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CNN NEWSROOM
War Against ISIS; Denmark Gunman Swore ISIS Allegiance; Fiery Derailment Displaces West Virginia Residents; Wintry Mix Slams Southern States
Aired February 17, 2015 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEEGAN WOLFE, GAVE EVERY GIRL AT HIS HIGH SCHOOL A HEART-SHAPED BALLOON: I'm going to bring something totally awesome for everyone to do and, you know, I brought balloons. Because who doesn't like a balloon?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Right?
CUOMO: Sure enough. Romance again not the goal. Making peers feel appreciated.
PEREIRA: I love it.
CAMEROTA: Good stuff.
PEREIRA: Good kids, good hearts.
CUOMO: And in no small irony they are now both fighting off the ladies, I'm sure.
(LAUGHTER)
All right. Time for the news from the "NEWSROOM" with Miss Carol Costello. Everybody's favorite valentine.
PEREIRA: That's right.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Is it Valentine's Day still?
CUOMO: Every day. You have read --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: That's true. Good. I like that. Have a great day, guys.
NEWSROOM starts now.
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COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM. America's message to Congress, authorize military force against ISIS. New poll numbers this morning as world leaders head to the White House to talk extremism.
Also, new details about the Denmark terrorist. Jail time, a history of violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not a terrorist because I thought he was something else, you know? I thought he was, you know, a street kid, you know, like I didn't thought that he was going to go on and do something like this.
COSTELLO: What was it about American gang life that appealed to him?
Plus, a West Virginia fireball. A train carrying oil derails and explodes spilling into a river. What it means for drinking water.
And spinning out. Parts of the south and mid-Atlantic iced over. The dangerous commute now underway.
Let's talk live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
Fighting terrorism before it takes root. Today the White House leads a new effort to address violent extremism and the role social media plays in recruitment. Some 60 nations are sending high-level representatives to a three-day summit. This as a new poll shows most Americans have lost faith in President Obama's war on ISIS.
Also a new ISIS link emerges in Denmark. This Facebook page apparently belonging to the gunman shows he vowed his allegiance to the leader of ISIS just before the weekend attacks.
And Egypt strikes Libya and now embarks on a new mission at the United Nations. Egypt wants to build an international coalition to eradicate ISIS in the North African nation.
Most Americans say Congress should give President Obama the legal authority to fight ISIS according to a new CNN/ORC poll. Nearly four out of five people want lawmakers to give the president power to use military force. That shows a slight decline in support since December.
CNN's Michelle Kosinski is at the White House. She has more on these poll numbers.
Good morning.
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Yes, it's been interesting because now we're seeing the country pretty much split down the middle on whether or not people trust President Obama as commander-in-chief, along with this growing disapproval of how he's handling terrorism. Foreign affairs in general. We're seeing a majority of people now, according to this new poll, say that they disapprove of how the war against ISIS is going thinking that it's going badly.
And I think one of the most interesting things about this poll is as you see the disapproval, you're also seeing more Americans open to sending ground troops if they had that choice. I mean, look at this, 47 percent now would agree with that, 50 percent oppose. And that's up from 43 percent agreeing with sending ground troops just a couple of months ago.
Now the president is not yet in approval of sending ground troops. He opposes that, although he has asked Congress for an authorization for the use of military force against ISIS that rules out long-term use of ground combat troops but doesn't rule them out altogether. So that's going to be up for debate.
As this is going on domestically we're seeing these opinions shaping. They're having this three-day summit on countering violent extremism. Because one thing we have heard a lot from the White House is that getting at the violent ideology is going to be key to truly defeating ISIS in the long term -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Michelle Kosinski reporting live from the White House this morning, thank you.
In the meantime, the likely target of the Denmark attacks tells CNN he is now in hiding. Lars Vilks is the Swedish artist who has enraged Muslims with his depictions of the Prophet Mohammed. He was at the Free Speech gathering that became the gunman's first target.
Last night he talked with Anderson Cooper.
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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I know you have been on an al Qaeda hit list, the same list the editor of "Charlie Hebdo" was on, as well as others. And certainly I know -- I'm not going to press you for details, but do you feel -- as you said, you've been under protection for a long time, since 2010.
Do you think the threat to you, to other free speech advocates in Europe has changed significantly over the course of the last several years?
LARS VILKS, CARTOONIST: Yes. I mean, when I got these bodyguards that was a new division that they didn't have before. So there's much more need for security today. In the beginning of this year it has reached a high point. I've just got to know that I will not be able to return to my home so they will put me away somewhere else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Here's a reminder of just how raw nerves are in Copenhagen. This morning police scrambled to the cafe where that attack took place. Someone found a letter described as suspicious. Police later dismissed the concerns without giving details. Much more significant, new details that are emerging about the shooter.
CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Copenhagen with more on that.
Hi, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Good morning. Well, we're learning that the shooter in the hours just before he went on the -- his attack had pledged allegiance to the ISIS leader al-Baghdadi on his -- what appears to be his Facebook page. We're learning as well from the Danish ambassador to the United States that this -- the gunman who was a former gang member who've been convicted of a violent stabbing of a passenger on a computer train who was in jail, now authorities fear that he may have become radicalized in jail.
But I've also been talking to here to people who knew him when he was a gang member and describing the sort of gang culture that he was in. A very violent gang culture. Gang wars underway here in Copenhagen at the time. This is what he had to say.
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IDEN SOUIE, SOCIOLOGIST: He lived a life where if you look at his generation, in that area where he lived everyone has experienced a friend or someone they know who has been killed by other gangs, and that wasn't normal in Denmark 10 years ago. It's quite a new phenomenon.
And people like Omar and others from these kinds of gangs, they're more influenced by incendiaries in the United States and the idea of the American gangs than by the Middle East. The young people going into gangs, they don't do this because they are in need of money. They do it because of an identity and a ghetto culture.
MARTIN MILO, FORMER SCHOOLMATE OF SUSPECT: Definitely at the radicalism, no doubt about it.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Would you have ever thought he'd be a terrorist?
MILO: No, not a terrorist because I thought he was something else, you know? I thought he was, you know, a street kid, you know? I didn't thought that he was going to go on and do something like this. If I ever thought of something, it was to him to go to like places like Syria or something to fight with whatever group he likes to fight with.
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ROBERTSON: So what we're learning about him is he did never go to Syria, did never go to Iraq, but he was part of this gun culture, this gang culture here. But was very familiar with the gangland killings and the idea that you can have a weapon, you can use it on the streets here. That's the kind of man this shooter was -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
Nic Robertson reporting live this morning. Thank you. So is ISIS like a Middle Eastern version of gangs, like the Bloods or
the Crypts? Hear me out. Some say homegrown terrorists are not inspired by the Quran but as you heard Nic Robertson say, gang culture.
The American criminologist James Densley points out, quote, "Gang cultures rarely live up to the hype, hence, many real gang members still live at home with their mothers. ISIS, by contrast, lives up to the myth. ISIS is armed to the teeth with samurai swords and Kalashnikovs. ISIS is street gang on steroids."
If that's true, how do we stop punk kids from being inspired by ISIS?
Let's bring in Gil Alba. He's a former NYPD detective and counterterrorism specialist.
Welcome, Gil.
GIL ALBA, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Thank you for having me.
COSTELLO: So it was just -- it was still shocking for me to hear that this guy in Denmark was inspired by American gang culture.
ALBA: Well, that's what they say. But, I mean, he's 22 years old. He's been in jail. I mean, he's been in all kinds of gangs himself. He was already violent. So he goes on the Internet. And that's the big thing with the Internet now and ISIS and all those gangs. It's so easy to join up. And join up, just be part of that culture and be part of ISIS is a big deal.
So him joining, being part of a gang or being part of ISIS the way ISIS is now, you know, with their uniforms on, with their black capes and everything else and beheading everybody, what more satisfaction can you get to go out and then shoot somebody or kill as many people as possible, which this guy actually did.
Did he do this for a cause because of freedom of speech? What do you think? He's 22, would he actually do that? I don't really think so.
COSTELLO: So you think that he was probably not inspired by religious zealotry, right? Or extremism, but he was more inspired by he just wanted power because he was a loser essentially.
ALBA: Most of these lone wolves that we're talking, and I'm talking about the United States in '02, now it happened in Paris, now it happened in Copenhagen, could it happen any place else, could it happen here in New York? Of course. And that's who this is.
Even though we know these losers, as we say, they're in jail, they have guns, or they say on Facebook that they're going to kill somebody, here in New York we had two officers assassinated.
Other people wrote on Facebook, I'm going to kill cops myself. They were brought to court in Brooklyn and the judge just cut them loose. So it's really hard to arrest somebody even -- you know, even though they know what's going on, even though they have the identity of this person before.
COSTELLO: Let's go back to the social media aspect of this because that's going to be talked about a lot in Washington today, right? So ISIS seems to have this very effective propaganda thing going on, right? Not only do they show the killings online but they show like terrorists holding kittens. It's very strange. Or eating Nutella to just kind of prove that, you know, not only do we kill people but we're a family, too.
ALBA: Yes. That's one of their things. And it is really, that's why they're really so strong, ISIS is. They're going to die for what they're doing. So whatever they're doing, it doesn't matter what the cause is because, you know, they're out there fighting all kinds of people, killing everybody, you know, from -- you know, the last, you know, beheadings. So they're killing everybody but it's a really tight knit organization that you're getting people from all over the world.
And it looks so cool for people who are like mentally or have nothing and let's go get them. And look at the -- I mean, the violence that they're creating throughout the world. So something has to be done with that. You know, and here we have Obama.
COSTELLO: So what is that something in your mind? What is that?
ALBA: That has to start from the president on down because that's where the power comes from. You know, and he has to come out and say, you know, what are we going to do about them. But ISIS is all over the place. So it's really hard to say our troops are going to go here or there or anything else. So it's not an easy -- you know, he's the president of the military. So it's not easy making choices like that.
COSTELLO: No. And the military can't solve all problems as we well know.
ALBA: Yes. Yes.
COSTELLO: Gil Alba, thanks so much.
ALBA: Thanks for having me.
COSTELLO: I appreciate it.
ALBA: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a train carrying crude oil derails and explodes causing plenty of problems for hundreds of West Virginia residents as in their drinking water.
Rene Marsh is following the story.
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, that fire is still smoldering. Thousands of people displaced and now this morning concern oil from that derailed train may have contaminated drinking water.
We'll tell you what environmental crews have found on the scene after the break.
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COSTELLO: A huge fire that displaced hundreds of West Virginia residents is still smoldering right now. We're learning crews are trying to get a better handle on the situation. But take a look at this.
A train carrying more than 100 tankers of crude oil exploded. Sending fireballs, hundreds of feet into the air. The derailment even sent one of the flaming tankers into a river. That's a bad thing.
CNN's Rene Marsh has more for you this morning.
Good morning.
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
It is still the bottom line a dangerous situation in West Virginia. As you mentioned, the fire is still smoldering. Investigators are on their way, but at this hour, the scene is still too hot for the investigation to even begin.
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ALEX FANDOR, WITNESSED EXPLOSION: We saw the train explode and it shot up a mushroom cloud about as high as the plume is now, like that.
MARSH (voice-over): In just moments, West Virginia resident Alex Fandor takes a step back as another giant fireball erupts into the sky.
A train carrying crude oil derailing, causing multiple explosions on Monday afternoon, the blasts continuing into the night, sending clouds of fire and smoke into the air. One home destroyed, one person injured. And around 1,000 people displaced.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I consider myself lucky, because you know, got somewhere to go, anyway. We're going to make our way someway.
MARSH: West Virginia, Earl Ray Tomlin issued a state of emergency for two counties, residents urged to conserve water after oil from the train spilled into a nearby river, a source of drinking water. Nearly 30 of the train's more than 100 cars ran off the tracks, but authorities still aren't sure what caused the derailment.
LAWRENCE MESSINA, SPOKESMAN, W. VIRGINIA DEPT. OF MILITARY AFFAIRS AND PUBLIC SAFETY: We've had some severe winter weather conditions here with significant snowfall. We don't yet know whether that's a factor in this.
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MARSH: Well, emergency management tells me they are awaiting test results of the samples taken from the water supply to confirm that it is not contaminated. Now, crews on the ground, they say that the intake valves were shut
down about an hour after the derailment because of snow and ice on the river. They believe that was well before any oil could have made it downstream and into the water supply.
But, Carol, the bottom line is these crude oil shipments by rail, they have increased dramatically over the past decade as oil companies have perfected technologies to pull oil from shale. The problem is, the tankers in some cases are substandard and the federal government very concerned about that -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Rene Marsh reporting live from Washington.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM: more record snow and ice, and this time the South is getting in on the action. Ana Cabrera live in Richmond, Virginia.
ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. We have several inches of snow on the ground. We know there are hundreds of thousands of people without power. State police have been responding to dozens of accidents and now, the frigid temperatures are settling in. So, it's not over yet.
We'll have an update from the South, the frozen South, when we come back.
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COSTELLO: Something scary to show you right now. An SUV loses control on the ice and slides perilously close to this TV news camera stopping only inches from it. Thankfully -- my goodness. Thankfully no one was hurt.
The South could not escape this latest wintry blast. Parts of Kentucky waking up to record-breaking snow, more than 10 inches falling here in Marshall County. Crews battling the blaze only to awake to the stunning scene, the building coated in icicles.
Snow is now making its way into Boston again, 95 inches so far this year. And it's weighing on more than residents, collapsing structures a major concern. Luckily no one was inside this Lowe's garden center when the roof came crashing down.
We have all angles of that wicked weather covered. Ryan Young is in Massachusetts. First, for the southern side we go to Ana Cabrera. She's in Richmond, Virginia, this morning.
Good morning, Ana.
CABRERA: Good morning. Not exactly the balmy South here, is it? You can see several inches piled up. Estimates are 6 inches overnight.
And get this -- the normal snowfall for this area is about 3 inches for the entire month of February. So, we've already doubled that. We're seeing cars having trouble on the roadways. We know there are about 12,000 pieces of equipment that the state has deployed across the state, but that's still not enough to keep up with this snowfall that came fast and furious.
Fortunately, people are still managing to get around and staying safe here and they're walking in order to get around.
Here we have Audrey joining me.
Thank you so much. I know you are a Richmond native. What do you make of all of this snow?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I absolutely love it. The last time I saw this much snow was several years ago. It's been a while. I actually walk to work and I didn't have to go today so I thought I'd get out and walk around and have a snow adventure anyway.
CABRERA: And people are already digging out. We're seeing people digging out. We're seeing people putting down the salt. It seems like people are coping pretty well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we are. We don't handle this kind of snow as well I would say because usually it's not this cold. So, it melts pretty quickly. This has been a little bit more fun. It's not melting and that's exciting.
CABRERA: You actually like it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do.
CABRERA: Did you do anything just in case because we are seeing hundreds of thousands without power in several of the southern states.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. That's true. I guess I took a little bit of a risk. I made sure I had a lot of hot chocolate on hand.
CABRERA: Hot chocolate, hot coffee, and a nice toasty fire would be good on the day like today. Audrey, thanks so much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure.
CABRERA: And do stay safe out here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
CABRERA: Again, mostly good, positive attitudes. Still a serious situation for a lot of people though. As I mentioned, there are hundreds of thousands without power we know from north and South Carolina to Georgia, Tennessee, including a few thousand here in Virginia.
And the frigid cold temperatures are really just around the corner. We see a little bit of sunshine now but we're expecting single digits if not negative degrees coming up in the next couple of days with temperatures not expected to go above freezing until Saturday or Sunday, Carol.
COSTELLO: Still. I know there are serious problems because it would be terrible to have your power out, but I can hear the entire state of Massachusetts laughing. Would you say people are busy shoveling? It's like, what, shoveling an inch of snow off your porch? Try 95 inches.
Ana Cabrera, thank you so much.
Can we put up the Ithaca sign? This is from the tourism sign in Ithaca, New York. I found this interesting. They have given up. Basically it says please do not come and visit Ithaca. Go to Key West instead. You'll have a much better time.
And we can certainly understand that because so much snow has fallen along the northeast corridor in the last couple of months.
Ryan Young is in Sommerville, Massachusetts, at a snow farm. More snow is coming Boston's way.
Good morning.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. More snow is coming this way. Hey, I'm a guy who lives in the South. I heard her talking about it.
There's a difference. Ice down there, less snow. Here we have chunks of snow. If you have to look at it, it is unbelievable how thick this is. It sits on top of everyone's roof. We had some collapse. I have to show you something. It's different, I think. Take a walk with me. Look in this direction.
Look at all of this. This is what they call a snow farm. It's more than four football lengths full. This is where they pack all the snow. You see what's going on.
If you look back in this direction, it is very high. More than 12 or 13 feet high in this direction. We've taken a measuring tape out and tried to get to the top. We climbed this earlier. It is hard to get the measuring tape all the way down.
What they're doing with this snow? They're melting it. And guess what? Just last night, one of the snow melters broke. They're having it and fixing it to get back to all the heavy work.
Even the salt is running down in this area. It's something that the entire system is having to deal with. They spent over $30 million trying to clean all the snow and ice off the roads and more snow is coming but at least it's getting warmer -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Relatively speaking.
Ryan Young, thanks so much. I appreciate it.
YOUNG: Yes.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM: the videotape confession played in court in the American sniper case. Wait until you hear it.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is following that for us this morning. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Eddie Ray
Routh was the star witness. He didn't testify, but that two-year-old confession tape was riveting to watch. We'll have the story when CNN continues.
