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CNN Live Today

U.S. Military Confirm They Have Second American Taliban Fighter

Aired April 04, 2002 - 14:39   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. military has in its custody a second believed American Taliban. For more now on the conditions of that American Taliban, let's go to Kathleen Koch, who's at the Pentagon.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, this is a very quickly developing story, the facts changing as we speak. What we do know for certain is that the U.S. Justice Department has in hand the birth certificate of one of the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying that he is actually an American citizen. He was born 22 years ago in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Now, the Pentagon says that Yasser Esam Hamdi's parents were Saudi Arabian. They were working in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the time, and they took him back to Saudi Arabia when he was just a toddler. Now, it's unclear whether or not Hamdi speaks any English, or if he ever returned to the United States at any point.

Now, what the Justice Department right now is trying to determine is whether or not Hamdi is still a U.S. citizen. Has he taken any sort of action that would have jeopardized his citizenship in that interim period? Did he ever claim dual citizenship? Did he ever fight for a foreign power? So Justice Department officials right now are wrestling with those very complex issues.

Meanwhile, many here, many reporters are wondering, why it was, if Hamdi claimed that he was an American citizen from the start, which sources do tell us that he did soon after his capture in the fall at Mazar-e-Sharif, what took military officials so long to listen?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTORIA CLARKE, PENTAGON SPOKESWOMAN: I don't know about the claims, but I do know it has been very hard with a lot of these detainees, to determine their actual identification. Many of these people who were with the Taliban and the al Qaeda were trained to resist interrogation. The secretary I think, just the other day, was talking about how difficult it is to identify some of these people. It is a very slow, very methodical process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: CNN has learned that plans at this point are to fly Hamdi aboard a U.S. military aircraft out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, perhaps as soon as this afternoon, to Dulles airport in northern Virginia. Now, that, we're being told, for jurisdictional reasons. That way he can be tried in the same federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, where John Walker Lindh is going to be facing charges.

From that point, then, we're being told that Hamdi would go on to the U.S. Naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, where he would remain in military custody. The Pentagon tells us that at this point, while Hamdi has been questioned, they aren't going to release what he has said. They are saying it's too soon to speculate what, if any, charges he might face.

But, Fredricka, one thing they are telling us is that at this point, they don't believe that there are any other Americans being held at Guantanamo Bay. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: Now, Kathleen, unlike the John Walker Lindh case, there seems to be a struggle of jurisdiction between the Justice Department and the Pentagon over Hamdi. Why?

KOCH: There is a bit of a tug of war here. Because under U.S. law, the U.S. military cannot hold U.S. citizens. They have no arrest powers over U.S. citizens. You may have heard the phrase, "posse comitatus," so that the U.S. military cannot enforce U.S. law and hold citizens.

Now, at the same time, though, the Justice Department is reluctant to too quickly take custody of Hamdi, because that sets the habeas corpus clock ticking. That is the period in which then they must either charge Hamdi with something or release him. They cannot just hold him for an undetermined amount of time, and not do anything with him -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much. Kathleen Koch from the Pentagon.

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