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Arrested Al Qaeda Militant May be Pearl Killer

Aired September 17, 2002 - 10:04   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.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we turn our attention now to Pakistan and a new devolpment in the war on terrorism. The Associated Press is reporting that an al Qaeda militant arrested with terror suspect Ramzi Binalshibh has been identified as one of the killers of Daniel Pearl. It is a significant development.
Our national security correspondent David Ensor is in Washington to give us some perspective on this.

It sounds like a big get, David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It could be, Carol, though U.S. officials we have spoken to so far say they are not yet able to confirm whether any of the suspects who were apprehended by the Pakistanis along with Binalshibh have anything to do with the Pearl case. There are a lot of loose ends that are coming in, interesting evidence that is coming in from those raids.

For example, officials telling us that some belongings, some materials that may belonged to members of the bin Laden family were taken in one of the raids. The issue of what to do with these suspects is also now much under discussion. Binalshibh is in the hands of U.S. intelligence. He's been taken to an unknown location, much the pattern, similar pattern to what was done with Abu Zubaydah, the key priority for U.S. officials for the moment being get information out of these people that might save lives, that being the priority.

At the same time, other parts of the U.S. Government are beginning to think about what other needs they may have from these individuals. For example, in the area of justice, both defense attorneys for Zacarias Moussaoui, and the prosecution, may want to somehow hear from Binalshibh because is he supposed to have given money to Moussaoui at one point or another. They both may see some advantage in getting Binalshibh's testimony somehow involved in the Moussaoui trial and how that can be worked out, if it can be worked out, is an open question.

Also suggestions today that there might eventually be a military tribunal for Binalshibh since he was apparently, according to the evidence that's so far publicly known, quite heavily involved in the attacks of 9/11. But all of this is very much taking a backseat right now, Carol, as the priority is, to interview these men, to figure out what they might know about future plots that might be under way right now and to try save lives if at all possible. That is first and foremost, Carol.

LIN: Let's hope they'll talk. Thank you very much, David Ensor --Leon.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now another front in the war on terror, the unlikely backdrop of suburban Buffalo, New York. New details have emerged in the search for a seventh suspect in an alleged terror cell linked to al Qaeda there.

CNN's Jeff Flock has been following the case, and this latest twist as well. Let's go to him now. We'll get the latest details.

Morning, Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Morning to you, Leon. A couple of details are emerging here, some more perspective on this. Yesterday we took pains to try and make it clear that we didn't know if this in fact was an al Qaeda sleeper cell. Some officials pointed to that, others not so clear. The information we've developed so far here, over the course of the last 24 hours or so seems to point away for that -- from that. Points to more of a recruiting effort that took place on the mean streets of Lackawanna, New York, the community to the south of Buffalo, is home to about 2,000 people of Yemeni descent. A recruiting effort there that had varying levels of success.

On to the other development though, that is the revelation of a new name. That is the man who was apparently the ringleader, described in the court documents thus far only as conspirator A. His name is Kamal Dirwisch. Federal officials apparently believe that he was the leader of this effort to recruit people in Lackawanna for al Qaeda terrorism training. We've got the 6 pictures perhaps of the folks that we've been showing you. These are the people that are in custody thus far. This is a recruiting effort apparently that had varying levels of success.

One man, officials believe that man we talked about yesterday, Muktar al-Bakri officials believe had a specific terrorist goal in mind overseas. Another man though of the six apparently left the terrorism training after only a week or so, complaining that he didn't like the food. He missed pizza, he missed television and he missed America and he wanted to go home. So perhaps different levels of involvement and whether or not this all amounted to a official al Qaeda cell is at this point unclear.

We may get more details on that tomorrow, Leon, when all of these men appear, at least the ones in custody, appear for a bond hearing. Because if the government wants to hold them over, they're going to have to produce some more evidence that indicate specifics of any sort of plot that was a foot out there in order to convince the judge to keep them, hold them without bound -- or issue a high enough bond so they would be -- continued in custody. So those details yet to emerge. We will continue to work on it.

Back to you.

HARRIS: All right. You got it. Thanks Jeff. Jeff Flock reporting for us live from Buffalo, New York.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 17, 2002 - 10:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we turn our attention now to Pakistan and a new devolpment in the war on terrorism. The Associated Press is reporting that an al Qaeda militant arrested with terror suspect Ramzi Binalshibh has been identified as one of the killers of Daniel Pearl. It is a significant development.
Our national security correspondent David Ensor is in Washington to give us some perspective on this.

It sounds like a big get, David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It could be, Carol, though U.S. officials we have spoken to so far say they are not yet able to confirm whether any of the suspects who were apprehended by the Pakistanis along with Binalshibh have anything to do with the Pearl case. There are a lot of loose ends that are coming in, interesting evidence that is coming in from those raids.

For example, officials telling us that some belongings, some materials that may belonged to members of the bin Laden family were taken in one of the raids. The issue of what to do with these suspects is also now much under discussion. Binalshibh is in the hands of U.S. intelligence. He's been taken to an unknown location, much the pattern, similar pattern to what was done with Abu Zubaydah, the key priority for U.S. officials for the moment being get information out of these people that might save lives, that being the priority.

At the same time, other parts of the U.S. Government are beginning to think about what other needs they may have from these individuals. For example, in the area of justice, both defense attorneys for Zacarias Moussaoui, and the prosecution, may want to somehow hear from Binalshibh because is he supposed to have given money to Moussaoui at one point or another. They both may see some advantage in getting Binalshibh's testimony somehow involved in the Moussaoui trial and how that can be worked out, if it can be worked out, is an open question.

Also suggestions today that there might eventually be a military tribunal for Binalshibh since he was apparently, according to the evidence that's so far publicly known, quite heavily involved in the attacks of 9/11. But all of this is very much taking a backseat right now, Carol, as the priority is, to interview these men, to figure out what they might know about future plots that might be under way right now and to try save lives if at all possible. That is first and foremost, Carol.

LIN: Let's hope they'll talk. Thank you very much, David Ensor --Leon.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now another front in the war on terror, the unlikely backdrop of suburban Buffalo, New York. New details have emerged in the search for a seventh suspect in an alleged terror cell linked to al Qaeda there.

CNN's Jeff Flock has been following the case, and this latest twist as well. Let's go to him now. We'll get the latest details.

Morning, Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Morning to you, Leon. A couple of details are emerging here, some more perspective on this. Yesterday we took pains to try and make it clear that we didn't know if this in fact was an al Qaeda sleeper cell. Some officials pointed to that, others not so clear. The information we've developed so far here, over the course of the last 24 hours or so seems to point away for that -- from that. Points to more of a recruiting effort that took place on the mean streets of Lackawanna, New York, the community to the south of Buffalo, is home to about 2,000 people of Yemeni descent. A recruiting effort there that had varying levels of success.

On to the other development though, that is the revelation of a new name. That is the man who was apparently the ringleader, described in the court documents thus far only as conspirator A. His name is Kamal Dirwisch. Federal officials apparently believe that he was the leader of this effort to recruit people in Lackawanna for al Qaeda terrorism training. We've got the 6 pictures perhaps of the folks that we've been showing you. These are the people that are in custody thus far. This is a recruiting effort apparently that had varying levels of success.

One man, officials believe that man we talked about yesterday, Muktar al-Bakri officials believe had a specific terrorist goal in mind overseas. Another man though of the six apparently left the terrorism training after only a week or so, complaining that he didn't like the food. He missed pizza, he missed television and he missed America and he wanted to go home. So perhaps different levels of involvement and whether or not this all amounted to a official al Qaeda cell is at this point unclear.

We may get more details on that tomorrow, Leon, when all of these men appear, at least the ones in custody, appear for a bond hearing. Because if the government wants to hold them over, they're going to have to produce some more evidence that indicate specifics of any sort of plot that was a foot out there in order to convince the judge to keep them, hold them without bound -- or issue a high enough bond so they would be -- continued in custody. So those details yet to emerge. We will continue to work on it.

Back to you.

HARRIS: All right. You got it. Thanks Jeff. Jeff Flock reporting for us live from Buffalo, New York.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com