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CNN Live Today

U.S. Aborts Plot Against Iraqi Weapons Site

Aired August 20, 2002 - 12:23   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN is getting some detailed information about a biological weapons facility in northern Iraq, and an aborted U.S. plot to attack it.
CNN's national security correspondent, David Ensor, has been working to get these details, and he joins us from Washington to tell us what he has learned.

David -- I thought President Bush said that he would seek out al Qaeda anywhere, any time?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: And clearly, U.S. intelligence is watching al Qaeda very closely, including in northern Iraq.

U.S. officials say in recent weeks, the Bush administration considered a mission against an al Qaeda-affiliated biological weapons test facility in northern Iraq. Officials saying that for now, at least, no such mission is imminent, and one senior official saying that, in fact, any possible attack has been called off.

The small militant group conducting the tests calls itself Ansar al-Islam. U.S. officials say, some of its members received training in terrorism techniques at camps in Afghanistan run by al Qaeda.

Because the area, where the testing took place, is under Kurdish control, U.S. officials stress they have no reason to believe that Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, would have been aware of what was happening there. Sources say the site was extremely primitive and was being used to test a powerful biological toxin called Ricin on barnyard animals and possibly on one human.

At the White House, a spokesman said there would be no comment on the matter, since it involves possible military targeting. The area is within the northern no-fly zone, which, of course, has been patrolled since the end of the Gulf War by U.S. and allied warplanes -- Carol.

LIN: So, David, was it strictly the concern for American troops in this situation that was the reason why they decided not to go after them?

ENSOR: There could be a number of other reasons. One of which is, this group, Ansar al-Islam, is, of course, fighting the other Kurdish groups in northern Iraq, which are pro-U.S. for the most part. And it may be that the U.S. has asked them to go after this group and deal with it themselves. That might be a simpler solution. The officials I speak to are not willing to go into what the decision-making process was -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much, David Ensor, national security correspondent, on that.

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