Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Italian Authorities Allegedly Recorded al Qaeda Conversations

Aired May 29, 2002 - 12:10   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: "The Los Angeles Times" reports Italian authorities secretly recorded conversations from suspected al Qaeda operatives. The intelligence community says the conversations may have hinted at the 9/11 attacks to come. CNN Rome Bureau Chief Alessio Vinci joins us live from Rome with more on this discovery -- Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Carol. Well, the transcripts of these conversations are published in two main Italian dailies here, the "Corera de la Sera" (ph) and "The Repubblica." And according to the transcripts published in these two dailies, the conversation is taking place between an Egyptian national known as S. Saeb (ph), who was the leader of a mosque in the northern Italian city of Milan, and a Yemeni sheik known as al Hilal (ph).

And that conversation, according to police records, took place on January 24, 2001, several months before the September 11th attack. And according to the transcripts, the Yemeni sheik is telling the Egyptian mosque leader, "In the future, listen to the news and remember these words: above the head." And the sheik continues saying, "The action will be one of those strikes you will never forget," adding, "It will be a terrifying thing. It will move from south to north, from east to west. He who made this plan is a madman, but a genius. It will turn you to ice."

The conversation continues. It has been recorded, apparently according to Italian authorities, inside a car while the two were driving together. And the Yemeni sheik is also quoted as saying, quote, "You know we are in a country full of enemies of God, but we are always mujahedin fighters or freedom fighters. We can conquer any power using sparks and airplanes. They can't stop us even with their greater weaponry. We just have to hit them and keep our heads high," end of quote.

Now, the Italian authorities here are stopping short of making a direct connection between the two suspects and the September 11th attacks. They do say, however, that after the September 11th attacks, of course, these transcripts gained new relevance. They are saying, however, that it took all this time to come and analyze those transcripts because the interceptions were of a poor quality. So it took the translator and the people investigating and analyzing those tapes a lot of time to translate from the Arabic into Italian those wiretaps. It is also unclear at which point the Italian authorities forwarded these transcripts or a copy of the wiretaps to U.S. officials. But we do know that ever since the September 11th attacks Italian authorities and U.S. officials have been working very closely in the intelligence community about analyzing any possible links to al Qaeda or even to the September 11th attacks.

What we do know is that the man at the center of this wiretap, this Egyptian imam, was known to Italian authorities. He was part of an investigation Italian authorities had conducted in the northern city of Milan prior to September 11th, which resulted in the arrest of at least eight Islamic militants. We also know, according to the Italian authorities, that this imam was believed to be the number -- the contact of the al Qaeda's number two, Al-Zawahiri, who lives in -- the doctor who lives in Egypt. And also, we do know that this imam is believed to have fled Italy before the September 11th attack, about two months before.

And according to Italian authorities, they think he has died in an attack -- during fighting in Afghanistan. All this information coming from Italian authorities quote in these two Italian reports. We also know that other -- during other parts of the transcripts, the two suspects are talking about training camps in Yemen. They're also talking about the need of fake documents to travel to the United States -- back to you, Carol.

LIN: All right. Alessio, I just want to be clear on this. So these two suspects are still outstanding, they're not in custody? Is that right?

VINCI: Well, no, they're not in custody because, first of all, one, the Yemeni -- sorry, the Egyptian national has fled Italy two months prior to the September 11th attack. And he, according to the Italian authorities, is believed to have been killed in Afghanistan. As far as the Yemeni national, I think authorities do not have him in custody at this time -- Carol.

LIN: And are you sure, or have you been able to confirm, whether, in fact, Italian authorities did pass on this information to U.S. authorities?

VINCI: The Italian authorities are not telling us whether or not this specific information was forwarded to the FBI or to other law enforcement agencies in the United States. But we do know from U.S. officials that recently, only recently after the September 11th attacks, some of the documents have been forwarded to the U.S. -- Carol.

LIN: Got you. All right. Thank you very much, Alessio Vinci, very interesting, live out of Rome today on this latest information about wiretapped conversations.

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