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At This Hour
Dutch Mayor Shocks with Message to Muslims; New Video Shows Child Killing for ISIS; Kids Caged in Manila; Boko Haram's Scorched- Earth Rampage in Nigeria.
Aired January 15, 2015 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The mayor of a major European city shocked a live the audience city this week. The mayor of Rotterdam had a message to Muslims who have a problem with Western culture, saying, quote, "It is incomprehensible you can turn against freedom, but if you don't like freedom, for heaven's sake, pack your bags and leave. If you don't like it here because some humorists you don't like are making a newspaper, may I then say you can F off."
You get the point. So the man who made these comments, the mayor of Rotterdam, you should know is a Muslim. Ahmed Aboutaleb is the first Muslim immigrant to lead a major Western European city.
Joining me to talk about this is Dr. Saud Anwar, the mayor of South Windsor, Connecticut, also happens to be a Muslim.
Let me ask you this, sir, as a Muslim first, when you hear the mayor of city saying if you don't like it here, you can F off, what's your reaction?
DR. SAUD ANWAR, MAYOR, SOUTH WINDSOR, CONNECTICUT: Thank you, John and Michaela for having me on your show.
And so I heard the mayor's comments from Rotterdam. I have four prospectives to share on this. I completely agree with him that terrorists have no room on any society. The second component is any individual in any society who has intentions to harm their fellow citizens also have no room in that society. The area that I disagree with him respectfully is the people in Western or any other society with democracy have a right to have peaceful disagreements on issues, perspectives and policies. Ha is something that I think he went a little too far. Another part is the choice of his words, again, look very aggressive and almost look like bullying. That's how I look at this.
BERMAN: It is interesting, in some ways we say this as a new discussion because of the terror attacks in the Muslim communities that exist in some places and Europe. In other ways, this is a discussion and debate that's gone on for hundreds of years including in the United States, in cities like Boston where you see signs of "no Irish." It's a discussion about assimilation. What is the responsibility of immigrants to assimilate to the culture they're in, or do they have the right to keep many of their traditions and the customs that they have. No one is saying that part of that discussion pertains to violence. Violence, of course, is abhorrent. How willing do you have to be able to be when you're a mayor to accept the customs of new immigrant communities?
ANWAR: I think this is part of the difference, John, the difference between Europe and the United States. In United States every American is a hyphenated American in so many ways. We actually are a society which accepts people of all different backgrounds. This is a part of our responsibility to help as a larger society for communities to integrate and assimilate into the larger society. This would require both the community and the larger society to actually start to accept each other. It's a process, a very critical piece of solution and prevention of extremism and terrorism of any shape or any form.
BERMAN: It is interesting because we just got some news in Paris that's very interesting that deals with tissue of outreach to a different community. The department of the interior here just announced that Lasna Bathili (ph), a Muslim who perhaps saved many people in the kosher supermarket. The Department of Interior says he will now become a French citizen. They are granting him citizenship, making a big show, I think, of welcoming this immigrant into the community. What do you make of that gesture?
ANWAR: I think this is a great thing and this is actually what we also need to do. This terrorism issue, the extremism issue, we as a society cannot solve it alone. It's not a law enforcement issue. It would require the Muslim community to be partner and work closely with a larger society and with law enforcement. I think the responsibility of the Muslim community is very significant. They have to be the ones to fight these extremists and also help identify them. If there's anybody in their own community who has negative ideas and who actually has plans to hurt anyone, the Muslim community should be the first one who should be vigilant about some of these individuals and have the comfort level to reach out to law enforcement and interact with them. I think integration, allowing people to be citizens, but also be true citizens and responsible citizens is very, very important part of the solutions.
BERMAN: Dr. Anwar from the great city of South Windsor, Connecticut, thanks for being with us.
ANWAR: Thank you for having me.
BERMAN: Michaela?
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Great conversation there, John. Thanks so much for that.
Imagine this, turning children into killers. It's the latest and perhaps the most horrific new tactic from the Islamic State. That chilling report next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Welcome back to our live coverage in Paris of the aftermath of the terror attacks here more than one week ago. One of the effects of these attacks in France has been to steal the resolve of the French people and the French government in the battle against terror. Overwhelmingly, just the other day, there was a vote in parliament to continue the bombing of ISIS in Iraq. The French participation in the coalition, sending an aircraft carrier to the region to continue the pressure on ISIS. While that's happening, a chilling video from ISIS purportedly shows a young boy killing two men. CNN has not been able to verify the authenticity of this video.
Our Michael Holmes looks at why ISIS and other terror groups have used children as killers during conflicts.
We should warn you, a lot of these images are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A horrific new tactic from ISIS, raising a new generation of terrorists, a video released this week from the terror group purports to show a young boy executing two hostages accused of being Russian spies. In the video, a young boy about 10 years old stands before the hostages armed with a handgun while a bearded ISIS fighter stands next to the boy reciting religious verses. CNN can't verify the authenticity of the video. But the boy pulls the trigger --
(GUNFIRE)
HOLMES: -- and appears to shoot both men once in the head and fires several more times as the hostage slumps to the ground.
Like previous ISIS execution videos, showing the beheading of Western hostages, this one is carefully edited and choreographed with slick production. It's unclear if the boy did, in fact, kill the hostages, but the message from ISIS is clear, they're turning children into killers.
DANIEL DYMAN, SENIOR FELLOW, CENTER FOR MIDDLE EAST POLICY, BROOKINGS Institution: Unfortunately, there is a use of children for atrocities in many conflicts. We've seen this in Africa and before in Syria. The difference here is they're bragging about it. They're trying to exalt in this. It's disturbing.
HOLMES: This video appears to be the first time ISIS has portrayed a child carrying out an execution, but the terror group has exploited children in previous videos. They call them the cubs of the caliphate, often shown training to fight learning in ISIS-run schools and training with automatic weapons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: (SPEAKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
HOLMES: This particular boy has appeared in earlier ISIS videos. He says his name is Abdullah, he's from Kazakhstan, and he wants to grow up to kill infidels. This isn't the first time ISIS has used shocking images of children
online. A young Australia boy holds a severed head in a photo posted last August by the child's father, an extremist who took his children to Syria to join the fight with ISIS.
Another fanatical group is also using children to further their evil agenda. Nigeria's Boko Haram, behind a deadly attack this week, strapping a bomb to a young girl and setting it off in a business marketplace, killing at least 16 people including, of course, the girl.
Just this week, a Chicago teen pleaded not guilty to charges he planned to join ISIS fighters in Syria. His mother issuing an emotional plea to the terror group.
ZARINE KHAN, MOTHER OF ISIS RECRUIT: We have a message for ISIS. Leave our children alone.
HOLMES: Children used as pawns in a propaganda war in a global jihad, exploited, their innocence lost. What happens to these children as they grow up? What kind of adults will these terrorists send into the world?
Michael Holmes, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: So troubling.
Michaela, back to you.
PEREIRA: Really troubling for anyone that has a heart. That a horrifying, horrifying notion to have to consider.
John Berman, thanks for that.
Coming up, Pope Francis getting quite a warm and big welcome from cheering crowds as he arrives in the Philippines. But what you don't see and what we're seeing now are reports and images that homeless kids have been taken off the streets, caged up, locked away in detention centers in order to clean up the streets of Manila. A heartbreaking eyewitness account next.
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PEREIRA: The pope is in the Philippines today. We'll talk more about that in a moment. As he was traveling there, he was asked to weigh in on the terror attacks in Paris last week, as well as the controversy over the magazine, "Charlie Hebdo's" depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. Among the comments, among them is the quote that we are choosing to tell you about, the pope said, "People cannot insult other people's faiths nor should they kill in the name of God." We thought that was particularly poignant considering what has been going on there.
Speaking of the pope, his visit there to Manila and the Philippines is a five-day-long visit. You probably won't believe some of the pictures we're showing you, homeless children placed in cages. Look at this. Some of them as young as 5 years old. This one is chained to a poll. Others are locked in filthy detention centers. They're sleeping on concrete floors. There's word of sickness and ill health. Street children in Manila being rounded up like animals before the pope's arrival. Officials claim this is done in order to stop gangs of beggars targeting the pope. Human rights groups say there's simply no excuse for this.
Joining me via Skype from the Philippines is Nobel Peace Prize- nominated missionary, Father Shea Cullen.
Father, I'm glad to see you. But I'm horrified by what we're talking about. You witnessed this. Tell us what you saw and your reactions to it.
FATHER SHEA CULLEN, NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING MISSIONARY PRIEST (voice- over): Yes, well, it's quite horrific and always a terrible tragedy and a great suffering of these children every time I go to these prisons and I try and get these kids out of there. The pope is coming with a message of mercy and compassion and we really need to persuade the government officials to have lots of compassion and mercy on these children. They really are living these terrible conditions. And we save as many as we can every year, but we really have to change the system.
PEREIRA: This is an ongoing problem. But there are child protection laws that exist in the Philippines are there not?
CULLEN: Yes, indeed. We were very much a part in drafting those laws to protect children from precisely this kind of abuse that they receive at the hands of police and uncaring officials who put these in these so-called homes, but in fact they are prisoners.
PEREIRA: It's particularly troubling when you consider this pope. I understand this has nothing to do with the Vatican ordering this cleanup of the streets to happen. This is the Philippine government. I can't imagine this would sit well with this pope, who is a pope of the people. He has talked about protecting the poor, the young, the indigent. This seems to fly perfectly in the face of everything that he stands for.
CULLEN: Yes, of course, we have been challenging the local church here in the Philippines also to get active in this and to protect children's rights and come out strongly and confront the government about this terrible human rights abuse of children here in the Philippines. Much as we are rescuing, about 120 children we can get out and save them, unfortunately there's thousands more in jails all over metro Manila and all other parts of the country. We've been campaigning on this for the last 20 years with the foundation and others doing their part.
PEREIRA: Father --
(CROSSTALK)
CULLEN: They're ignoring this terrible situation.
PEREIRA: Father Shea Cullen, please don't give up your important vital work to save these children and to work to improve the conditions for them.
We, here at CNN, reached out to the Philippine's social welfare department for comment. So far, no comment. But they say locking them up, or at least other reports have emerged that this practice of locking up street children ahead of these major international events dates back somehow to the 1990s.
Thank you for joining us and we hope that there is a solution in very soon.
CULLEN: Thank you very much.
PEREIRA: Ahead at this hour, satellite images show entire towns literally wiped off the map after Boko Haram continues its rampage through Nigeria leaving death and destruction in its wake.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PEREIRA: President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron will speak about terrorism in Washington. They have written a joint op-ed. It says, quote, "Whether we are facing lone fanatics or al Qaeda, we will not be cowed by extremists, which tries to justify the murder of innocents."
The extent of Boko Haram's scorched-earth rampage in Nigeria is literally jaw dropping.
Our Diana Magnay has details brought to life by images from Amnesty International.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, Amnesty International's photos showing the scale of the destruction just incredible. You get a very real sense of the devastation. Nearly 4,000 buildings razed to the ground which is the worst destruction they have witnessed in all their years. And of course, these were just two of 16 villages that Boko Haram ransacked as they conducted their killing rampage last week.
These are strikingly similar to satellite images released in between of the town showing again after pictures of immense demonstration which they attributed then to the Nigerian military. The reason I bring this up is because it shows you the level of impunity with which both sides operate in this region. In that attack, just under 200 people were killed in the rampage, recently we believe the number to be far higher. These are factors national allies will take into account when they try to work out how to assist the Nigerian government.
The leader of Boko Haram has also released a new video statement in which he praises the assassins in the "Charlie Hebdo" murders and says that the French -- criticizes the French for following the religion of democracy. Now Nigeria holds its own democratic elections in February. And the president seems to be more focused on the campaign trail than he is on the slaughter, still having not said a word about what is going on up there or how he intends to bring this insurgency under control -- Michaela?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PEREIRA: All right, Diana. Thank you so much for that. We appreciate it.
Just received word that Secretary of State John Kerry just landed in Paris. We know he's scheduled to meet with President Francois Hollande tomorrow. We'll have many more details right ahead here on CNN.
That's it for me and for John @THISHOUR.
"LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts now.
