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CNN Live Today

High Ranking Al Qaeda Abu Zubaydah Apprehended

Aired April 01, 2002 - 14:20   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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to Pentagon and CNN's Barbara Starr. Barbara, the defense secretary was asked about this latest detainee. I guess at the time of the briefing a few minutes ago, he didn't know, in fact, that this is the man that they've been looking for, one of the highest-ranking members of the al Qaeda network.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Donald Rumsfeld may well know, but he was in no mood to talk about it. He does not like to talk about specifics when it comes to the al Qaeda leadership. He made it very clear he's not going to be the one to confirm this in public.

But Abu Zubaydah has been tops on the U.S. list for some time. He is one of the key operational commanders of the al Qaeda. For years he's been in charge of recruiting, training, sending operatives all over the world, establishing al Qaeda sleeper cells, all over the world. And even more importantly, from the U.S. point of view, they believe he has been involved in continued planning after September 11th, of more terrorist attacks.

They had information that he was in Pakistan in the city of Faisalabad, where one of the raids was staged. And so with the Pakistanis, they moved in late last week. And in fact, the key thing for the U.S. now is, in fact, to try and get as much intelligence out of him as quickly as possible, before it becomes -- the things become too set. They will try and interrogate him. And they're going to try and keep him in a very secure, undisclosed location.

We have confirmed that he is in U.S. custody, but at an undisclosed location. There's no indication at the moment about whether or not he will go to Guantanamo Bay. If the other detainees find out he's there, that could be troublesome. So we are told the U.S. is now looking for a very secure, very quiet, very undisclosed location, where they can interrogate him -- Carol.

LIN: Should we assume that Zubaydah knows where Osama bin Laden is right now?

STARR: Well, that's a hard question. Certainly he would have over the last several weeks or months. But no one really knows where or how Osama is moving about. It may well be that bin Laden has been in some other form, that rather than direct communications with Zubaydah, they use intermediaries a lot. Bin Laden is very, very cautious about his communications. So it's just not known whether, in the very recent days or weeks, they have had any direction communication. But that's going to be one of the fist things the U.S. is going to ask Abu Zubaydah.

LIN: Does anybody know -- was it just an accident that he was netted up in this raid? Or did U.S. intelligence or Pakistani intelligence know for a fact that Zubaydah would be there?

STARR: Well, what we have heard is that there was some information in recent days that he and other top al Qaeda leaders were in Pakistan, had been operating in the two cities where these raids were conducted. One was Lahore, the other one was the city of Faisalabad. And it seemed that there was some information that led the Pakistanis to conduct these raids. And they conducted them in cooperation, we are told, with FBI and CIA agents. No U.S. military involvement in those raids.

LIN: All right. Clearly, cooperation with the Pakistani police. A good sign.

STARR: Absolutely.

LIN: Thank you very much. Barbara Starr, reporting live from the Pentagon. In fact, our David Ensor over at the State Department knows more about this and how that mission unfolded -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I'm actually here at the Bureau. But as you say, I do know a bit more. And particularly on the question you just asked Barbara, about where the information came from. It was collected. The information that Abu Zubaydah and other senior al Qaeda personnel were thought to be in these two locations was obtained by U.S. intelligence.

And the CIA passed that information on to Pakistani police. I understand that the raids were conducted by Pakistani police. They did the knocking down of doors. They did the shooting. It was they who wounded, in fact, this gentleman, in the groin and leg. Their bullets, not Americans. But Americans were standing right by the Pakistanis as they conducted these raids and made these arrests.

The feeling from the officials I've spoken to is that it's almost certain that it's Abu Zubaydah. They are not yet willing to say 100 percent. And as Barbara reported, he's being kept in an undisclosed location. He's been receiving what officials described to me as excellent medical treatment. Obviously the U.S. wants him alive and they want him talking as soon as possible.

As Barbara said, this is the man who handled recruiting for al Qaeda. He knows a lot about who is out there, where the sleeper cells are. The faces, the names, the locations of al Qaeda personnel, worldwide. He would be in a position to know more about that than perhaps any other person, including the two more senior people, Zawahiri and bin Laden.

So this is a very key capture. Almost certain to have occurred. Very good news. But, again, of course, they have to get Abu Zubaydah to tell them something.

LIN: Right. And once they get him perhaps to talk, what is the key question that they want to hear first from him? Do they suspect that there are future terrorist attacks just around the corner? Are they focused on finding bin Laden? What is the primary emphasis?

ENSOR: The first emphasis, the first questions, will be about sleeper cells that might be plotting additional attacks in the near future. Obviously, the first goal of the U.S. government is to prevent future terrorism. That is what they will go after, first and foremost. Even where is bin Laden is secondary to that question.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. David Ensor, reporting from the Bureau with this breaking news.

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