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American Morning

New Al Qaeda Tape

Aired December 05, 2003 - 07:10   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: More on the latest videotape to emerge from al Qaeda. It appears to be a tribute to a fallen jihad fighter that also aims to attract recruits. Another part of the video shows the September 11 World Trade Center attacks. Sources say it was taped from an angle that had not seen before.
For more, we're joined here in New York by national security correspondent, David Ensor.

David -- nice to have you here in the studio. Appreciate that.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Nice to be here.

O'BRIEN: Look at this tape. What's your take on that?

ENSOR: Well, as you say, there are three things that are notable. First of all, it is a tape that is dedicated to a particular martyr, as they called him, this Abdul Otiya (ph), the guy who died apparently in an attack by the Saudi authorities on a stronghold. This is him giving his martyrdom message, and there's that emphasis it's obviously part of a recruiting effort to put this out on the Web.

The tape is about 20 minutes long. A lot of the tape is training video of the sort we've seen before, and you see a sort of a SWAT team, an assault team, and rather well-armed, practicing attacking a facility. And this is the kind of approach that al Qaeda has used in some of its attacks, particularly in Saudi Arabia, to break down the security, and then get a car bomb into a compound, for example. These are the sort of techniques they've used.

The tape claims that this was all videotaped in Saudi Arabia. So, the authorities in the kingdom will obviously have to be concerned by what they're seeing.

What may be the most notable thing, though, for Americans is to see a different angle than most of us have ever seen before...

O'BRIEN: It's pretty eerie.

ENSOR: ... on this attack on September 11, 2001. It is kind of eerie, isn't it, to see it from that angle under the bridge?

Most people have not seen this angle before. So, one wonders how did they get it?

Now, I'm told that the FBI has this particular -- the tape of that angle and got it from a friendly bystander. So, it's not as if it was one of the al Qaeda people filming it. But still, how did they get it? That's the question, because the tape has not been out in the public before.

O'BRIEN: Is this tape indicative or linked to any sort of current terror warning that might be eminent?

ENSOR: Well, as you know, there are warnings that there is intelligence suggesting that al Qaeda right now would like to make some sort of an attack. But, no, my understanding is it's not connected to these tapes at all.

And on the question of the warnings, while there are warnings and they are saying that it looks like some of the al Qaeda personnel would love to try to successfully attack the U.S. or an American target in the Christmas period, officials do point out that around almost every holiday, whether it's Muslim or Christian or the anniversary of 9/11, there is increasing chatter amongst the terrorists about their desire to make a strike.

And generally speaking, officials say, al Qaeda strikes when it's ready. It doesn't on the whole mark anniversaries, although the chatter goes up when the anniversaries come around.

O'BRIEN: National security correspondent David Ensor this morning. Nice to have you. Thanks a lot for joining us.

ENSOR: 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 December 5, 2003 - 07:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: More on the latest videotape to emerge from al Qaeda. It appears to be a tribute to a fallen jihad fighter that also aims to attract recruits. Another part of the video shows the September 11 World Trade Center attacks. Sources say it was taped from an angle that had not seen before.
For more, we're joined here in New York by national security correspondent, David Ensor.

David -- nice to have you here in the studio. Appreciate that.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Nice to be here.

O'BRIEN: Look at this tape. What's your take on that?

ENSOR: Well, as you say, there are three things that are notable. First of all, it is a tape that is dedicated to a particular martyr, as they called him, this Abdul Otiya (ph), the guy who died apparently in an attack by the Saudi authorities on a stronghold. This is him giving his martyrdom message, and there's that emphasis it's obviously part of a recruiting effort to put this out on the Web.

The tape is about 20 minutes long. A lot of the tape is training video of the sort we've seen before, and you see a sort of a SWAT team, an assault team, and rather well-armed, practicing attacking a facility. And this is the kind of approach that al Qaeda has used in some of its attacks, particularly in Saudi Arabia, to break down the security, and then get a car bomb into a compound, for example. These are the sort of techniques they've used.

The tape claims that this was all videotaped in Saudi Arabia. So, the authorities in the kingdom will obviously have to be concerned by what they're seeing.

What may be the most notable thing, though, for Americans is to see a different angle than most of us have ever seen before...

O'BRIEN: It's pretty eerie.

ENSOR: ... on this attack on September 11, 2001. It is kind of eerie, isn't it, to see it from that angle under the bridge?

Most people have not seen this angle before. So, one wonders how did they get it?

Now, I'm told that the FBI has this particular -- the tape of that angle and got it from a friendly bystander. So, it's not as if it was one of the al Qaeda people filming it. But still, how did they get it? That's the question, because the tape has not been out in the public before.

O'BRIEN: Is this tape indicative or linked to any sort of current terror warning that might be eminent?

ENSOR: Well, as you know, there are warnings that there is intelligence suggesting that al Qaeda right now would like to make some sort of an attack. But, no, my understanding is it's not connected to these tapes at all.

And on the question of the warnings, while there are warnings and they are saying that it looks like some of the al Qaeda personnel would love to try to successfully attack the U.S. or an American target in the Christmas period, officials do point out that around almost every holiday, whether it's Muslim or Christian or the anniversary of 9/11, there is increasing chatter amongst the terrorists about their desire to make a strike.

And generally speaking, officials say, al Qaeda strikes when it's ready. It doesn't on the whole mark anniversaries, although the chatter goes up when the anniversaries come around.

O'BRIEN: National security correspondent David Ensor this morning. Nice to have you. Thanks a lot for joining us.

ENSOR: 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.