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American Morning
Terror Hearings
Aired February 12, 2003 - 09:15 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a second day of hearings today to examine the current, future and worldwide threats to U.S. security.
Let's check in with national security correspondent David Ensor, who join us from Washington with a preview.
Good morning, David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, this room is empty right now, but is it filling up. And in a few minutes, another hearing with George Tenet and the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The agenda will be driven by the senators and their questions, and there are likely to be a lot of them. This is a rather tense time for American national security. The senators are likely to ask about the bin Laden tape, or the alleged bin Laden tape, that came out in public yesterday. Mr. Tenet is likely to tell them that they does think that is the voice of bin Laden and that it does appear to have been recorded in recent weeks.
There are likely to be questions, more questions, as there were yesterday, about what evidence there is exactly tying al Qaeda to Iraq. This mysterious person, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, an al Qaeda figure who apparently spent some time in Baghdad, and who officials have claimed set up a network in Baghdad, or in Iraq, which is running terrorist operations. There are likely to be questions about that, questions also especially from Democrats about why the administration is putting so much of its attention on Iraq and not so much on North Korea.
Now yesterday, intelligence officials confirmed they regard North Korea as a very serious crisis. Some Democrats in the Senate believe that the Bush administration is soft pedaling that very dangerous issue in order to keep the nation's focus on Iraq.
So it will be a very interesting hearing. We may have some news on a number of fronts, and there are likely to be some sharp questions from Democrats -- Paula.
ZAHN: Let's talk about the questions being asked about the linkages between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Secretary of State Powell yesterday saying this tape proves that those kind of communications are going on and remind us of what Mr. Tenet said about the renewed Al Qaeda presence, not only in Iraq, but Iran as well. ENSOR: Well, administration officials yesterday were at pains to draw connections between the tape and Iraq. Obviously, a tape in which bin Calls on Muslims in general, and Iraqi Muslims specifically to fight Americans, and says that it's OK to make common cause with what he calls a communist, like Saddam Hussein. That is evidence that the U.S. would like to have people around the world see as drawing a connection; at least common cause seen there between Al Qaeda and Iraq.
Now, as far as the evidence tying the two together, as I was saying, there's this -- there's evidence according to George Tenet and Colin Powell, that about two dozen Islamic -- Egyptian Islamic jihad members are operating out of Iraq, organizing various activities, money, people being moved and terrorism being organized from the territory of Iraq.
So U.S. officials say that couldn't be happening without the knowledge and consent of the Iraqi Mukbarat (ph), the secret police, and they therefore believe it's evidence of complicity. Now, there are plenty of people in Europe who say it's not, it's a debatable point, but that point will be much discussed, I think, in the hearings behind me this morning.
ZAHN: And we will be coming back to you live, when they get under way, which I guess is about 10 minutes or so.
David Ensor, thanks for the update. Appreciate it.
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 February 12, 2003 - 09:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a second day of hearings today to examine the current, future and worldwide threats to U.S. security.
Let's check in with national security correspondent David Ensor, who join us from Washington with a preview.
Good morning, David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, this room is empty right now, but is it filling up. And in a few minutes, another hearing with George Tenet and the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The agenda will be driven by the senators and their questions, and there are likely to be a lot of them. This is a rather tense time for American national security. The senators are likely to ask about the bin Laden tape, or the alleged bin Laden tape, that came out in public yesterday. Mr. Tenet is likely to tell them that they does think that is the voice of bin Laden and that it does appear to have been recorded in recent weeks.
There are likely to be questions, more questions, as there were yesterday, about what evidence there is exactly tying al Qaeda to Iraq. This mysterious person, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, an al Qaeda figure who apparently spent some time in Baghdad, and who officials have claimed set up a network in Baghdad, or in Iraq, which is running terrorist operations. There are likely to be questions about that, questions also especially from Democrats about why the administration is putting so much of its attention on Iraq and not so much on North Korea.
Now yesterday, intelligence officials confirmed they regard North Korea as a very serious crisis. Some Democrats in the Senate believe that the Bush administration is soft pedaling that very dangerous issue in order to keep the nation's focus on Iraq.
So it will be a very interesting hearing. We may have some news on a number of fronts, and there are likely to be some sharp questions from Democrats -- Paula.
ZAHN: Let's talk about the questions being asked about the linkages between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Secretary of State Powell yesterday saying this tape proves that those kind of communications are going on and remind us of what Mr. Tenet said about the renewed Al Qaeda presence, not only in Iraq, but Iran as well. ENSOR: Well, administration officials yesterday were at pains to draw connections between the tape and Iraq. Obviously, a tape in which bin Calls on Muslims in general, and Iraqi Muslims specifically to fight Americans, and says that it's OK to make common cause with what he calls a communist, like Saddam Hussein. That is evidence that the U.S. would like to have people around the world see as drawing a connection; at least common cause seen there between Al Qaeda and Iraq.
Now, as far as the evidence tying the two together, as I was saying, there's this -- there's evidence according to George Tenet and Colin Powell, that about two dozen Islamic -- Egyptian Islamic jihad members are operating out of Iraq, organizing various activities, money, people being moved and terrorism being organized from the territory of Iraq.
So U.S. officials say that couldn't be happening without the knowledge and consent of the Iraqi Mukbarat (ph), the secret police, and they therefore believe it's evidence of complicity. Now, there are plenty of people in Europe who say it's not, it's a debatable point, but that point will be much discussed, I think, in the hearings behind me this morning.
ZAHN: And we will be coming back to you live, when they get under way, which I guess is about 10 minutes or so.
David Ensor, thanks for the update. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
