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ISIS Ideology Resurges at Sprawling Syrian Tent Camp; Tribute in Light for Those Killed in the 9/11 Terror Attacks. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired September 12, 2019 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NICK WATT, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The battle over Brexit just got even more chaotic. Scottish judges have ruled that the prime minister suspending Parliament in the run up to deadline day was unlawful.
The U.S. president justifies his position to fire his national security adviser and is seemingly siding with Kim Jong-un over his erstwhile advisor. The president now considering a familiar face to replace John Bolton.
Plus, we go inside the Syrian camp where female ISIS devotees are said to be raising the next generation of jihadi fighters.
Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, I'm Nick Watt and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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WATT: We begin with more Brexit backlash for Boris Johnson. Scotland's highest civil court has ruled that Johnson's suspension of Parliament as the clock ticks down to deadline day was illegal and there is more.
Mr. Johnson's government has been forced to publish a document detailing just how bad things might get if the U.K. crashes out of the E.U. without a deal on October 31st, something Johnson's detractors say he is aiming for.
Downing Street was trying to keep that document a secret but Parliament voted on Monday to release it. Here is CNN's Nic Robertson with more.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Early in the day, the decision by three senior Scottish judges essentially saying that Boris Johnson's proroguing of Parliament was unlawful and that he had in effect lied to the queen about his reason for doing it.
That will go to the Supreme Court in London Tuesday next week. In the meantime, the document Operation Yellowhammer, which was the government's document for its preparation of a no-deal Brexit, the government had been ordered to release that.
They did that shortly before the deadline. It makes difficult and troubling reading particularly about food and medicine supplies coming into the U.K. It points to the border crossing, the channel crossing between England and France and the southeast of England as being a chokepoint, saying that trucks are not ready for the customs inspections that they will have on the either side, that there will be delays for trucks crossing over into France, back from France as well, that could last a day and a half to 2.5 days.
That's how long it could take to cross the border, that three-fourths of Britain's medical supplies come in across that border, across the channel and that some of those medicines are perishable, that the government cannot stockpile the necessary medicines and that therefore there will be shortages of medicines if there is a no deal Brexit.
They also say there will be a shortage of some perishable food. They say that will drive up potentially drive up the price of food, that this could affect the elderly, particularly that this will come into effect prior to Christmas, a time that food products generally -- there are more food products being bought and sold.
Also saying -- this is perhaps a plus for the government here -- that the electricity and gas supplies for people in their houses will not be affected, that they will continue to be available. However, they say that over time the price of electricity will likely rise and this could have economic and political consequences that will play negatively for the country, that could affect businesses.
That is one of the conclusions. So a lot to digest for the public in that report. Also the government had been expected and had been called in Parliament to produce the documentation that had gone into that decision making to prorogue Parliament. Government has not done that before the deadline. They say they won't be doing that because that is not normal precedent they say.
The opposition will likely criticize the government again having got now in the public domain all these detail in Operation Yellowhammer. Of course, the government not in session so the opposition cannot question the government and the prime minister about precisely what they're doing.
Now some of the more precise details are known -- Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
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WATT: And I want to turn now to our European Affairs Commentator Dominic Thomas who joins us from Los Angeles.
Dominic, I've been reading this Operation Yellowhammer, some of the things that might happen were told, fresh food and medicine shortages, panic buying, food, fuel and electricity price rises, a rise in public disorder, even clashes between British and foreign fishing boats. [00:05:00]
WATT: And here's a quote, "Low-income groups will be disproportionately affected."
You can see why Boris Johnson wanted to keep this a secret.
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Yes, absolutely.
And the more this kind of information is coming out, the more the general public gets to see that there's a disconnect between the public face of the Boris Johnson cabinet and administration in terms of the ways in which they've been speaking about their intentions of striking a deal of trying to improve on Theresa May's deal with the European Union.
But in fact, the reality is that that is not at all their objective, that the private goal of this cabinet that is surrounds Boris Johnson made up of these Brexiteers that have been such detractors in this process and throughout are in fact completely unprepared for even the consequences of no deal.
And one could even argue that they don't really care about those particular consequences because they're so hell-bent on simply delivering Brexit by October 31st. This crucial deadline they set themselves and which they hope to achieve in order to be electable.
So all of this information along with all the legal battles and ramifications I think are increasing the sort of the public's mistrust of this administration.
WATT: And Dominic, I want to move on to this ruling out of Scotland today. I mean, you know, Dominic Grieve who is a former Tory Minister is saying that if the U.K. Supreme Court upholds that ruling and rules that indeed Boris Johnson illegally suspended Parliament -- he, of course, claimed he was suspending it so that he and his party could work on their agenda -- everybody I think suspects it was because of Brexit.
I mean, listen, he lied to the entire British electorate during the referendum campaign. Now, people are saying because he lied to one old lady, the Queen, he might have to resign. Is it going to come to that? Is there a danger that Johnston is going to be turfed out?
THOMAS: Well, I think all of these are in the realm of possibility. And not only is the Scottish verdict so interesting, but they actually you know reverse their decision. And in so doing further underscored the fact that the deliberate aim of proroguing was to prevent parliament from debating these issues from trying to sort of maximize the opportunities of achieving a no-deal.
There's a discrepancy now between the earlier London ruling and they're going to defer to the Supreme Court on Tuesday. I think no matter what the outcome of that particular verdict is and of course, there are all these legal ramifications for Boris Johnson himself, let alone and you see in that image there are really small sitting behind him is whether the Privy Council lied or misled the queen in terms of their intentions.
These are all serious. But in many ways the show has moved on, because the very question appropriation led the opposition to be increasingly mobilized and they were able, the reality is, to pass legislation to block a no-deal, while at the same time preventing a general election. And you could argue the consequence of all of this was to take control over Parliament.
And so this was a gross miscalculation by Boris Johnson, while at the same time highlighting the fact that he has been less than honest with the general public and with the monarch, let alone the MPs, with whom, in many ways his future lies in Parliament, who at any moment, could pass a vote of no confidence and essentially remove him.
WATT: I mean, Dominic, I hate to do this to you. But what's going to happen?
THOMAS: Well, I think that what's happening now, no matter what the legal outcome is, we've got these party conferences coming up over the next two weeks. And I think it's going to be absolutely crucial to see, on the one hand, what comes out of the Liberal Democrat and the Labour Party conferences and the extent to which they are able to explore some kind of alliance without which their electoral hopes are very limited.
While at the same time the Conservative Party that in some ways over the past two weeks or so has become completely fractured for all of these questions we've been talking about is the extent to which they are able to move towards the Brexit Party, which improves or enhances the electoral possibilities without alienating so many members of the Conservative Party that do not want to see the party go towards Nigel Farage.
So I think that these questions are very important. And the shadow over all of this, of course, is where there's some kind of agreement with the Lib Dems, the Labour Party, the whole opposition is to not favor a general election but in fact to push for some kind of referendum, either a complete overhaul of the Brexit argument or simply a referendum on a new deal, which will bring the British people back into the conversation. So I think that those are important ways and pass forward in this particular process.
WATT: I mean, the hideous irony here is that this referendum was held to try and remove the fissures within the Conservative Party.
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WATT: And now the Conservative Party in the country are more divided than ever. Dominic Thomas, thanks a lot for joining us.
THOMAS: Thanks, Nick.
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WATT: Officials in the Bahamas say 2,500 people are still registered as missing more than a week after Hurricane Dorian ravaged the islands. But that may include the names of evacuees and also those now staying in shelters.
The death toll remains at 50 but it's still expected to rise sharply as emergency crews go through the rubble. Paula Newton shows us the efforts underway in one of the most devastated areas in this exclusive report.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's tough but crucial to reach every corner and crevice of these battered islands. We touched down in the now scarred Great Guana Cay on a mission with the United States Agency for International Development, USAID. They've tasked search and rescue from Fairfax County, Virginia, to help out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here used to be the police station.
NEWTON: Local residents give them some bearings --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one's missing so far that I know of.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that's -- I mean, really, really good news.
NEWTON: -- and they get an assessment. Incredibly, no one has died here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys, help unload the truck over there while we talk to the head honcho.
NEWTON: They help stock food in the church -- now a makeshift shelter -- offer medical assessments and then move on to a house-to-house search, gathering intel for the Bahamian government as they try and get a handle on the magnitude of what happened here.
DANIEL GAJEWSKI, FAIRFAX COUNTY URBAN SEARCH AND RESCUE: So what we've done is I've walked around the building, I've assessed the building to make sure that no one's calling out, nobody's in there, so I marked it clear.
NEWTON: The truth is, Dorian's cuts through these islands and cays were menacing. The cat 5 storm path is in red and it slashed right through the Abacos.
You can see Great Guana Cay, just north of its path. The darker the dots, the more structures destroyed or damaged. USAID says the first sweep of all the islands and cays is now nearly complete.
GAJEWSKI: Lately, it has been a lot of reconnaissance, a lot of building structures. And then from there, kind of, getting a pulse on the locals on what they need.
NEWTON: Getting to isolated local residents has been a challenge. And because of money and means, there has been an island divide.
Places like Guana Cay are only now getting any kind of official help. It's been the wealthy patrons of the exclusive Baker's Bay Golf Club on the island that have sent private helicopters and supplies, even evacuating the injured and vulnerable, residents say.
Tom Brady, a star quarterback for the New England Patriots, posted that his family had been traveling to the Abacos for many years, adding it was "now our responsibility to help them."
TROY ALBURY, CHIEF, GREAT GUANA CAY FIRE DEPARTMENT: I am not the biggest fan of Baker's Bay. I have not been. I fought them for 10 years in court because I didn't want that golf course built. But they have been our savior during this.
This is going to take a lot of money, a lot of time and a lot of dedication. And I pretty much stood up in the meeting last night and cried.
I said, "We can't do it alone. We need help, lots of help."
NEWTON: USAID will continue to help with recovery efforts, taking its cue from the Bahamian government. But the truth is, some locals have lost everything and have no insurance. It was just too expensive in recent years.
The cruelty of this storm did not distinguish between rich and poor. But already, the recovery has -- Paula Newton, CNN, Great Guana Cay, the Bahamas.
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WATT: One day after U.S. president Donald Trump fired his national security adviser there is talk that the Trump might tap his very loyal secretary of state to double up and fill that role as well.
Sources say administration officials are discussing having Mike Pompeo take the job of his former rival, John Bolton. Pompeo would be the second person in history to do both jobs at one. The first one was Henry Kissinger.
Bolton's dismissal was one of many topics the president touched on with reporters on Wednesday. Kaitlan Collins has the details.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I never did that. I never did that.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump denying he was involved in White House efforts to clear his name after he falsely and repeatedly claimed Alabama was in the path of Hurricane Dorian.
"The New York Times" reports his chief of staff directed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to have NOAA issue a statement disputing the National Weather Service after it contradicted the president, which NOAA did, but with no name attached. As Trump claims he was right about the weather, he's also insisting he fired John Bolton. TRUMP: And he sat right in that chair and I told him, "John, I wish you well, but I would like you to submit your resignation."
COLLINS: The president still blames his hawkish former national security adviser for interfering in talks with North Korea.
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TRUMP: When he talked about the Libyan model for Kim Jong-un, that was not a good statement to make. And you just take a look at what happened with Gadhafi.
COLLINS: The Libyan leader was overthrown and killed shortly after agreeing to give up his nuclear ambitions and the North Koreans were offended after Bolton said this last year:
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I think we're looking at the Libya model of 2003-2004.
COLLINS: The president was furious at the time.
TRUMP: And I don't blame Kim Jong-un for what he said after that.
COLLINS: But he kept Bolton around for another 16 months, until abruptly firing him yesterday.
TRUMP: He made some very big mistakes.
COLLINS: No prior president has ever had four national security advisers in their first three years. But Trump will name his in a matter of days.
TRUMP: But there are five people that I consider very highly qualified.
COLLINS: His last meeting with Bolton turned into a bitter fight over his decision to invite leaders of the Taliban to Camp David, talks Trump brought up at the Pentagon today as he marked the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
TRUMP: I called them off when I learned that they had killed a great American soldier from Puerto Rico.
COLLINS: Though he left out where he planned to host them.
Now at the same Oval Office appearance today, the president left open the idea of potentially easing sanctions on Iran in hopes of securing a meeting with them.
He only said, quote, "We'll see what happens."
But if the president does do that to get that meeting, it would be a pretty big change in so far what his administration has built as a maximum pressure campaign against Iran. And that's certainly something that former national security adviser John Bolton, who just left yesterday, would be opposed to -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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WATT: I just want to play that quote once more about Kim Jong-un and John Bolton.
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TRUMP: When John Bolton talked about the Libyan model -- and he made a mistake. And as soon as he mentioned that, the Libyan model, what a disaster, take a look at what happened to Gadhafi with the Libyan model.
And he's using that to make a deal with North Korea?
And I don't blame Kim Jong-un for what he said after that. And he wanted nothing to do with John Bolton.
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WATT: So that was the president of the United States, seemingly siding with a brutal dictator with nuclear ambitions over his own erstwhile national security adviser.
Meanwhile the Taliban issued an ominous response to the president's declaration that peace talks are dead. Multiple reports quote a Taliban spokesperson as saying, "We had two ways to end occupation in Afghanistan. One was jihad and fighting, the other was talks and negotiations.
"If Trump wants to stop talks, we will take the first way and they soon will regret it."
Israel is preparing for another election next week, after no one managed to form a government after the last vote. Once again, Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz are neck-and-neck in the polls. We will, take a look at the challenger's chances this, time around.
Plus, forests in Indonesia are burning and the country's neighbors are choking on the fumes. The damage and what may have sparked the blazes, that's next in CNN NEWSROOM.
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WATT: A new CNN poll shows that Joe Biden still leads in the race to secure the Democratic presidential nomination. But two challengers are gaining ground. Biden has the support of 24 percent of respondents down five points from August and Elizabeth Warren, riding a four-point boost is now at 18 percent and Bernie Sanders is behind her at 17 percent. Biden will face off on stage against them for the first time on
Thursday, when top 10 Democrats take part in a televised debate. Electability against President Trump is expected to be a theme.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under fire for his controversial campaign pledge to annex parts of the West Bank if he is reelected. The United Nations and European Union and Arab League among those criticizing his plan to claim the Jordan Valley as a full part of Israel.
Some of the fiercest reaction comes from those who will be directly affected, the Palestinians themselves. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas is threatening to tear up all signed agreements with Israel if the annexation goes through.
The Jordan Valley makes up about a third of the West Bank and it's considered the Palestinian breadbasket. One official explains its importance.
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SAEB EREKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: It's impossible to have a Palestinian state without the Jordan Valley. This is the border, this is the water, this is the agriculture and this is tourism, this is history and this is the entry gate.
How can someone imagine me having a rival for the same state without my 37 kilometers in the Dead Sea?
And what do they think about my prosperity?
My prosperity is not going to come through donations from Ireland and Britain and France and the States. My prosperity will come if I can control my natural resources.
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WATT: Next week Israel goes to the polls for the second time this year. Prime Minister Netanyahu is running neck-and-neck with the Blue and White Party's Benny Gantz. Last time Gantz lost by less than 15,000 votes.
So does he have a better chance this time?
CNN's Oren Liebermann reports.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His victory speech on election night in April came too early, but next Tuesday, Benny Gantz has a chance to do what he couldn't do then, defeat Benjamin Netanyahu.
At Gantz's campaign event, his supporters chant "look who's coming, the next prime minister". After trying and failing to beat Netanyahu the first time, Gantz is vowing to pull out all the stops. BENNY GANTZ, BLUE AND WHITE PARTY (through translator): We are continuing to work to approach the people. That's what is needed until the end and beyond.
LIEBERMANN: Even those who support Netanyahu realize Gantz is, on paper anyway, a formidable challenger.
BELLA ALKALAI, LIKUD VOTER (through translator): I'm realistic, even though I come from Bibi's camp and will vote for Bibi, I see the political map and I know the center left will form the next government.
LIEBERMANN: But analysts say his campaign has lacked a message and argue Gantz often comes across as lackluster, leaving some here wondering if he really wants it.
CHEMI SHALEV, HA'ARETZ POLITICAL ANALYST: There might be a secret in his very inept campaign in the sense that it presents such a counter to Netanyahu.
LIEBERMANN: Gantz was a career soldier rising to become Israel's 20th chief of staff. He led the military under two wars in Gaza serving under the man who's now his rival.
Netanyahu has painted as Gantz as inexperience, passive, incapable of running the country and handling world leaders. He says Gantz is a leftist who form a government with the Arabs.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The choice is between a weak, left-wing government led by Gantz or a strong, right-wing government led by me.
LIEBERMANN: But in April, Gantz's Blue and White Party pulled in a million votes falling 15,000 votes short of Netanyahu's Likud Party.
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LIEBERMANN: When Netanyahu couldn't form a government for the first time in the country's history, he called new elections instead of giving Gantz the chance to lead the country. If Gantz wants that chance this time, he's going to have to fight for it.
Do you feel confident, I ask?
GANTZ: I feel excellent.
LIEBERMANN: For a soldier who made it to the top, this may be the fight of his life -- Oren Lieberman, CNN, Jerusalem.
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WATT: Forest fires raging through Indonesia are so large that the neighboring countries of Malaysia and Singapore are choking on the smoke. About half a million face masks were handed out in a single day. CNN's Tom Sater explains how the fires might have started.
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TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): The fire crackles and pops as it burns out of control in KenPark, Indonesia. Intense forest fires have burned more than 930,000 hectares in the recent weeks. Hundreds of residents have been evacuated as firefighters desperately try to extinguish the flames.
Nine thousand personnel have been sent to help put out the flames but they say they're still short of help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The size of this burned area is about five hectares; the challenges are lack of water source and not enough personnel.
SATER (voice-over): As the fire rages across the Indonesian regions of Sumatra and Kalimantan, smoke and thick smog have spread into neighboring countries. Winds are carrying a dense unhealthy haze into Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore, causing high levels of air pollution.
Children in the Malaysian state of Sarawak put on face masks as they start their morning classes. This comes a day after 409 schools closed for day due to the unhealthy air quality according to state media.
Malaysian authorities handed out a half a million face masks and Singapore's national environment agency is telling residents to stay indoors.
Police say the cause of the fires is still under investigation but believed they have started when farmers use slash and burn techniques to clear the land, the same practice that caused many of the fires in the Brazilian Amazon.
MOHAMMAD ROMMEL, POLICE CHIEF, EAST KOTAWARINGIN POLICE DEPARTMENT (through translator): We still need further investigation and to collect evidence of the fire we need to find the starting point of the hot spot and direction of the falling trees that were cut, so we can check whether the fire was intentionally started. But according to our colleagues in a local mitigation agency, it was most likely caused by humans.
SATER: Indonesian authorities have tried to stop the illegal practice by farmers by imposing hefty fines and jail time, but the fires keep starting and burning -- Tom Sater, CNN.
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WATT: Ahead, a sprawling tent camp in Syria, home to thousands of wives and children of ISIS fighters and growing fear it is fast becoming a new version of the ISIS caliphate.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kurdish forces say this place is a ticking time bomb, an ISIS academy, where its brutal ideology is incubated. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: We'll take you to the al-Hol tent camp in Syria -- that is next.
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WATT: Welcome back. I'm Nick Watt. Let's update you on our top stories this hour.
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The U.K. lawmakers have forced the government to release a document detailing worst-case scenarios if Great Britain leaves the E.U. without a deal. We now know that the government fears civil unrest, fresh food and medicine shortages, an increase in food and fuel prices and severe delays at ports.
Twenty-five hundred people are still registered as missing in the Bahamas more than a week after Hurricane Dorian, but officials note that figure may include the names of evacuees and those now staying in shelters. The death toll remains at 50 but is expected to climb those recovery efforts to continue.
And there are growing fears a sprawling refugee camp in the Syrian desert is becoming a breeding ground for ISIS. Al-Hol is now home to 70,000 refugees, mostly the wives and children of ISIS fighters. The cap is operated by Syrian Kurdish fighters who battled ISIS but were told it is now run by ISIS wives and widows, now indoctrinating their children in ISIS ideology and terrorizing those they perceive as infidels.
CNN's Arwa Damon visited the camp. Here's part of her story.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To step in the near camp is the mutation of the caliphate that was kept alive by the windows and the wives of ISIS.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There are cells here, they are organized.
DAMON: A spirit of vengeance seeps into the next generation. Hatred and enmity is magnified by the wretched conditions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See, you think it's a camp, but it's a prison.
DAMON: It's a place in limbo like no other refugee camp on earth, shunned by the international committee. Kurdish forces say this place is a ticking time bomb, an ISIS academy where its brutal ideology is incubated.
They don't have the resources to keep control. Many of the women here don't know where their husbands and teenage sons are. They tell us quite openly they're teaching their children to hate the infidels who imprisoned and killed their fathers and brothers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): If the prisoners aren't released, the hatred will grow. The biggest ISIS cell will be the women.
DAMON: The camp's population swelled while ISIS was making its last stand, not far from An-Hol (ph), but many of the new arrivals have direct ties to ISIS. They were organized and quickly established their version of the moral police, terrorizing those who refused to wear the full veil.
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WATT: For more on this I'm joined by Elizabeth Tsurkov. She is a fellow at the Forum for Regional Thinking and visit to the Al-Hol camp just this past July.
Elizabeth, 70,000 people living in there, 90 percent of them women and children. Can you give us a brief description of the physical conditions that they're living in?
ELIZABETH TSURKOV, FELLOW, FORUM FOR REGIONAL THINKING: So I visited refugee and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) camps in many countries, and this is definitely camp with the harshest conditions for non-emergency care.
It was established years ago. Then the large influx of people came out in January, February and March. But still, the camp was an emergency-like conditions. There is not enough clean water. Services are completely inadequate. There's not enough funding for the humanitarian response in the camp. People are living in small tents. And living conditions in general are just miserable. The population there is just absolutely miserable.
WATT: And I mean, is part of the problem here that it's very difficult to generate international sympathy for these people because of who they are?
TSURKOV: Yes, I think that's part of it but also, the humanitarian response for Syria is also severely underfunded. In addition to that, the camp was established very, very rapidly. Large sections of it were established in one day only, because the influx of people who came out of this last pocket held by ISIS was much larger than expected.
The U.S. intelligence believed that there are about 3,000 civilians in Bakhous (ph), and 60,000 people emerged. So the camp was completely unprepared to receive that -- such a large number of people and, as a result, everything was made kind of haphazardly. And all humanity (ph) new phases in the camp and the camp being established that have kind of regular services would have kind of typical conditions that would have in a refugee or an IDP camp.
WATT: And I mean, these are largely people caught in limbo, some of them are foreign nationals whose home countries are refusing to take them back. I mean, what potentially is the solution here. TSURKOV: So each population in the camp requires a different
solution. About 40 percent of camp residents are Syrian, and the Syrian democratic forces who are in control of this territory are slowly releasing these families back to their communities.
And I think this is the right way to go, because we are -- simply living conditions in the camp are miserable. And living in the camp is not conducive to deradicalization. On the contrary.
With the Iraqi civilians there who make up about 46 percent of the population, they need to be sent back to Iraq, but they need to be sent back to camp or to their homes in a way that respect their human rights. Currently, they have policy of interment, open-ended. All these families with perceived links to ISIS in camps where living conditions are terrible. There are abuses by guards, sexual exploitation and then the foreign nationals, non-Iraq Syrians who are about 50 percent of camp residents need to be taken back by their countries.
Those who perpetrated crime in Syria and Iraq or foreign nationals all need to face justice. But getting them in the middle of the desert om am area governed by a non-paid actor is just absolutely not the solution.
WATT: I mean, you alluded to this in your last answer. I mean, that this camp could be a place for further radicalization.
Listen, the caliphate is over. It doesn't appear that maybe we've dropped the ball on this and in ten years we're going to look back and say we, as the global community made a mistake by letting this situation fester.
TSURKOV: I think that the adults in the camp are a largely set in their beliefs for good and for bad.
A lot of the people in the camp are people who lived in it before, the families who emerged, and they are victims of ISIS, not supporters of ISIS. And they're unlikely to change their views.
But then most of the population in the camp, 65 percent, are children under 12. They are being kept around with, basically, the families of ISIS elite, the most hard-core supporters of ISIS, who kept retreating with ISIS from Raqqah, from other areas that were liberated.
It kept retreating different, different into ISIS-held territory. They're hard-core supporters of the organization. And therefore, children should not be raised in this environment.
Absolutely if this camp remains in place, then this is a potential risk for radicalization. And these people need to be released from their communities. And programs need to be put in place to allow them to integrate to the community, to not feel ostracized, to receive social support, because this camp is absolutely a ticking time bomb if it is kept the way it is right now.
WATT: Elizabeth Tsurkov, thank you very much for your insight. TSURKOV: My pleasure.
WATT: Meanwhile, illuminating the night sky in New York City, the Twin Towers lit in tribute to those who perished on 9/11. And a symbol of the resilience for a country that came under attack 18 years ago.
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WATT: Right now in New York, a tribute in light to honor those killed in the 9/11 terror attacks and a monument to the resilience of the city where the Twin Towers fell 18 years ago.
The twin beams of blue light symbolize the World Trade Center towers rising high above the New York City skyline. Artists and designers work together to create this tribute that first lit the night sky just six months after 9/11, occurring ever since on this date. Nearly 3,000 died when hijackers slammed passenger planes into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon and crashed another in the field in Pennsylvania all on September the 11th, 2001. On that date, ever since, remembrances are held at each of those sites for the victims and for the first responders who rushed towards danger to help.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The first lady and I are united with you in grief. We come here in the knowledge that we cannot erase the pain or reverse the evil of that dark and wretched day. But we offer you all that we have: our unwavering loyalty, our undying devotion, and our eternal pledge that your loved ones will never, ever be forgotten.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Christian Adams.
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WATT: Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Nick Watt. WORLD SPORT is next.
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(WORLD SPORT)
[00:57:33]
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