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American Morning

What FBI Interviews May Yield

Aired December 19, 2001 - 08:09   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: That's a question for CNN military analyst, General David Grange, who joins us this morning from Chicago -- welcome back, sir.

GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: Sir, I wanted to share with you a little bit of what Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, had to say yesterday about what he thinks these FBI interviews may yield. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: The first priority is to get information from them, and first and foremost, information that can lead us to the capture of other terrorists, and I would say particularly, frankly, the capture of terrorists here in the United States or in other places where they may be planning operations. They are more likely to have immediate knowledge of people in Afghanistan, and obviously we're looking for that information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: So how valuable, ultimately, do you think these prisoners of war will be in our war on terrorism?

GRANGE: Yes, I'm not sure, Paula, they are considered battlefield detainees or prisoners of war, and there is some legality involved in just how they're titled, what we -- how we label them.

But anyway, back to your question on the undersecretary of defense. It depends on if these are rank and file al Qaeda fighters or hardcore Taliban fighters, or if they are the middle level or even a little higher, like the hardcore terrorist cadre that work for bin Laden that train terrorists around the world in that. If that's the case, then they have information on other complexes, hide sites that leaders of al Qaeda or the Taliban may be hiding in, or information on escape routes into Pakistan or elsewhere.

But even if it's just small bits of information, as you take information from all difference sources and put it together, then you start to get some type of an intelligence picture. And they'll probably get something of value from these prisoners, but it's really hard to say depending on what their position was. ZAHN: So, General, how hard can these FBI agents push these guys, if they have to follow not only military procedures, but U.S. law as well?

GRANGE: Well, you know, if it's a prisoner of war, you have the Geneva Convention requirements that you must follow, and the United States of America will do that. If it's the legal processes of the laws of our nation followed by the Justice representatives, which are the FBI in this case, and they have laws they must follow as well. And in other words, there will be no torture.

Now, some of these prisoners may have already gone through a little bit of a rough time with their captives of Afghan captives. I don't know that, so some of that may have already come out. But even just to question people at length, and they use the word at length, breaks down people to reveal information.

ZAHN: I was talking with an FBI agent late last night, who said sleep deprivation comes in handy too here.

GRANGE: I'm sorry -- the what?

ZAHN: Sleep deprivation could come in handy here too.

GRANGE: Absolutely. When you go through prisoner of war training, which many of our military representatives do -- I have gone through it myself -- sleep deprivation is one of the means to get you to break down. That's correct.

ZAHN: Thomas Knowles (ph), who is one of the chief FBI agents involved in the Osama bin Laden investigation, says that cash may even be used to get these prisoners to turn over evidence. Do you see that happening? And if it does happen, do you think it's going to work?

GRANGE: Well, it's the old stick-and-carrot approach, you know, offering things that may be appealing to the captives in order to divulge information or the other is through threats. And I believe that we'll probably offer some things that they may desire to get the information that we want. And so, I would not rule that out, and it may have an effect.

They have a bleak future if they're turned over to someone else besides the U.S. or the international coalition if they are, in fact, mercenaries -- in other words, non-Afghan detainees.

ZAHN: Sure. Final thought this morning, General, about why the FBI will be conducting these interrogations and not CIA operatives or even military personnel.

GRANGE: Well, it's really the FBI job. It's tied to the Justice Department. We're talking about terrorist acts. You know, the FBI -- I've had the opportunity to work with them somewhat on other situations in the past, and they're really the ones that obtain the information needed, forensics, those types of things as well, in order to put together information, evidence for someone else that you may want to try, whether it be in a tribunal or other court system. ZAHN: All right, General, thank you so much for your time. We know you're going to get some pretty messy weather out that way this morning.

GRANGE: Yes, yes,

ZAHN: But we very much appreciate your dropping by under treacherous travel conditions there this morning in Chicago.

GRANGE: Thank you.

ZAHN: General David Grange -- our military analyst.

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