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CNN Live At Daybreak
Is There Connection Between Al Qaeda Leader and Saddam Hussein?
Aired March 12, 2003 - 05:38 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to our Eye On bin- Laden series, is there a connection between the al Qaeda leader and Saddam Hussein? The Bush administration would like you to think so. But depending on where in the world you watch television, you may have a different opinion.
Here's CNN's Bruce Morton.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Does Saddam Hussein provide assistance to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda? A lot of Americans think so.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no doubt about it. They're an axis of evil and that they are projecting a lot of evil circumstances.
MORTON: It's a case the administration has tried very hard to make.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: These al Qaeda affiliates based in Baghdad now coordinate the movement of people, money and supplies into and throughout Iraq for his network.
GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: Iraq has in the past provided training in document forgery and bomb making to al Qaeda.
MORTON (on camera): The trouble is that's about as good as the case gets. Evidence some al Qaeda types may be operating out of Iraq, but there's evidence they may be operating out of Pakistan and Yemen, too.
(voice-over): The bottom line, there is evidence of a connection between al Qaeda and Iraq, but there is not a smoking gun. Analyst Paul Krugman thinks TV network's news coverage of all this may have helped sell the idea of a connection.
PAUL KRUGMAN, "NEW YORK TIMES" COLUMNIST: Suddenly it was, you know, it's Osama, Osama, Osama, Saddam, Saddam, Saddam and the networks, the broadcast media simply picked that up, transferred our feelings of alarm and anger from one villain to another villain.
MORTON: A CNN/"Time" poll last month asked, "Does Saddam Hussein provide assistance to al Qaeda?" And 76 percent of those polled answered yes. A February 6 poll asked, "Was Saddam Hussein personally involved in the 9/11 attacks?" UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And may god bless America.
MORTON: A claim the administration has never made and for which there is no evidence. And 72 percent said that was either very or somewhat likely.
HOWARD KURTZ, CNN "RELIABLE SOURCES": I think the administration has used the media very successfully to try to make the case against Saddam as the chief evildoer of the moment. But I still think there's an awful lot of uneasiness in America over this war.
MORTON: Krugman thinks the cable news networks have helped make Iraq the new enemy.
KRUGMAN: They've used essentially the kind of logos, martial music and so on, that we saw after Gulf War I had started. So from the point of view of the American public, Iraq is already the enemy, we're already at war.
MORTON: The administration doesn't dominate the news in Europe the way it does here. Most Americans watching American TV news coverage have accepted Saddam as the new enemy. Most Europeans watching their news media have not. The size and fervor of the anti- war demonstrations there may have startled Americans, but perhaps Europe was watching an Iraq not connected to Osama.
Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And you can see the next part in our Eye On bin Laden series later today on AMERICAN MORNING. CNN's Mike Boettcher looks at what the U.S. is doing to capture supreme Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Hussein?>
Aired March 12, 2003 - 05:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to our Eye On bin- Laden series, is there a connection between the al Qaeda leader and Saddam Hussein? The Bush administration would like you to think so. But depending on where in the world you watch television, you may have a different opinion.
Here's CNN's Bruce Morton.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Does Saddam Hussein provide assistance to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda? A lot of Americans think so.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no doubt about it. They're an axis of evil and that they are projecting a lot of evil circumstances.
MORTON: It's a case the administration has tried very hard to make.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: These al Qaeda affiliates based in Baghdad now coordinate the movement of people, money and supplies into and throughout Iraq for his network.
GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: Iraq has in the past provided training in document forgery and bomb making to al Qaeda.
MORTON (on camera): The trouble is that's about as good as the case gets. Evidence some al Qaeda types may be operating out of Iraq, but there's evidence they may be operating out of Pakistan and Yemen, too.
(voice-over): The bottom line, there is evidence of a connection between al Qaeda and Iraq, but there is not a smoking gun. Analyst Paul Krugman thinks TV network's news coverage of all this may have helped sell the idea of a connection.
PAUL KRUGMAN, "NEW YORK TIMES" COLUMNIST: Suddenly it was, you know, it's Osama, Osama, Osama, Saddam, Saddam, Saddam and the networks, the broadcast media simply picked that up, transferred our feelings of alarm and anger from one villain to another villain.
MORTON: A CNN/"Time" poll last month asked, "Does Saddam Hussein provide assistance to al Qaeda?" And 76 percent of those polled answered yes. A February 6 poll asked, "Was Saddam Hussein personally involved in the 9/11 attacks?" UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And may god bless America.
MORTON: A claim the administration has never made and for which there is no evidence. And 72 percent said that was either very or somewhat likely.
HOWARD KURTZ, CNN "RELIABLE SOURCES": I think the administration has used the media very successfully to try to make the case against Saddam as the chief evildoer of the moment. But I still think there's an awful lot of uneasiness in America over this war.
MORTON: Krugman thinks the cable news networks have helped make Iraq the new enemy.
KRUGMAN: They've used essentially the kind of logos, martial music and so on, that we saw after Gulf War I had started. So from the point of view of the American public, Iraq is already the enemy, we're already at war.
MORTON: The administration doesn't dominate the news in Europe the way it does here. Most Americans watching American TV news coverage have accepted Saddam as the new enemy. Most Europeans watching their news media have not. The size and fervor of the anti- war demonstrations there may have startled Americans, but perhaps Europe was watching an Iraq not connected to Osama.
Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And you can see the next part in our Eye On bin Laden series later today on AMERICAN MORNING. CNN's Mike Boettcher looks at what the U.S. is doing to capture supreme Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Hussein?>
