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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Mamoun Fandy

Aired July 13, 2003 - 11:16   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: Did U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies miss a series of signals that could have helped stop the September 11 attacks? That's a question some senators have been trying to answer for a while now in a series of closed-door hearings.
Mamoun Fandy is a professor of politics at Georgetown University in Washington who also testified recently, and joins us now from Washington. Good to see you, Mamoun.

MAMOUN FANDY, PROFESSOR OF POLITICS, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Good to see you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, this was a hearing, or series of hearings not to answer all the questions, but to perhaps flesh out a few. What were some of the highlights during your participation this past week?

FANDY: Well, I think the main issues are the issues concerning the policy before September 11. What did the United States do and didn't do in Afghanistan after the Cold War. What did they do with the evidence that they knew from the relationship between Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of September 11, as well as other actors like Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, who was in the Philippines, the brother-in-law of Osama Bin Laden.

There were tremendous failures in picking up basic things. Like, for example, the United States intelligence did not know the name of al Qaeda until 1996, when it was formed in 1998. So there are basic things that were not known about this terrorist organization and how it's being embedded in larger Islamic groups throughout the Muslim world. So these are the main issues.

WHITFIELD: Well, in this bipartisan committee, everyone is in agreement that mistakes were made. Were there any continued finger- pointings during this process?

FANDY: I think there is a great deal of finger-pointing. Of course, the lack of cooperation on the issue of information, the administration's not forthcoming, other intelligence agencies are not forthcoming about what they knew, and whether they acted or did not act on certain issues. So that's really the main issue right now, is that the administration is not giving us certain basic records to this commission.

WHITFIELD: Well, did you get a sense from these hearings that perhaps there is better cooperation post-9/11 of the various law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies between CIA, FBI, Secret Service, et cetera?

FANDY: I think there is better cooperation after September 11. I think since September 11 you can say, yes, there is a great deal of cooperation that's taking place. But I think there is basic elementary training that's needed about even speaking the languages of these organizations, and all of that. So there is cooperation, but also there is no technical training, and there is no ability to gather information and cooperate with other intelligence agencies, as well.

WHITFIELD: So what's next?

FANDY: I think next is really how to think about what is the main policy, practically? I think people have to move beyond September 11 and look at the current policy on terrorism, and whether it is broken and needs to be fixed. And all signs suggest that, yes, there is a great deal of areas where certain changes need to be introduced. Namely on intelligence-gathering, as well as in cooperating with other nations in the world, especially in Europe, where most of these organizations were incubating in Germany, and in France, and other places.

WHITFIELD: All right, Professor Mamoun Fandy of Georgetown University, thanks very much. Always good to see you.

FANDY: Thank you.

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 July 13, 2003 - 11:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Did U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies miss a series of signals that could have helped stop the September 11 attacks? That's a question some senators have been trying to answer for a while now in a series of closed-door hearings.
Mamoun Fandy is a professor of politics at Georgetown University in Washington who also testified recently, and joins us now from Washington. Good to see you, Mamoun.

MAMOUN FANDY, PROFESSOR OF POLITICS, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Good to see you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, this was a hearing, or series of hearings not to answer all the questions, but to perhaps flesh out a few. What were some of the highlights during your participation this past week?

FANDY: Well, I think the main issues are the issues concerning the policy before September 11. What did the United States do and didn't do in Afghanistan after the Cold War. What did they do with the evidence that they knew from the relationship between Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of September 11, as well as other actors like Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, who was in the Philippines, the brother-in-law of Osama Bin Laden.

There were tremendous failures in picking up basic things. Like, for example, the United States intelligence did not know the name of al Qaeda until 1996, when it was formed in 1998. So there are basic things that were not known about this terrorist organization and how it's being embedded in larger Islamic groups throughout the Muslim world. So these are the main issues.

WHITFIELD: Well, in this bipartisan committee, everyone is in agreement that mistakes were made. Were there any continued finger- pointings during this process?

FANDY: I think there is a great deal of finger-pointing. Of course, the lack of cooperation on the issue of information, the administration's not forthcoming, other intelligence agencies are not forthcoming about what they knew, and whether they acted or did not act on certain issues. So that's really the main issue right now, is that the administration is not giving us certain basic records to this commission.

WHITFIELD: Well, did you get a sense from these hearings that perhaps there is better cooperation post-9/11 of the various law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies between CIA, FBI, Secret Service, et cetera?

FANDY: I think there is better cooperation after September 11. I think since September 11 you can say, yes, there is a great deal of cooperation that's taking place. But I think there is basic elementary training that's needed about even speaking the languages of these organizations, and all of that. So there is cooperation, but also there is no technical training, and there is no ability to gather information and cooperate with other intelligence agencies, as well.

WHITFIELD: So what's next?

FANDY: I think next is really how to think about what is the main policy, practically? I think people have to move beyond September 11 and look at the current policy on terrorism, and whether it is broken and needs to be fixed. And all signs suggest that, yes, there is a great deal of areas where certain changes need to be introduced. Namely on intelligence-gathering, as well as in cooperating with other nations in the world, especially in Europe, where most of these organizations were incubating in Germany, and in France, and other places.

WHITFIELD: All right, Professor Mamoun Fandy of Georgetown University, thanks very much. Always good to see you.

FANDY: Thank you.

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