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CNN Sunday Morning
White House Responds to al Qaeda Statement
Aired October 14, 2001 - 11:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's find out if there's any reaction from the White House about that latest al Qaeda statement. And let's go to our Kelly Wallace, who is near Camp David, Maryland, where once again, the President is spending the weekend.
Kelly, good morning once again.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, once again, to you, Daryn. Well, the White House dismissing this latest al Qaeda statement as nothing more than propaganda. But something the White House is not dismissing, and that is the threat of future terrorist attacks.
We know the FBI issued an alert on Thursday, saying it was possible there could be additional attacks in the United States or against American interests overseas over the next several days. And Attorney General John Ashcroft, who appeared on one of the Sunday talk shows today, said that he believed that people connected to the September 11 terrorist attacks or others planning additional attacks remain at large in the United States.
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JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I believe that it's very unlikely that all of those individuals that we're associated with, or involved with the terrorism events of September 11 and other terrorism events that may have been pre-positioned and pre-planned have been apprehended. We are doing everything possible to disrupt, to interrupt, to prevent, to destabilize any additional activity. And we are on our alert. And we will continue to act aggressively in every respect, to prevent additional activity.
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WALLACE: And the Attorney General saying that so far, 700 people have been detained in the United States and questioned. But he also made a bit of news today, saying that law enforcement authorities would like to question another 190 individuals, again, talk to them about the September 11 attacks and whether or not they could be involved in any additional attacks.
The Attorney General also talking about the anthrax cases, the case in New York and Nevada and cases in Florida. He was asked if he believed there was any link between these cases and the September 11 attack. He said the administration at this point had no evidence linking these cases, but he did say you can't rule out that possibility. And he echoed what Vice President Dick Cheney said on Friday that it is right to be suspicious that these anthrax cases could very well be connected to Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization.
And Daryn, one other message coming from the Attorney General and also Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, and that is that Americans should be on alert and be vigilant, but that they also should be calm and that they should go about their normal lives.
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TOMMY THOMPSON, HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: We have no imminent threats. We have a lot of chatter out there, but we have no imminent threats of any chemical or biological attack at this time in America, but the President and all of us want everybody to be very vigilant. We want you to -- if you see something suspicious, you know, be vigilant about it. If you get a package that doesn't have a return address, if it's leaking, if it's got some wires, if it's oblong, if it's got a return address different than the postmark, be careful.
Contact somebody from the postal department and let's check it out. Let's just be a little bit more vigilant than we ever had before, but let's not do anything out of the ordinary. Let's continue to do our routine operations of our life.
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WALLACE: And Daryn, that is a message we really have been hearing from President Bush and his top advisers almost everyday. And you see it as a delicate balancing act, trying to encourage Americans to be on alert and give them the facts, but at the same time, trying not to create any panic in the United States -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Kelly, thank you.
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