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CNN Live Today

Al Qaeda Was Training for Urban Combat

Aired August 21, 2002 - 10:11   ET

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

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Our big news here this morning at CNN, new videotapes that show how al Qaeda built urban environments in remote Afghanistan for training exercises that experts believe were intended to prepare terror operatives for urban warfare. The videotapes are all part of the collection that Nic Robertson brought back from Afghanistan and CNN has been bringing you his exclusive series of reports all this week here. And in the tapes that we will look at today, al Qaeda fighters train in house to house combat, and experts believe that they are rehearsing hostage taking and assassination missions.
Let's get a closer look at the tapes, and more importantly what these tapes reveal. And for that, we turn to our national correspondent Mike Boettcher -- Mike.

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, very interesting. You said they were rehearsing for operations. They were rehearsing for specific operations. If we could, let's take a look at the video where they are firing at the Toyota Land Cruiser and the kidnapping. Now that particular operation, I am told by coalition intelligence sources, was for a specific operation to kidnap an American diplomat in the Middle East, a specific diplomat. We also know that by this document I'm holding here in my hand, which -- if we could zero in on that here in a second, which is a diary of a high ranking al Qaeda official that was recovered by CNN producer Ingrid Arneson (ph) in Kabul, Afghanistan. Now, this particular diary details exactly this same exercise you are seeing on videotape. So Leon, this was a very well-laid out plan that they rehearsed very often. This training was not for fun. They had specific intention in mind.

HARRIS: Well, Mike, you know the last couple days we have been talking quite a bit about other things that may not be immediate obvious to people like me when they watch these tapes, things like the accents and the languages that we hear on these tapes. What about this section of tapes that we are listening to today. What does that tell you in this regard here?

BOETTCHER: Well, in terms of the accents, varied accents, mostly a lot of them from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, some North African countries as well. So there were a varied number of Arab accents there. There were other things too, that don't become completely obvious by looking at it. We have a section of tape showing al Qaeda repelling down a mountainside. Now, this is a very fascinating section. It looks like maybe they are just doing physical training, but we know from our intelligence sources that they are actually practicing repelling down a tall building and into a window to commit some sort of assassination or attack. We also know that by the audio on the videotape, Leon, you talk about the audio.

The cameraman, someone asked someone near the mike, and the cameraman says they are using the cliff to duplicate -- to replicate, a tall building.

HARRIS: Does the voice on the tape identify which particular mission this might be in preparation for?

BOETTCHER: On this particular practice and mission, no. We don't know, but we are doing further research on that, Leon.

HARRIS: Speaking of the missions and the preparations therefore on these tapes, let me ask you this. It just occurred to me. Did you see anything on any of these tapes that would indicate they were practicing or rehearsing for takeover of an airplane?

BOETTCHER: No. But there is one thing on that particular videotape that is of concern to civil aviation, and it was pointed out by Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, who is interviewed in Nic's story. That is that SA-7 missile.

Now, this was a how-to videotape on how to use a surface to air missile that could bring down a commercial aircraft, and this is the first time anyone has ever seen an instructional video on how to use such a missile.

And they wouldn't be putting together, producing an instructional video if they didn't have these particular missiles. Recently in Saudi Arabia, a person suspected of having links to al Qaeda was arrested with one of those missiles, one of those SA-7s, but we don't know how many are out there.

HARRIS: That is interesting. Let me ask you one final question again about the languages and accents and all that. I heard Nic Robertson earlier this morning say something about hearing English being spoken on these tapes, and that would seem to indicate that they were trying to either have someone who was already -- who was already prepared to infiltrate a Western society, or perhaps look like he could. What does that tell you?

BOETTCHER: Well, it tells...

HARRIS: Were there any Westerners specifically -- I guess my question would be, do we know if there were any Westerners here involved, or at this camp?

BOETTCHER: There were a couple of people on the tape that looked like they might be Westerners, but we can't confirm that. But I will say this. All of this practice they are doing for urban warfare, the tapes as urban combat, that is to be specifically used in the cities. Not for assaults against cities, but for small operations, assassination, kidnaps, planting bombs, things like that. And you know, you would need people who could speak English if you plan on doing that in the United States or the United Kingdom, or speak various other languages, and there were many other languages spoken at that camp. HARRIS: Which is very troubling, because that means we don't know if they happen to be here right now. They have actually had the benefit of having had training off those tapes, and happen to be among us even as we speak.

Mike Boettcher, thank you very much for a rather chilling look at what is on these tapes. Incredible stuff.

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