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Victory in War on Terror
Aired March 03, 2003 - 10:34 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to hear some more right now on the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. U.S. officials say that the arrest of Al Qaeda's operations chief is one of the biggest victories yet in the war on terror.
Our national correspondent Mike Boettcher is following this story for us now from Amman, Jordan. Let's go to him now and get the very latest.
Mike, hello.
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, how you doing, here from Amman, Jordan, very cold, and chilly and rainy here tonight.
You know, this a huge thing in the war against terrorism. Osama bin Laden may be the chairman of Al Qaeda, but Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the chief operating officer. Inside his head is the rolodex of Al Qaeda cells throughout the world.
He was responsible for organizing cells from Asia all of the way to North America. The question is, what is happening to those cells now? Now, counterterrorism officials I've spoken to today tell me that probably those cells are on the move, or trying to hide themselves, because they believe that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed might give away their positions.
Now, in the past, interrogations of Al Qaeda prisoners, especially high-ranking ones, have gone very slowly. First, they give information that is not valuable, I am told, but later on, over a period weeks and sometimes months, they do provide information. But the question is, do U.S. officials and other coalition intelligence officials have weeks and months? We know from our sources that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was focusing on North America in the last few months, and they believe he was planning attacks there.
The question is, will U.S. officials interrogating him be able to get that information before those attacks actually occur -- Leon?
HARRIS: Mike, the other question that also comes to mind right now, is what exactly does this mean to the organization of Al Qaeda? Is it clear yet exactly how crippling this might be?
BOETTCHER: Well, it's not a back breaker, but it's it's close to it. It's a big pain in the back actually for them, Leon.
Again, as I said, if you're a sleeper cell, imagine you're out there, ant guy you've been communicating with -- and I'm told from interrogation reports provided by coalition intelligence agencies, that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was always on the phone with cells all around the world. Let's say you are in contact with him and he's caught, you don't know what he's going to do, so it's going to completely disrupt your plans.
What it does, Leon, also it leaves only two really top lieutenants of Al Qaeda left out there. One is Abu Massaba Zarkawi (ph), who Secretary of State Colin Powell mentioned in his address to the U.N. as a connection between Iraq, and also Saef Al-Adel (ph). He is a former Egyptian army officer who is head of security for Al Qaeda. Those are two very important figures. And right now, three others are gone, and it really cripples the top organizational structure of Al Qaeda -- Leon.
HARRIS: Interesting. Very interesting. This could be potentially very good news in the war on terror.
Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it. Good job reporting on that.
Mike Boettcher, reporting live for us from Amman, Jordan.
BOETTCHER: You're welcome.
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 - 10:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to hear some more right now on the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. U.S. officials say that the arrest of Al Qaeda's operations chief is one of the biggest victories yet in the war on terror.
Our national correspondent Mike Boettcher is following this story for us now from Amman, Jordan. Let's go to him now and get the very latest.
Mike, hello.
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, how you doing, here from Amman, Jordan, very cold, and chilly and rainy here tonight.
You know, this a huge thing in the war against terrorism. Osama bin Laden may be the chairman of Al Qaeda, but Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the chief operating officer. Inside his head is the rolodex of Al Qaeda cells throughout the world.
He was responsible for organizing cells from Asia all of the way to North America. The question is, what is happening to those cells now? Now, counterterrorism officials I've spoken to today tell me that probably those cells are on the move, or trying to hide themselves, because they believe that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed might give away their positions.
Now, in the past, interrogations of Al Qaeda prisoners, especially high-ranking ones, have gone very slowly. First, they give information that is not valuable, I am told, but later on, over a period weeks and sometimes months, they do provide information. But the question is, do U.S. officials and other coalition intelligence officials have weeks and months? We know from our sources that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was focusing on North America in the last few months, and they believe he was planning attacks there.
The question is, will U.S. officials interrogating him be able to get that information before those attacks actually occur -- Leon?
HARRIS: Mike, the other question that also comes to mind right now, is what exactly does this mean to the organization of Al Qaeda? Is it clear yet exactly how crippling this might be?
BOETTCHER: Well, it's not a back breaker, but it's it's close to it. It's a big pain in the back actually for them, Leon.
Again, as I said, if you're a sleeper cell, imagine you're out there, ant guy you've been communicating with -- and I'm told from interrogation reports provided by coalition intelligence agencies, that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was always on the phone with cells all around the world. Let's say you are in contact with him and he's caught, you don't know what he's going to do, so it's going to completely disrupt your plans.
What it does, Leon, also it leaves only two really top lieutenants of Al Qaeda left out there. One is Abu Massaba Zarkawi (ph), who Secretary of State Colin Powell mentioned in his address to the U.N. as a connection between Iraq, and also Saef Al-Adel (ph). He is a former Egyptian army officer who is head of security for Al Qaeda. Those are two very important figures. And right now, three others are gone, and it really cripples the top organizational structure of Al Qaeda -- Leon.
HARRIS: Interesting. Very interesting. This could be potentially very good news in the war on terror.
Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it. Good job reporting on that.
Mike Boettcher, reporting live for us from Amman, Jordan.
BOETTCHER: You're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
