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CNN Live Today

Terror on Tape: Some Information on Tapes Government Already Knew

Aired August 19, 2002 - 10:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get some more insight now into these tapes. We're joined now by our national correspondent David Ensor, who checks in from Washington.
David, I've got to guess, that town is talking quite a bit about these tapes this morning.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Leon.

And U.S. officials, U.S. intelligence officials understand that they are going to receive a copy of all or most of the tapes from CNN soon, and they will looking at them very, very closely indeed. The first and foremost thing I would gather would be simply to see faces and names. We talk about cutaways in television. It's the cutaways that are interesting. You look at the pictures of bin Laden at meetings and moving with his bodyguards and so forth, when possible the U.S. would like to see the faces and names of anyone they can, and some of those tapes, you do see faces full, not covered.

They will be looking for people they perhaps were not aware were members ever leadership or closer to the leadership of Al Qaeda. They will also be looking for people who perhaps are already prisoners of the U.S., or its allies and who are refusing to talk, denying they know anything about bin Laden. If you find them in the cutaways in the meetings with bin Laden, it may be easier perhaps could be a tool to use in interrogating those people.

So it's faces and names, first and foremost, I am told -- Leon.

HARRIS: And let me ask you this as well, Leon, what do we know about the pressure that the government may put on CNN to turn these tapes over?

None. But, officials say they understand from CNN that CNN intends to make tapes available, in all or in part, to those governments which are interested. And obviously the U.S. government is interested in seeing the tapes, but officials say they do have some of them already. And a lot of what is on the tapes, they point out, was already known. We have tape of the sad sight of dogs being poisoned with chemical weapons. The fact that had been done by Al Qaeda was in the news a long time ago. There were in fact satellite pictures showing that, and U.S. officials told us and other news organizations about it.

So they are saying they don't see a lot of new information on tapes, although it is chilling to see actually on tape, some of the very high level of training in terrorism techniques, some of the experimentation with weapons of mass destruction that we see on these tapes.

HARRIS: And the thing is, David, all of us heard talk about Santa Claus, but until we actually see videotape of him, talking about him and actually seeing him are two different things. And actually seeing what we're seeing on these tapes has been such a shocking thing that we hope that will be learned from that.

David Ensor in Washington , thank you very much. See you later on.

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