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Al Qaeda Purportedly Knows How to Build 'Dirty Bomb'

Aired April 23, 2002 - 10:33   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: Al Qaeda apparently not only is interested in obtaining weapons of mass destruction, it purportedly knows how to build a so-called dirty bomb. That's a conventional explosive that's loaded with radioactive material.

Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us from the Defense Department with more on this.

Barbara, good morning. This sounds like scary stuff. But how do we know if we can truly believe that it's true.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Yes, that is exactly the question for the United States right now. Abu Zubaydah, the highest-ranking Al Qaeda seized into custody during this conflict, has told his interrogators that the Al Qaeda knows how to make a radiological weapon, a so-called dirty bomb, and in fact that they do want to make one.

And as you said, these are not nuclear weapons. These are conventional weapons with radiological material in them that would spread if the weapon was detonated.

And this is a very difficult threat to really assess. The U.S. has known for some time that the Al Qaeda wants to either buy or make nuclear, chemical, biological and radiological weapons. There is absolutely no evidence, officials say, that they have actually been successful in getting their hands on any of these types of weapons.

But the U.S. intelligence community continues to look at this. Some weeks ago, there was a lot of concern, for example, that terrorist were going to try and sneak a radiological or a dirty bomb into New York City. That did not happen.

So the key question now is whether Abu Zubaydah is telling the truth. And of course everyone will remember last week Abu Zubaydah said that U.S. banks in the northeast were under a terrorist threat. So his interrogators are beginning feel, of course, that he is saying some of these things just to see how U.S. law enforcement reacts.

But that doesn't mean that radiological bombs are not a serious threat. They are relatively easy to make, and the U.S. intelligence community remains very concerned that somebody is going to get their hands on one of them some day and sneak them into the United States. But so far, no specific indication that right now, Abu Zubaydah is telling the truth -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara, here's what I wonder. It would seem to me the only reason we even know he's saying this is because interrogators, officials are letting this information out there. Otherwise, I think it would be incredibly classified. So what's the tactical decision in doing that, other than to scare us?

STARR: With the bank threat last week, for example, the government was in a tough spot. They felt that there was some discussion of a threat out there, and they talked about making it public saying they were using an overabundance of caution. This is always the dilemma for the U.S. government, when there is a threat, how seriously to take it, how credible is it, and when do you begin to tell the public about it?

In this case, it's hard to say. They tell us that Zubaydah has said these things, but still, there's no real evidence that he is telling the truth at this time.

KAGAN: Barbara Starr, thanks for the information and the insight from the Pentagon. Good to see you.

STARR: You're welcome.

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