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CNN Live Today

Supposed al Qaeda Spokesman Says More Attacks Planned

Aired July 10, 2002 - 11:09   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: There's a man out there who's claiming he is an al Qaeda spokesman, saying that Osama bin Laden is indeed alive and planning new attacks.

Let's get more on these claims from our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, who is at her post this morning.

Barbara, good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Well, officials in the Bush Administration are being careful not to overreact to this latest message from the al Qaeda. They say they have seen these types of messages before. What they are going to do now is try and use voice print matching technology to look at this latest audio recording and try and match it to the voice of a man they know to be Abu Ghaith, a spokesman for the al Qaeda. He surfaced about two weeks ago in an initial audio recording. They used voice print matching technology and determined that was authentic. So they hope to do that again. They do wonder if this is actually a brand-new recording or simply more material that has now surfaced from what first came to light a couple of weeks ago.

This latest message, again, makes the same types of threat, of course, that the al Qaeda has made for some time. In one of the quotes from this message he said that the al Qaeda is "preparing for a coming period of guerrilla war... We will strike at the weak infrastructure of the enemy."

He goes on. He says that the al Qaeda's "military and intelligence networks are assessing and monitoring new U.S. targets that we will strike in a period of time which is not long..."

And then, of course, he says, according to him: "Our suicide militants are ready and impatient to carry out attacks against U.S. and Jewish targets inside (America) and abroad..."

One of the questions, of course, is the exact identity of this man. Like many other al Qaeda operatives, he uses a number of names. He has been known by a name Abu Laith al-Libi. That would indicate he is a Libyan. But sources tell CNN they believe, in fact, the man is a Kuwaiti known as Abu Ghaith. Now this recording, of course, even if it's authentic, it doesn't address the question of whether the man is still alive, but on this recording, he indicates Osama bin Laden and all of the top remaining al Qaeda leadership is alive and preparing for a new round of attacks -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, most importantly does the indicate where Osama bin Laden might be hanging out? That would be some very useful information.

STARR: Right. Absolutely not. And intelligence sources emphasize to us, again, today they have no specific information about any planned attack. Nothing indicating a time, date or place. The one thing that they do note, that they have some concerns about: they say there's a lot of chatter in the system right now. That a lot of al Qaeda operatives are out there talking, communicating. That's the same pattern of activity the U.S. intelligence community noticed late last summer prior to the September 11 attacks. So while they're not overreacting. indeed they are watching very carefully.

KAGAN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you so much.

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