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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Baghdad Attack; Bombing Near U.S. Consulate; July 4th Security; Terror Strikes in Three Countries. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired July 4, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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


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[12:00:19] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Jim Sciutto, in today for Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

Security and safety on the minds of millions of Americans as the July 4th holiday gets underway. This comes after ISIS makes good on its pledge to increase terror attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Take a look at the attacks over just the last week alone. The latest incident, a suicide truck bomb that ripped through a neighborhood in Baghdad. It's now being called the single deadliest terror attack in Iraq since 2003. Imagine that. Over the last 13 years, so much terror there, but this one off the charts.

All of this coming on the heels of attacks at airport - the airport in Istanbul and you'll remember the popular cafe in Bangladesh and the capital there of Dhaka. The death tolls in all three devastating. Forty-four lives lost in Istanbul, 22 in Dhaka and more than 200 now in Baghdad.

Meanwhile, investigators in Iraq are working around the clock to not only pull the bodies from the rubble, but also to identify many of the victims, because the blast was said to be so massive it literally incinerated some 81 people.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Baghdad now with the latest.

Ben, you've been there for years. You've covered so many terror attacks. This one just seems to be off the charts, both in terms of the death toll, but just the - just the horror of how bad this explosion was.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this explosion seems rather strange because it wasn't just blast that caused so much death and destruction, it was the flames that came afterwards. It's a fairly narrow road, about three, four lanes wide where you have shopping malls on both sides of it. And when that blast went off, the flames tore through all the stores in those malls. People were trapped in rooms where any basically burnt to death.

And what we saw when we were there today for about five hours was that steady they were finding one charred beyond recognition body after another. Others were collecting body parts. People were coming from all over town. It seems everybody we speak to knows somebody or had a relative who is missing. Nobody - there's no closure here is the problem.

I spoke to one woman who spent the last 24 hours going from one hospital in Baghdad to another, from one morgue to another, looking for her 29-year-old son but she said all the bodies she saw were simply beyond recognition. Another man came looking for five of his relatives. Found absolutely nothing until he found a phone with the sim card of his cousin. Another man found the prayer beads of his brother. And when he found these, he broke into tears, sobbing hysterically. Somebody gave him a phone and he said, you've got to call your mother and tell her your son is dead.

So there are hundreds of people in this city looking, find - trying to find some trace of people who seem to have simply disappeared on that road on Saturday night in Baghdad.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Ben, it seems that the anger directed not only at ISIS but also the Iraqi government, the prime minister, people towing their shoes at him, this sign of real distaste, distrust. Has that risen to some sort of fever pitch now because this is really the latest in a series of attacks over resent months?

WEDEMAN: Well, it wasn't just shoes they threw at Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. It was stones, rocks, and bottles as well because many people had been listening to the encouraging news that the Iraqi forces had retaken Ramadi, Baji (ph), Fallujah, Tikrit and they were promised that as ISIS is driven out, this kind of bombing would no longer happen. And it did, just a week after Iraqi forces said once and for all that they had retaken Fallujah.

And then there's one thing that people are particularly annoyed about, and that is that wherever you go in Baghdad, until today perhaps, you see them going around, you see security people inspecting cars with these black gadgets which are supposedly bomb detectors. But it's been known for years that those things don't work, that they're a fake, that the man who manufactured them in the U.K. is now in prison, but they've been in use. And I've seen them time and time again here. And people are saying, these things that the government allowed security personnel to continue to use to provide the facade of security is symptomatic of the attitude of this government when it comes to maintaining real security. So there's a lot of anger and I don't think that's going to dissipate as the smoke clears from the ruins in Karada.

[12:05:26] Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, just so sad for the people there. Ben Wedeman, thanks - thanks for covering it for us.

There are new details as well on that horrific cafe attack in Bangladesh. Police say that two of the people who were injured in that attack are now suspects. Both individuals in the hospital. They will be interrogated once they recover.

This comes as CNN speaks to the father of one of the attackers who says that he learned his son was involved only after ISIS released photos of the terrorists. You may remember them, smiling, during this attack.

Let's get right to CNN's Alexandra Field. She's in Dhaka.

Alexandra, what more are we learning concerning the background of these gunmen, because they came from really high society in effect in Bangladesh?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, two persons (ph). This entire gang of assailants, according to Bangladeshi officials, were not only all Bangladeshi men, but they were upper middle class, as you point out. They had affluent backgrounds. Some of them were educated in Dhaka's very best schools. They ranged in age from 18 to their mid- 20's.

I spoke to the father of Samin Mubashir (ph). He was the youngest of the attackers at just 18 years old. His father spoke to me today saying that he has not seen his son since the end of February. That's when Mubashir disappeared, never contacting the family, never writing to them, never calling them. The family contacted law enforcement officials. They started to search for their son. We now know that authorities in Bangladesh knew of five of the attackers. There were five suspected militants among them who authorities were trying to track down.

But the father that I spoke to said that nobody had any luck finding his son. He said his son never showed any signs of religious extremism or radicalization, only interest in religion. But once his son took off at the end of February without a word, his father began to suspect that it was possible he could have joined up with an Islamist group. Why is that? He said the boy was 18 years old. He called him impressionable. He thought that he was easy prey for an Islamist group. He thought that this was somebody who would want to fit in with a group. He is learning now about his son's involvement from pictures that were posted by ISIS.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: It shows just how broadly ISIS can recruit really just across all levels of society. Alexandra Field there in Dhaka. Thanks very much.

Meanwhile, staffers at the U.S. consulate building are on edge after a suicide bombing, this in Saudi Arabia. The attacker detonated explosives in Jeddah, killing himself and injuring two officers there. Police became suspicious of the man when he appeared to be wondering aimlessly in the parking lot of a nearby hospital. CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joins us now with the latest.

Nic, we know Saudi Arabia has enormous security looking out for these kinds of attacks. Do we know if this attacker, if he was known to authorities, if he had any known links to terror groups before this?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: If he did, Jim, the authorities in Saudi Arabia aren't talking about it at the moment. They're incredibly cautious generally on this topic. But what they will be worrying about, as everyone else, is, does this denote a turn in the tactics in Saudi Arabia. It's been a long time since we've seen them try to put a bomb up against a target of western interests, particularly a U.S. target here in the consulate. The consulate was attacked by gunmen in 2004. That was al Qaeda.

You know, look at the past couple of years. The Saudi authorities have arrested 250,000 ISIS suspects inside the country. They know they've got a big problem, but until recently it's been focused on targeting Saudi and Saudi security services. What happened here, the police, at 3:00 in the morning, spot this guy, approach him. He detonates his explosives. But when they go to his vehicle, they discover that there were three other bombs in it. They bring in a bomb squad. They bring in - they bring in a robot. It goes in. They remotely detonate those other explosives. So although this was just ten yards outside of the consulate, the explosion and the impact from it could have been much bigger. It could have been the whole car bomb.

You know, and I've got to say, I was there in 2004 covering that attack then. I know the consulate there and I know where the embassy is and where it's located in Riyadh. The consulate is a much softer target because it's more approachable. And Riyadh, the capital, where the embassies are, the U.S. embassy and others, they're in a diplomatic quarter that has a lot more sort of rings of security around it. A lot harder to get to. This guy clearly was able to get close, potential maybe too close, Jim.

[12:10:07] SCIUTTO: Yes, the new style of the U.S. embassy, a fortress abroad.

Nic Robertson in London, thanks very much.

We're just learning today that the two gunmen who carried out an attack at a market in Tel Aviv, Israel, on June 8th, they were inspired by ISIS as well. The attack killed four Israelis, wounded 16 others. Israeli security agency put out a written statement just today saying that Mohammed Makhamreh, one of the gunmen, became a supporter of ISIS in Jordan, but he wasn't an official member of the group.

And after this recent string of terrorist attacks overseas, official here in the U.S. are take no chances as well. In New York City, more than 500 officers will hit the street today as the city gets ready for the largest fireworks show in the country. CNN's Deborah Feyerick is live right along New York's East River.

So, Deb, tell us more about what police are doing there, not just in New York but around the country for July Fourth today.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Absolutely. Well, we know the 500 officers that you just referred to, they are highly trained, highly armed tactical officers who are ready to respond to a potential terror attack. They are going to be joining more than 10,000 other officers here in New York City to make sure that everything goes as expected to go.

We want to emphasize, there's no credible intelligence about any sort of specific threat. But it's the unknown threat that law enforcement is really concerned about. It's that one person, as you know, that one individual who wants to make a statement and wants to do something, you know, allegedly in the name of ISIS. That's what they're really concerned about. And that's why you've got this nuanced approach to enforcement. It's not just here in New York City. It's in Boston. It's in Los Angeles. There's a parade right now going on in Washington, D.C. And so security across the country is really, really tight.

Again, they understand that the new normal now is to be especially alert, especially vigilant. And so I can tell you here at the East River, where those fireworks are going to be taking place, they've got - they're going to be having radiation detectors, there are surveillance cameras, additional police officers, whatever they can do to have extra eyes on the crowd because they're expecting upwards of a million people just here in this location alone.

So very big, but very dense kind of layered security. And again, they're looking for that anomaly, that thing that just doesn't make sense. And they're also asking the public, Jim, to be especially aware as well because they need extra people who sense things that may be not be correct. If it's a random vehicle, we can tell you they've been toeing cars in this area. They've already set up barricades. There will be street closures. There will be screenings at different checkpoints. So it's going to be difficult. But, you know, when you think of all of the festivities going on across this country here on this July Fourth, and there are a lot of police officers in touch with federal agencies making sure they know what the latest intelligence is and making sure that everybody is as safe as possible.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, that's the thing, they keep repeating, enjoy the holiday, don't stay at home, but everyone do their part. If you see something, say something.

So you had this strange event in Central Park yesterday, an explosion. Someone severely injured.

FEYERICK: Yes.

SCIUTTO: What are police saying about that? Do they have any idea who set the device? What kind of device it was? I mean really a confusing event.

FEYERICK: Yes, it was a very confusing event. And witnesses say they heard this loud explosion, this boom that sort of rocked Central Park, and it just didn't sound like it was supposed to be there. It wasn't a random firework or something like that. But they are looking at the possibility, the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force has investigated, the NYPD has investigated. They don't think it's terror related, Jim, but they do think somebody was either experimenting or doing something with chemistry.

The assessment by the bomb squad is that there wasn't an intent to do harm. However, it did significant harm because a tourist who was there apparently stepped on it, triggered it and was severely, severely injured. His foot almost severed. So it's a very serious incident and they are looking closely to see who did that, Jim.

SCIUTTO: What a shame. Deb Feyerick in New York, thanks very much.

Next, the war on terrorism. ISIS is losing territory in Iraq and elsewhere, but claims a string of deadly international attacks. What will it take to disrupt those operations? We'll take a look right after the break.

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[12:17:45] SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

We're learning new details on the devastating attack in Baghdad. The death toll continuing to climb, now reaching some 215 people after this truck bomb ripped through a bustling shopping district right at the peak of the shopping time as people come to the end of the Ramadan Muslim holy month. This attack, the single deadliest attack in Iraq since 2003.

And the incident just the latest in a string of horrific ISIS-linked attacks over the course of the last week. Joining us now to discuss is CNN military analyst Major General Spider Marks, CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robinson, and former jihadist and counterterrorist operative Mubin Sheikh.

Mubin, if I could begin with you. As we see these attacks, what strikes me about them is in the last week or two you've seen several different categories, the kind of lone wolf attack, if we can call the Orlando shooting a true ISIS attack. You have the ISIS-directed attack, like we saw in the Istanbul airport. And then you have in Dhaka this group that kind of pledged allegiance to ISIS but already existed before it. Are we seeing in effect a new capability of ISIS in the way that it could carry out terror in a number of different ways?

MUBIN SHAIKH, FORMER EXTREMIST: You know, I wouldn't say it's a new capability. I would say it's a capability that they've been honing and refining since day one. They've been calling for inspired attackers, wolf packs, never mine lone attackers, directed attacks, even network attacks where you have al Qaeda elements and ISIS elements working together. So you're going to see more of these as the - as the months go on.

SCIUTTO: General Sparks, if I could ask you, a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, this, of course, the U.S. coalition operation against ISIS in Iraq, Colonel Christopher Garver, he addressed the war on Iraq just a short time ago. Let me play you his assessment and I want to get your thoughts on it.

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COL. CHRISTOPHER GARVER, SPOKESMAN, OPERATION INHERENT RESOLVE: As we take terrain away from them and we defeat them, and they have not won a battle in Iraq in the last seven months. Ever since the fall of Ramadi last year, they have not won a battle and they have only lost ground. They're trying to remain relevant and - on the global stage and they're trying to show that as they attract crazies and sickos from across the globe, they're trying to show that, hey, we're still a viable threat.

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[12:20:10] SCIUTTO: So, General Marks, the fact is they are showing they're still a viable threat. Are you seeing a change in strategy here by ISIS as they lose ground in their caliphate, as they call it in Iraq and Syria, do you see them transitioning to being a more traditional kind of insurgency terror group as opposed to this kind of nation state of terrorism?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: No, not at all. In fact, let me take a step back, if I can. What I - what you heard from the spokesman in Baghdad sounds a lot like what we experienced in Vietnam over 45 plus years ago, doesn't it, in that we were winning all these tactical battles, but we were not in effect adjusting our plans to get at the ideology.

So what we see right now with ISIS is, we have for years seen this multiplicative effect and this multidimensional type of address towards how they want to present themselves internationally and locally. There has never been an abatement in terms of their appeal trying to achieve an appeal internationally over the Internet. That has taken place for the longest time.

There's also been a requirement to establish a geographic caliphate, which they are trying to do right now and which now is being challenged quite aggressively. So what we're seeing is a transition, if you will, toward a virtual caliphate, if that's a legitimate term, but it allows the ideology to spread in with this notion of mission commands in a very broadly, loosely defined way ISIS groups can activate and conduct operations on their own at a time and a place of their own choosing. Very dangerous. Very, very dangerous for us in terms of trying to get ahead of that.

SCIUTTO: Nic, you heard General Marks there make a fairly alarming charge, that the U.S., in effect, repeating the mistake of the Vietnam War. You can have tactical success on the ground, but you're losing the war in effect against this group. Do you hear similar criticism in Europe and from elsewhere as you cover this?

ROBERTSON: Yes, governments around the world are struggling to deal with the ideology. There's a lot of pressure and expectation, if you will, put on the Muslim nations of the world to get to the grassroots and help tackle the ideology to, you know, to every time that there's an ISIS attack to go on record and have it be very clear in their populations that this is not Islam, that this is out with the bounds of Islam. But it's not something that's happening on a wide scale. So, I agree, absolutely, it is the ideology.

Now, the ideology itself will take a hard hit when they lose all that territory because they set themselves up as a caliphate. The caliphate means something. It gives them a religious, you know, standing, if you will, but it also creates an imperative for them to take care of the laws of their land, to take care of their people, to get taxes, all those things. For them, the caliphate is going to be an important icon when that goes down. So I think when General Marks talks about a virtual caliphate, that clearly has to be the next tactical move because the ideology is what we're seeing, that it's hard to stop spreading. We're seeing a maturation of their ability to impress other radical groups around the world, to join their ranks and support them, whether as individuals or groups. And Bangladesh would just be another very big example of that.

SCIUTTO: OK. Mubin, so you were in the past drawn into this ideology in effect, but you turned around. There's a lot of talk now about fighting the ideology, not just the fighters. What works? How do you turn young men away from - and women, frankly, away from the draw of ISIS?

Well, it's a - you know, there are multiple dimensions to this, so there's a great quote that goes, ideology without grievances doesn't resonate and grievances without ideology isn't acted upon. That's other side of it. The other side is, sometimes religious ideology is the drive but other times it's not the driver, it's a passenger, while others psychosocial factors are the driver.

So we have to see in particular context what's more at play. Is there more a sociopolitical issue here or is there more an ideological issue here? There's a role for the religious clerics to play and they're trying to do it in the Muslim world, in the western world as well, where we're trying to show that from the Islamic sources, you can't do these things. You know, the Koran refers to the month of Ramadan as a month of mercy and blessing. And what these people are doing is the complete opposite of that. So it will require consistent efforts, continual efforts. It's not going to be completed in a week, in a month, even a year. It will - it's a generational battle that is being fought within Islam.

[12:25:11] SCIUTTO: Let's just hope we find a way to reach those young people before they act. Mubin Shaikh, thank you. Major General Marks, Nic Robertson, appreciate it.

Coming up, Donald Trump is now responding after this image he tweeted out and later deleted is slammed as anti-Semitic. The clarification Trump is sending out today about that six-pointed star, right after this.

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