Gitmo Trial Begins This Week; Terror Organizations Recruiting Americans
LEMON: The first trial under the Obama administration's new military commissions will begin this week at Guantanamo Bay. The new rules add protections for defendants and limit what kind of evidence can be used against them. As Jeanne Meserve explains, defense officials picked a difficult case to start with.</s>JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Don, Omar Khadr is the youngest detainee and the only westerner held there. His trial is drawing international attention and some criticism. It will be the first test of the Obama administration's revamped military commission system. (voice-over): Omar Khadr, sobbing during an interrogation at Guantanamo Bay in 2003.</s>OMAR KHADR, GUANTANAMO DETAINEE: You don't care about me, that's what.</s>MESERVE: For eight years, the young Canadian has been in custody there. This week, he is finally slated to have his day in court before a military commission. Khadr was 15 when he was picked up on the battlefield in Afghanistan.</s>JOHN ALTENBURG, FMR. MILITARY COMMISSIONS OFFICIAL: There's evidence that he was making bombs. There's evidence that he was placing bombs, you know, as IEDs on roads in Afghanistan. And there's evidence that he is the person that threw a grenade that killed an American soldier.</s>MESERVE: Khadr's attorney strongly disagrees.</s>LT. COL. JON JACKSON, KHADR'S ATTORNEY: The evidence in this case is clear, clear that Omar Khadr did not throw the grenade that killed Sergeant Christopher Speer.</s>MESERVE: Omar Khadr's attorney says his client, now 23, was a child soldier, that interrogators threatened him with rape to obtain confessions, and that his client should be tried in federal court rather than what he calls an illegitimate, illegal and unequal military commission.</s>JACKSON: Separate is always unequal when it comes to a justice system. If you have a justice system that is set aside for noncitizens, it will never have validity.</s>MESERVE: Even recent reforms passed by Congress don't give defendants in military commissions the protections they would have in federal court. But a former top Pentagon lawyer believes they are fair and all detainees should be tried there.</s>ALTENBURG: I don't see the need or have the desire to put those people who are not citizens, who are detained on a battlefield, who were fighting against the United States soldiers -- I don't see giving them the same rights that United States citizens would have.</s>MESERVE (on camera): Khadr's case is expected to move forward this week and its success or failure could affect the administration's decision on where to try the more notorious 9/11 conspirators, courts or commissions. Don, back to you.</s>LEMON: Jeanne, thank you very much. Americans accused of working for the enemy. Fourteen people indicted for allegedly supporting al-Shabaab, an Islamic militant group with suspected ties to al Qaeda. All of the suspects are either U.S. citizens or they've lived in the States. The Justice Department says it's part of a growing and disturbing trend: terrorists organizations recruiting Americans. So, joining us now are: Nasser Weddady, and the civil rights outreach director for the American Islamic Congress. He is the director. And Steve Emerson, founder of the Investigative Project on Terrorism. OK. So, Steve, this question is for you. Why are some Americans falling under the influence of extremists?</s>STEVE EMERSON, INVESTIGATIVE PROJECT ON TERRORISM: Well, I think there are several reasons. If we look at some of the youth, like Omar Hammami, who was only 26 years old, he was a white convert to Islam from Alabama. And it looks like, if we follow his path to radicalization, it came from the community of the Islamic community in which he grew up, as well as the Muslim Student Association of which he was president at his university. So, in fact, it looks like the communal leaders didn't stop or actually encourage radicalism. Maybe not believing he would engage in terrorism. But that was the end-result of his belief that, somehow, the west had wronged Islam and he must avenge it.</s>LEMON: Hey, Steve, I want to actually show you some video. I want you to listen to this because, you know, it's good that you mentioned him. Let's play it and then we'll talk about it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only reason we're staying here, away from our families, away from the cities, away from, you know, ice, candy bars, all these other things, because we are willing to meet with the enemy.</s>LEMON: Again, as you said, Omar, his name is Shakif -- no, I'm sorry Shafik Hammami. So, listen, Nasr, are young people particularly at risk of being radicalized like this young man?</s>NASSER WEDDADY, AMERICAN ISLAMIC CONGRESS: I believe so, because young people in the United States, in particular, and in the West, don't have quite a healthy way to explore their Muslim identity. And we have to take into account the fact that there's a term we'll use in my office, we call it the mullah syndrome. The mullah syndrome consists of the fact that government law enforcement agencies and even civil society have come up somehow to this bizarre conclusion that in order to engage Muslims, you need to engage people with religious credentials, clerics, imams. And the problem there is that that even, in my opinion, makes the youth more vulnerable because, when the time comes for them to ask questions about their Muslim identity and how to engage it, I'm not sure that the healthiest message is the most spread around in the West. So, yes, the youth are a particular risk of radicalization. And what is really important to retain here is that Muslim cultural identities are far more complex than simply to zoom in on focus on religion. You need to --</s>DON LEMON, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Nasser, you think Western countries or citizens of Western countries doing something to make these young people feel alienated?</s>NASSER: No. The story is more complicated than simply shifting blame on one party. The fact is, when you're a young Muslim and you want to explore and engage your cultural identity, figure out what your place in society is, there's a big vacuum. and that vacuum oftentimes, unfortunately, is not filled by the healthiest and most positive influences that you and I would want our children to grow up around.</s>LEMON: Steve, I hear you're wanting to get in on this.</s>STEVE EMERSON, FOUNDER, INVESTIGATIVE PROJECT ON TERRORISM: Well, I sort of want to agree. Look, America is a nation of immigrants. And if we look at the last 20 years, they're immigrants from Mexico, South America, from Southeast Asia. the only ones who are engaged or actively engaged in carrying out acts of terrorism, not the only ones, I mean, we also have indigenous ones, but most of them have been young Muslims or Muslims who have lived in the United States. And that's because they surround themselves with a narrative that is reinforced by Islamic leaders, by the traditional Islamic community, which says, there is a conspiracy against Islam and you have to avenge it. Unfortunately, the media and, in particular, I'll say "The New York Times," last week, portrayed eight imams as moderate because they produced a video saying they're against terrorism. In fact, on our web site, we showed that all eight imams had actually encouraged violence behind closed doors. So, I think there is a deception being perpetrated in the belief that, somehow, these imams, who present themselves publicly to the media will portray themselves as moderate, but, in fact, behind closed doors, there's a lot more going on that's radicalizing them. And it's not the American government's fault or American culture's fault. It's the fault of the communal leaders for not stopping it.</s>LEMON: Hey, Nasser, I wish we had more time to talk about this but I'll give you the last word. What do you think of what Steve is saying?</s>WEDDADY: I believe that we need to take into consideration that many factors come to play here. First of all, in my opinion, the most important one is that we need to make a clear distinction between Islamist influences and the fact that, when you a young man now in America and you're not radicalized by any stretch of imagination, there's a lot of incentive and pressure on you to run away from your Muslim identity. One has to take that into factor and realize that, by us emphasizing on the role of religious leaders, on mosques, on imams, and somehow appointing them spokesmen for all of the community, we're actually aggravating things. We're not opening the space for others to come in, like we're doing on campuses throughout our project.</s>LEMON: OK.</s>WEDDADY: We're opening a space allowing young Muslims to explore and go back to that heritage that their parents and their forefathers practiced in their home countries. That heritage --</s>LEMON: Nasser? Nasser, I'm sorry.</s>WEDDADY: Yes, go ahead.</s>LEMON: I need you to finish your point because we're really out of time here.</s>WEDDADY: Yes. (</s>CROSSTALK WEDDADY: And the simple point that I -- I wanted to conclude with one thing, is that please stop emphasizing and focusing and appointing on us imams and clerics that, for all intents and purposes, appointed themselves by virtue of having the biggest bank account. There are other ways to explore the Muslim community and immunize the youth against radicalization.</s>LEMON: Nasser, with that --</s>WEDDADY: That has to be taken into account by the government.</s>LEMON: We appreciate your time. Thanks to both of you for joining us tonight.</s>EMERSON: Sure.</s>LEMON: All right. A competition turns deadly when one of two finalists in the world sauna championship is apparently burned to death. The other finalist also suffered burns. We're talking to a doctor about the dangers of heat on your body. And freed from prison after two years all because of the acceleration troubles with Toyota Camrys that made so much news this year. You'll hear from him.