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CNN Live Today
Major U.S. Milestone in War on Terror
Aired November 22, 2002 - 10:01 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first on CNN, a major U.S. milestone in the war on terror. U.S. officials say that they have captured an al Qaeda leader so prized that they waited weeks to reveal his identity. He is Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the suspected mastermind of the "U.S.S. Cole" attack that left 17 sailors dead.
CNN State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel checks in now with more on this story. Good morning, Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon. Well, people in the intel community are calling al-Nashiri a big fish which is really an appropriate description of him, considering that he was the guy who was responsible in the Persian Gulf for all maritime terrorist attacks and the planing that goes into them. Al-Nashiri in fact had a huge patch of territory which stretched all the way from the Strait of Gibraltar between Morocco and Spain way over into Asia in the Straits of Malacca, right near Singapore and Malaysia. He's also, his title is the chief of al Qaeda operations in the Persian Gulf. He's a native of Saudi Arabia, although the intelligence community believes that he ran his operations out of Yemen. And in fact in the 1980s he was a Mujahedeen fighter in Afghanistan, along with Osama bin Laden. And he also is an explosives expert, Leon, which explains why there was a 40 foot hole that was blown into the side if you remember back in October 26 thousand of the "U.S.S. Cole", he was believed to have been behind that.
HARRIS: You speak of holes, how about the gap in between the time this man was apprehended actually, and the time that his identity was revealed to us? What's going on with that?
KOPPEL: Well, our viewers will probably remember, this time last week, we got tipped that there was a senior al Qaeda operative in U.S. custody. We didn't know his name really until yesterday. That came out of various sources, it started leaking out. And the reason -- there are actually several reason. Among them, al-Nashiri had some real time intelligence. U.S. officials hoping to use that to thwart future terrorist attacks, also hoping that some of al-Nashiri's comrades would try to reach him by cell phone or satellite phone and they might be able to round up some more operatives.
But not the least reason, Leon, has to do with the fact that al- Nashiri's area of operation in the Persian Gulf is very sensitive for those countries who are cooperating with the United States. There are many sympathizers of al Qaeda in that region and so the U.S. is trying to minimize the amount of blowback for those countries.
HARRIS: Understood, understood. Andrea Koppel at the State Department this morning. Thanks, Andrea, have a good weekend.
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 November 22, 2002 - 10:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first on CNN, a major U.S. milestone in the war on terror. U.S. officials say that they have captured an al Qaeda leader so prized that they waited weeks to reveal his identity. He is Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the suspected mastermind of the "U.S.S. Cole" attack that left 17 sailors dead.
CNN State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel checks in now with more on this story. Good morning, Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon. Well, people in the intel community are calling al-Nashiri a big fish which is really an appropriate description of him, considering that he was the guy who was responsible in the Persian Gulf for all maritime terrorist attacks and the planing that goes into them. Al-Nashiri in fact had a huge patch of territory which stretched all the way from the Strait of Gibraltar between Morocco and Spain way over into Asia in the Straits of Malacca, right near Singapore and Malaysia. He's also, his title is the chief of al Qaeda operations in the Persian Gulf. He's a native of Saudi Arabia, although the intelligence community believes that he ran his operations out of Yemen. And in fact in the 1980s he was a Mujahedeen fighter in Afghanistan, along with Osama bin Laden. And he also is an explosives expert, Leon, which explains why there was a 40 foot hole that was blown into the side if you remember back in October 26 thousand of the "U.S.S. Cole", he was believed to have been behind that.
HARRIS: You speak of holes, how about the gap in between the time this man was apprehended actually, and the time that his identity was revealed to us? What's going on with that?
KOPPEL: Well, our viewers will probably remember, this time last week, we got tipped that there was a senior al Qaeda operative in U.S. custody. We didn't know his name really until yesterday. That came out of various sources, it started leaking out. And the reason -- there are actually several reason. Among them, al-Nashiri had some real time intelligence. U.S. officials hoping to use that to thwart future terrorist attacks, also hoping that some of al-Nashiri's comrades would try to reach him by cell phone or satellite phone and they might be able to round up some more operatives.
But not the least reason, Leon, has to do with the fact that al- Nashiri's area of operation in the Persian Gulf is very sensitive for those countries who are cooperating with the United States. There are many sympathizers of al Qaeda in that region and so the U.S. is trying to minimize the amount of blowback for those countries.
HARRIS: Understood, understood. Andrea Koppel at the State Department this morning. Thanks, Andrea, have a good weekend.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
