy. The civilian president does not want to empower the military because he fears that if he were to give them the resources that were required, they would threaten the civilian government itself. So it's really quite logical why he's not supporting the government. And in this context, the army does not have the resources with which to confront Boko Haram. So it isn't a question of whether he doesn't want to do it. There is a logic behind why he is not supporting the military.

ROMANS: Yet, the rest of us look at this and say, girls gone, missing, sold into marriage, killed. We're told, witnesses saying, young girls as young as 10 being used as suicide bombers, boys being murdered. What is the West supposed to do? We have seen genocide in Africa before where the West didn't do enough about it and really regretted it later on. Should the international community be doing something?

LAREMONT: We need to be witnesses for the right stances to be taken in Nigeria. However, what we have learned from the Iraqi and the Syrian experiences is that we cannot go in it alone. We first have to understand the logic of the civilian president and then try to reorient his thinking so that he becomes the president of the entire country rather than a president that is entirely preoccupied with the center and the south of the country. Essentially, from my perspective, he has written off the north because he doesn't think it's necessary for him to govern there.

ROMANS: Why do you think there has been such an international response and solidarity with France and terrorism in Paris and this receives relatively less attention?

LAREMONT: It gets comparatively less attention because Paris is Paris, and Paris is a center of media. Now, in the northeastern part of Nigeria, this is essentially a no-go zone. Consequently, it is not going to get the attention that Paris would get. But nonetheless, given how we were not present at the moment of the Rwanda conflict and we acted belatedly in other crises in Africa, it is imperative upon the American electorate and media to keep attention on this issue because hundreds, indeed, thousands of ordinary Nigerians are suffering.

ROMANS: Professor Ricardo Rene Laremont, thank you so much for your expertise today.

You can help the child victims of the violence in Nigeria. Head to our website, CNN.com/impact.

Thank you for joining us @THISHOUR.

"LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.