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Breaking News
Attorney General Announces Dirty Bomb Arrest
Aired June 10, 2002 - 10:26 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: We do have some breaking news, and we need to go to Moscow. This is Attorney General John Ashcroft, talking about a terrorist capture. Let's listen in.
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JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: ... in his capacity as commander in chief, determined that Abdullah Al Mujahir, born Jose Padilla, determined that Mujahir is an enemy combatant who poses a serious and continuing threat to the American people and our national security.
After the determination, Abdullah Al Mujahir was transferred from the custody of the Justice Department to the custody of the Defense Department.
Following serving in prison in the United States in the early 1990s, Jose Padilla referred to himself as Abdullah Al Mujahir. Subsequent to his release from prison, he traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan. On several occasions in 2001, he met with senior Al Qaeda officials.
While in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Al-Mujaher trained with the enemy, including studying how to wire explosive devices and researching radiological dispersion devices. Al Qaeda officials knew that as a citizen of the United States, as a citizen of the United States holding a valid U.S. passport, Al Mujahir would be able to travel freely in the U.S. without drawing attention to himself.
The United States government was tracking Abdullah Al Mujahir when, on May the 8th, 2002, this year, he flew from Pakistan into Chicago O'Hare International Airport, where he was placed in the custody of federal law enforcement authorities.
In apprehending Al Mujahir as he sought entry into the United States, we have disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States by exploding a radioactive "dirty bomb."
Now, a radioactive "dirty bomb" involves exploding a conventional bomb that not only kills victims in the immediate vicinity, but also spreads radioactive material that is highly toxic to humans and can cause mass death and injury.
From information available to the United States government, we know that Abdullah Al Mujahir is an Al Qaeda operative and was exploring a plan to build and explode a radioactive "dirty bomb."
Let me be clear: We know from multiple independent and corroborating sources that Abdullah Al Mujahir was closely associated with Al Qaeda and that as an Al Qaeda operative he was involved in planning future terrorist attacks on innocent American civilians in the United States.
The safety of all Americans and the national security interests of the United States require that Abdullah Al Mujahir be detained by the Defense Department as an enemy combatant. In determining that Al Mujahir is an enemy combatant who legally can be detained by the United States military, we have acted with legal authority both under the laws of war and clear Supreme Court precedent, which establish that the military may detain a United States citizen who has joined the enemy and has entered our country to carry out hostile acts.
Once again, I commend the FBI, the CIA and other agencies involved in capturing Abdullah Al Mujahir before he could act on his deadly plan. Because of the close cooperation among the FBI, the CIA, Defense Department and other federal agencies, we were able to thwart this terrorist.
To our enemies, I say we will continue to be vigilant against all threats, whether they come from overseas or at home in America. To our citizens, I say we will continue to respect the rule of law while doing everything in our power to prevent terrorist attacks.
KAGAN: We have been listening to a speech by Attorney General John Ashcroft who happens to be in Russia where he was meeting with law enforcement officials looking at terror threats. And, in fact, he is announcing the arrest of a man who is a U.S. citizen, but who he says is an operative of al Qaeda. The man's original name is Jose Padilla, but has taken on the name of Abdullah Al Mujahir. He is a U.S. citizen who has been able to travel freely with a U.S. passport, and Mr. Ashcroft says that last month, May 2002, that Al Mujahir traveled from Pakistan into Chicago where he was apprehended.
They believe he was working on plans to explode a radioactive dirty bomb, and as the attorney general was explaining, that is a bomb that has an initial impact where it kills people, but then it spreads radioactive material over a large area, killing a number of other people, making other people sick.
John Ashcroft is calling Al Mujahir an enemy combatant, and saying that he is in the custody of the U.S. military. Also, interesting, and I am stressing (ph) that this crack in this case came with the cooperation of the FBI, the CIA and the Defense Department working together. Of course, those departments making -- having a lot of criticism lately that they have not worked together to prevent terrorism. We are going to get more information on this, but once again, the arrest of a man known as an enemy combatant, Abdullah Al Mujahir, a U.S. citizen, accused now of trying to explode a dirty atomic bomb.
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