Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Military Has Examined Many Sites Where It Appears Al Qaeda Forces Were Working to Make WMDs

Aired March 26, 2002 - 05:05   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And let's get more now about possible bioweapons labs in Afghanistan.

Our Jamie McIntyre is tracking this story from the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At last count, the U.S. military has examined at least 60 separate sites in Afghanistan where it appears al Qaeda forces were working to make killer germs, deadly poisons or radiological dirty bombs. So far no actual weapons, nor any active chemical or biological agents, have been found. But there have been some worrisome discoveries.

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: In five or six cases, some of the swabs that we took have turned out positive for anthrax and, I think, ricin. But the caveat to that is that they're such minute amounts that the anthrax could be naturally occurring and the ricin could be there because of the castor bean. It could be that.

MCINTYRE: Ricin is one of the most poisonous naturally occurring substances known. It comes from the seeds of the castor bean plant. And a facility found near Kandahar recently had all the earmarks of an anthrax laboratory in the making.

MYERS: We did find some equipment that was indicative of perhaps manufacturing anthrax. Not all the equipment you would need was there, but there was some of the equipment. It looked like some of it had been tried to have been destroyed.

MCINTYRE: The U.S. military continues to search for remaining Taliban and al Qaeda forces, while guarding against guerrilla style attacks.

DONALD RUMSFELD, RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There's no question in my mind but that the remaining al Qaeda and Taliban would like very much to reconstitute and conduct terrorist operations in the country, to attack U.S. and U.S. interests and government interests and coalition interests and see if they can't chase everyone out.

MCINTYRE (on camera): The Pentagon says U.S. troops won't leave Afghanistan until all top al Qaeda and Taliban leaders have either been captured or killed. But the U.S. is devoting up to 150 special operations troops to help train and equip a new national Afghan army, to provide security once the international troops have left.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(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