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U.S. Officials Believe Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Played Key Role in 9/11 Plot

Aired June 05, 2002 - 13:02   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: We begin this hour with a man considered instrumental to the horrors of September 11th. His name, and you may come to know it well, is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

And CNN's David Ensor tells us why the U.S. government is willing to pay $25 million to catch him. And I'll bet he's worth it -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He would be, Carol.

U.S. officials now believe this Al Qaeda leader, who is little known to public, played a key role in the 9/11 plot. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was instrumental and may even have been pivotal on the planning attack of the attack on September 11th. Though, officials say he was not, as some reports have suggested, the mastermind of the attacks.

The new information about Mohammed's key role comes, in part, from Abu Zubaydah, the captured Al Qaeda operation's chief -- here he is -- who has for months been under interrogation by U.S. officials. Zubaydah, officials say, they know he's trying to play up the role of others and to downplay his own role in the September 11th attacks, but that certain information that Zubaydah has given on the activity of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has checked out with other intelligence information.

The man is a Kuwaiti national. Mohammed was indicted by the U.S. in 1996, charged with involvement in the failed plot led by Ramzi Yusef to blowup airliners over the Pacific. He is on the FBI's most- wanted list. He has been a fund-raiser for Al Qaeda, and they believe that, officials believe, that he's most likely in Afghanistan, or possibly Pakistan.

Officials say there is evidence that mom -- Mohammed is related to Ramzi Yousef, the leader of that failed plot against the airliners. He may be a relative of his. Ramzi Yousef, of course, who is serving a life sentence for his role in the first attack on the World Trade Center back in 1993.

Sources who have seen Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, saw him before September 11th, say that he usually wore glasses and a full beard, and was somewhat overweight, but he's also been photographed looking this other way. In December, the U.S. raised, as you mentioned, the reward for information leading to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to $25 million dollars. That's the same level as Osama bin Laden -- Carol.

LIN: And that award for Osama bin Laden really hasn't led to his capture. So why is that investigators think it may work in this case?

ENSOR: They don't know that it will work, but they think it is worth trying. And this man, they believe, may be in the same badlands, along the border line between Afghanistan and Pakistan, perhaps moving between the two countries.

LIN: Are they -- and how are they getting the word out in that region? I mean, prior to that, they were flying over and dropping fliers?

ENSOR: In all sorts of different ways. One example I could mention to you, I happen to be aware of is matchboxes that are sold in the region, or given away in the region with cigarettes. A lot of people smoke in that part of the world. There are match boxes that are put out by the U.S. that say reward for this man, $25 million dollars.

LIN: And if somebody actually sees him, who are they supposed to go to in that region to report him?

ENSOR: They're supposed to contact the U.S. embassy or consulate or any U.S. official they're aware of that they can find, and start that way.

LIN: All right, the search goes on.

Thank you very much, David Ensor, with the investigation there.

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