Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Update on Investigations into 9-11 Attacks

Aired March 11, 2002 - 10:54   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: And once again this is the day that marks the six-month milestone of the September 11 attacks. Much of the world pauses to remember, investigators, though, continue their work today. They're from different countries but they are united by a common mission, searching for those involved in the conspiracy of terrorism.

And our Susan Candiotti has a progress report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We know who hijacked the planes, the 19 men who turned airliners into flying bombs, but six months later, the man overseeing the government's 9-11 task force admits there are still holes in the case.

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: We may never know everybody who participated, but actually I'm encouraged by the fact that as we have pulled together, information that comes globally to us, we've filled in more and more of the pieces of the puzzle.

CANDIOTTI: Among the pieces, investigators are convinced the plan was hatched and brainstormed mostly in Western Europe and Malaysia, financed by Mid East sources, executed by terrorists trained in Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda camps and at U.S. flight schools, a plot carried out with remarkable secrecy.

But in the last six months, only one person directly linked to the attacks has been charged in the U.S., Frenchman Zacarias Moussauoi.

JOHN ASHCROFT: U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Moussauoi is charged with undergoing the same training, receiving the same funding and pledging the same commitment to kill Americans.

CANDIOTTI: But who else was involved? Investigators believe hijacking ringleader Mohammed Atta's former roommate in Hamburg, Germany, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, was a paymaster. He and others have been charged as co-conspirators on international warrants, but...

CHERTOFF: We don't know if they're dead or alive, whether they're buried in the rubble in Afghanistan.

CANDIOTTI: Or whether unknown 9-11 confederates are hiding in plain sight.

After September 11, America also found itself vulnerable to biological warfare. The anthrax letter attacks have stopped, but the FBI appears no closer to capturing the killer who claimed five lives and terrorized a nation.

ROBERT MUELLER, FBI DIRECTOR: I will tell you that we have no one person specifically that stands out above others at this juncture.

CANDIOTTI: What does stand out is frustration, trying to solve both the anthrax and September 11 attacks. The FBI determined to get answers, unable to predict when that might be.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com