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CNN Live At Daybreak

Wake-Up Call: Big Catch

Aired March 03, 2003 - 06:34   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 COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. is now pressuring Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to reveal plots for any future terrorist operations. Mohammed is the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks, and he's been linked to nearly every al Qaeda attack of the past 10 years -- that's according to a senior U.S. intelligence official. Pakistani agents captured Mohammed on Saturday.
And officials here in the United States, as you can imagine, are quite happy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN ROCKEFELLER (D-WV), SELECT INTELLIGENCE: It is huge. Other than Zawahiri, who would be No. 2, I would think that this arrest is as big, or bigger, than bin Laden, because this was the brain. This is the guy who's been behind everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Mohammed is now in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location. And of course, U.S. officials are making a huge deal over Mohammed's arrest.

We get details in this "Wake-Up Call" from our White House correspondent, Dana Bash.

Good morning -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, you're absolutely right. You just heard from Senator Rockefeller talking about the enormity, according to U.S. officials, of this arrest. And you know, Porter Goss, who is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said yesterday that it's like taking Paris was during World War II. I mean, that's a huge, huge statement.

COSTELLO: Wow!

BASH: And you know, it also comes at a really important time for the Bush administration, Carol, because they had been under increasing pressure from a lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill, saying why are you so focused on Saddam Hussein, when you haven't caught the key top operatives of al Qaeda? So, this really, really comes at an important time, especially as they are gearing up for Iraq.

COSTELLO: Boy, you're not kidding. You know, it's interesting to imagine what we might learn from Shaikh Mohammed. I mean, he apparently had a big case of records with him when he was arrested, and you might imagine that investigators are going through those records right now.

BASH: Absolutely, I mean, there's no question. And you heard some of the folks on the talk shows yesterday, and of course our own reporting at CNN, saying that these hours, as we speak, are really critical, not only for going through what they may or may not have found when they arrested him, but also for going after some of the other top officials.

And you know, the other thing I wanted to tell you, Carol, which is interesting, is that it's kind of known that the president keeps a list in his drawer in the Oval Office of the top -- the terrorists on the FBI watch list. And so, you can imagine -- you can only imagine what the president is going to feel like when he takes that list out and he gets to cross out this top guy, this big fish, even this whale -- that's what they're calling him at the White House -- they get to cross out his name.

COSTELLO: Oh, definitely. Definitely so, and maybe it will lead to the biggest fish of all, which would be, of course, Osama bin Laden. We'll just have to see.

Dana Bash, thanks for waking up early with DAYBREAK.

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 March 3, 2003 - 06:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. is now pressuring Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to reveal plots for any future terrorist operations. Mohammed is the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks, and he's been linked to nearly every al Qaeda attack of the past 10 years -- that's according to a senior U.S. intelligence official. Pakistani agents captured Mohammed on Saturday.
And officials here in the United States, as you can imagine, are quite happy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN ROCKEFELLER (D-WV), SELECT INTELLIGENCE: It is huge. Other than Zawahiri, who would be No. 2, I would think that this arrest is as big, or bigger, than bin Laden, because this was the brain. This is the guy who's been behind everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Mohammed is now in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location. And of course, U.S. officials are making a huge deal over Mohammed's arrest.

We get details in this "Wake-Up Call" from our White House correspondent, Dana Bash.

Good morning -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, you're absolutely right. You just heard from Senator Rockefeller talking about the enormity, according to U.S. officials, of this arrest. And you know, Porter Goss, who is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said yesterday that it's like taking Paris was during World War II. I mean, that's a huge, huge statement.

COSTELLO: Wow!

BASH: And you know, it also comes at a really important time for the Bush administration, Carol, because they had been under increasing pressure from a lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill, saying why are you so focused on Saddam Hussein, when you haven't caught the key top operatives of al Qaeda? So, this really, really comes at an important time, especially as they are gearing up for Iraq.

COSTELLO: Boy, you're not kidding. You know, it's interesting to imagine what we might learn from Shaikh Mohammed. I mean, he apparently had a big case of records with him when he was arrested, and you might imagine that investigators are going through those records right now.

BASH: Absolutely, I mean, there's no question. And you heard some of the folks on the talk shows yesterday, and of course our own reporting at CNN, saying that these hours, as we speak, are really critical, not only for going through what they may or may not have found when they arrested him, but also for going after some of the other top officials.

And you know, the other thing I wanted to tell you, Carol, which is interesting, is that it's kind of known that the president keeps a list in his drawer in the Oval Office of the top -- the terrorists on the FBI watch list. And so, you can imagine -- you can only imagine what the president is going to feel like when he takes that list out and he gets to cross out this top guy, this big fish, even this whale -- that's what they're calling him at the White House -- they get to cross out his name.

COSTELLO: Oh, definitely. Definitely so, and maybe it will lead to the biggest fish of all, which would be, of course, Osama bin Laden. We'll just have to see.

Dana Bash, thanks for waking up early with DAYBREAK.

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