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CNN Live At Daybreak
International Wrap: Alleged Missile Smuggler Dealer in Court Today
Aired August 13, 2003 - 06:36 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: Now more on that alleged plot to get a shoulder-fired missile into the United States. Our senior international editor, David Clinch, is joining us.
And Diana Muriel was saying that this guy was really a shady character. He sort of flew under the radar.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes.
COSTELLO: Don't know much about him.
CLINCH: Right.
COSTELLO: So, how do you find out?
CLINCH: Well, this is a fascinating story, a scary story, but there are also some good aspects to the story, if you want to hear them.
A scary story aspect of the story to me is that this is a fellow who may or may not have been an international weapons smuggler, but just the idea that there are people out there who will do this kind of thing for money. He doesn't appear to have been particularly militant. He may have supported al Qaeda in some form or another. But he's the kind of person of whom there are presumably hundreds, if not thousands, out there in the world ready to buy weapons and sell them to whoever wants them for whatever price is on offer. And that's the frightening aspect.
We have to remember, this was not a real missile, or at least not a missile that could be used by militants. It was all part of the sting. He didn't know that. He didn't know that he wasn't selling to a militant group.
The point is that he thought he was. He thought it was a real missile available from Russia, bought from Russia. He thought he was selling...
COSTELLO: And you wonder how many real missiles are out there waiting to be sold.
CLINCH: Absolutely. Absolutely. And then that's what brings us to the positive aspect of this story. The Cold War is over. You could dub this the "hot war" now -- Russia and the United States on the same side working together to prevent this kind of thing from happening. Now, this, again, was a sting. It makes it look easy in some ways. They knew from the start. They followed them all the way. They have him.
What is more interesting in the aspect of this story that, again, is a little bit frightening, is how many more types of these people are there out there. But at least...
COSTELLO: And Jill Dougherty said that there are many of these kinds of missiles around Russia out there...
CLINCH: Absolutely. Now, there...
COSTELLO: ... waiting to be had.
CLINCH: There are. There is one thing we need to be cautious about. The older versions of these are pretty useless. They are. They're readily available, but they're pretty useless. Anybody can have them and use them. You need to be standing right beside a plane to use them.
What's scary about these newer versions, including the one he thought he was buying -- SA-18 -- is that they're incredibly more accurate than the older versions and could bring down a commercial airliner. But...
COSTELLO: And they're small. You can fit them in a golf bag.
CLINCH: True. But they require some pretty serious training. And some of our experts are telling us that just having one of these wouldn't get you anywhere. You would need to know how to use it. The more sophisticated aspect of these newer versions means that you need better training.
So, it's scary, but, you know, these things will eventually get into the hands of militants or of terrorists. That's probably without doubt. The question of whether they'll be able to use them effectively against commercial airlines remains to be seen.
It's frightening. But, again, the positive aspect of Russia, the United States, Britain and others working together will be...
COSTELLO: Yes, and all of those investigators were here to witness this guy's arrest.
CLINCH: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: Yes.
CLINCH: And a great success, but it does point out that this is out there and that people are prepared to do it, and that's frightening. For anyone traveling on a plane, that's frightening.
COSTELLO: Yes, just to make a buck. David Clinch, many thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Court Today>
Aired August 13, 2003 - 06:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now more on that alleged plot to get a shoulder-fired missile into the United States. Our senior international editor, David Clinch, is joining us.
And Diana Muriel was saying that this guy was really a shady character. He sort of flew under the radar.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes.
COSTELLO: Don't know much about him.
CLINCH: Right.
COSTELLO: So, how do you find out?
CLINCH: Well, this is a fascinating story, a scary story, but there are also some good aspects to the story, if you want to hear them.
A scary story aspect of the story to me is that this is a fellow who may or may not have been an international weapons smuggler, but just the idea that there are people out there who will do this kind of thing for money. He doesn't appear to have been particularly militant. He may have supported al Qaeda in some form or another. But he's the kind of person of whom there are presumably hundreds, if not thousands, out there in the world ready to buy weapons and sell them to whoever wants them for whatever price is on offer. And that's the frightening aspect.
We have to remember, this was not a real missile, or at least not a missile that could be used by militants. It was all part of the sting. He didn't know that. He didn't know that he wasn't selling to a militant group.
The point is that he thought he was. He thought it was a real missile available from Russia, bought from Russia. He thought he was selling...
COSTELLO: And you wonder how many real missiles are out there waiting to be sold.
CLINCH: Absolutely. Absolutely. And then that's what brings us to the positive aspect of this story. The Cold War is over. You could dub this the "hot war" now -- Russia and the United States on the same side working together to prevent this kind of thing from happening. Now, this, again, was a sting. It makes it look easy in some ways. They knew from the start. They followed them all the way. They have him.
What is more interesting in the aspect of this story that, again, is a little bit frightening, is how many more types of these people are there out there. But at least...
COSTELLO: And Jill Dougherty said that there are many of these kinds of missiles around Russia out there...
CLINCH: Absolutely. Now, there...
COSTELLO: ... waiting to be had.
CLINCH: There are. There is one thing we need to be cautious about. The older versions of these are pretty useless. They are. They're readily available, but they're pretty useless. Anybody can have them and use them. You need to be standing right beside a plane to use them.
What's scary about these newer versions, including the one he thought he was buying -- SA-18 -- is that they're incredibly more accurate than the older versions and could bring down a commercial airliner. But...
COSTELLO: And they're small. You can fit them in a golf bag.
CLINCH: True. But they require some pretty serious training. And some of our experts are telling us that just having one of these wouldn't get you anywhere. You would need to know how to use it. The more sophisticated aspect of these newer versions means that you need better training.
So, it's scary, but, you know, these things will eventually get into the hands of militants or of terrorists. That's probably without doubt. The question of whether they'll be able to use them effectively against commercial airlines remains to be seen.
It's frightening. But, again, the positive aspect of Russia, the United States, Britain and others working together will be...
COSTELLO: Yes, and all of those investigators were here to witness this guy's arrest.
CLINCH: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: Yes.
CLINCH: And a great success, but it does point out that this is out there and that people are prepared to do it, and that's frightening. For anyone traveling on a plane, that's frightening.
COSTELLO: Yes, just to make a buck. David Clinch, many thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Court Today>
