Family, Friends, Remember Peter Kassig
KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lust Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet. Now murdered -- what's being called an act of pure evil. We'll tell you more about Peter Kassig, the American aid worker killed by ISIS. Plus, recovery crews in Ukraine start to remove the wreckage of MH17. Can investigators finally piece together what happened? And shining a light on modern-day slavery. A newly released report says nearly 36 million people are trapped in this horrifying practice today. We begin this hour with the investigation into the death of American Peter Kassig. Now ISIS released a videotape over the weekend showing the aftermath of his beheading. And the White House confirms, it is authentic. But his family and friends, they want Peter Kassig to be remembered for his life, not his death, and for his humanitarian work with Syrian refugees. Now he was detained in the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor and held by ISIS for more than a year before his death. The 26-year-old is survived by his parents, Ed and Paula Kassig. They released a statement saying how incredibly proud they are of their son for, quote, living his life according to his humanitarian calling. Now CNN has firsthand footage of Kassig's service on the ground. And two years ago, our Arwa Damon met him when he was caring for Syrian refugees.</s>ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The first time we met Peter was during the summer of 2012. It was quite the sight. Peter, a former Army Ranger -- pale, tattooed -- and though at the time speaking only a handful of Arabic, tending to wounded Syrians with a compassion that transcended the language barrier.</s>KASSIG: We each get on life and that's it. We get one shot at this. We don't get do-overs, you know. And like for me, it was time to put up or shut up. The way I saw it, I didn't have a choice, you know. Like, this is what I was put here to do. I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic and I'm an idealist and I believe in hopeless causes.</s>DAMON: For Peter, doing something meant starting his own nonprofit. Just months after we met him, he was already delivering humanitarian aid and medical assistance to Syrian in refugee camps and inside the war-torn country profoundly touching all who lived and worked with him. In the words of this Syrian activist, he would treat everyone. No one was exempt. He trained many on first aid. He lived in the house with us. He was extremely kind. He was sad during our times of sorrow and happy for our times of joy. Dr. Ennis (ph) recalls his last conversation with Peter saying, "I asked him if he was afraid he would be killed. And he said, no. My life is not worth more than yours. And that he considers himself to be like any other person who was part of the Syrian revolution. Peter was kidnapped shortly afterwards in October 2013. At some point during his captivity he converted to Islam and took on the name Abdul- Rahman. In this letter drafted to his parents during that time he wrote, "if I do die, I figured that at least you and I can seek refuge and comfort in knowing that I went out as a result of trying to alleviate suffering and helping those in need." And that is how Peter will be remembered, for his humor, laughter, but mostly his drive and compassion and the way he inspired us all more than he could ever imagine</s>KASSIG: There is this impression, this belief that there is no hope, you know. That's when it's more important than ever that we come in against all odds and try to do something.</s>LU STOUT: That profile from CNN's Arwa Damon. Now the execution video is under close scrutiny. And some analysts say it shows hints of desperation by the terror group. Now for more on this, let's bring in Atika Shubert. She joins us live from our London bureau. And Atika, this video is said to be very, very different from previous hostage killing videos from ISIS. How so?</s>ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is very different. In previous videos of western hospitals they've been dressed in orange jumpsuit in the style of Guantanamo prisoners. They've looked directly into the camera and delivered the sort of ISIS propaganda before being killed. In this video, which is 15 minutes long, the video is actually dedicated to a sort of propaganda history of ISIS. It's not until the very end that we get to the killing of Peter Kassig. We never see him actually being killed on screen. We never see him alive. He never addresses the camera. We simply see his body and standing over him is the masked militant with the British accent who has become known here in the British press as Jihadi John. He's the one the that sort of delivers the propaganda threat at the end. Now unfortunately Peter Kassig is not the only one who is killed, there were also earlier in the video what can only be described as highly choreograph of mass murder of more than a dozen of what appears to be Syrian soldiers and that is also lead by that same mass militant. But this time, he is actually leading more than a dozen ISIS fighters who are not masked and are easily identifiable. And in fact that is what investigators are now looking for trying to identify each of those fighters and also the location of where all of these events on film may have taken place.</s>LU STOUT: This video is very bloody, it is very graphic, why was this video released now? is this a show of desperation by ISIS?</s>SHUBERT: It is extremely graphic and brutal. And it's very clear that the aim of the video is to sort of show that ISIS continues to grow despite being under pressure from these airstrikes. And it's particularly brutal perhaps to sort of scare and horrify ISIS's enemies. Now having said that, that's the message they're trying to project, but is that the reality? Well, we simply don't know. We have to remember that just a few days before there were reports that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, had been severely wounded in an airstrike. There is also a report from a British tabloid here that Jihadi John was injured in an airstrike and in fact had been identified. That may be one reason why we see the release of this video at this time. It may indicate that they are trying to project this image of strength when in fact they are under increasing pressure and desperation.</s>LU STOUT: All right, CNN's Atika Shubert reporting. Thank you very much indeed for that. Now on the ground inside Syria, there's been fresh violence today in the besieged border town of Kobani. Now this video from a short time ago shows columns of smoke rising from the embattled city. These clashes come after a series of U.S.-led airstrikes zeroed in on ISIS targets over Kobani on Sunday. It has been nearly two months since the Sunni militants launched an offensive on the Kurdish town along Syria's border with Turkey. Now let's go to the White House now for more on Washington's reaction to Peter Kassig's murder and we've already heard some scathing words from President Barack Obama who has called Kassig's beheading an act of pure evil. Now CNN's senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns is in Washington. He joins us now with more. And of course Mr. Obama, he was the one who confirmed the killing. What more did he say about the death of Peter Kassig?</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, clearly the White House is trying to temper its words at this stage, because this is not the first time they've had to deal with something like this. In some ways, of course, this is the very worst video out of all of them that ISIS has released. And it comes at a time when U.S. authorities say they're beginning to make some headway against this group. Western analysts are still trying to sort out what it all means. Oh, I'm sorry, Kristie, I thought we were going to our piece. The bottom line here at the White House is that the administration is trying to temper what it says about this. They are pointing to the depravity of it, of course, another atrocity here for this family from Indiana. And the White House does not want to continue to feed the publicity that actually feeds that ability of ISIS to recruit its members every time it puts out one of these videos, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: All right, Joe Johns there. And our apologies, we couldn't get that video up there for you. But our viewers can go online, CNN.com, they can find your package report there. Joe Johns reporting live from Washington. Thank you so much indeed and take care. Now you're watching News Stream. Still to come on the program, the wreckage of Malaysian passenger plane is finally being removed in eastern Ukraine. We'll give you a live report. Plus, China and Australia have sealed the deal on a major free trade agreement. What it means for both countries coming up.