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American Morning

Hunt for Bin Laden

Aired January 30, 2004 - 09:10   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: The U.S. military is planning an offensive in Afghanistan this spring. One of its goals, catch Al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, and a coalition spokesman made this promise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. BRIAN HILFERTY, COALITION SPOKESMAN: I can say that Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar and Hechmat Char (ph) represent a threat to the world, and they need to be destroyed, and we believe we will catch them in the next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: That intention has been stepped up, with one military source saying that the U.S. is, quote, "sure," it will catch Osama bin Laden within the next few months. So why the sudden optimism?

Retired Brigadier General David Grange joins us this morning from Chicago.

Nice to see you, general. Thanks for being with us.

Explain this optimism to me, because I find it a little bit baffling. Is there anything that you know of that backs it up?

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, I think it's very dangerous to say for sure you're going to accomplish any type of mission, especially when it relies so heavily on intelligence, actionable intelligence, in this part of the world.

But I think the optimism comes from increased interaction between the coalition forces in Afghanistan and the local tribesmen that are on the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Better relations have been established. They're getting more human-level intelligence, low-level intelligence for the operation. And I think that the capture of Saddam Hussein motivated people that this, in fact, can be done.

O'BRIEN: When they give this one-year timeline, in essence are they saying that they're very close? Is that sort of a clue that they're even closer than that?

GRANGE: Well, maybe. They may have better intelligence than they have in the past. But again, I think it's a very dangerous thing to say. It's like saying I'm going to cross the Salve (ph) River into Bosnia on a certain day no matter what, and then the weather, or land mines or other conditions prohibit you from doing that, and it seems like you failed your mission. It's all, you know, in combat, these kind of operations, the unknown, is so paramount, that you just -- it's a thinking enemy. They have a vote in the operation. It's just very hard to say that. But I think they have a good chance to do that, and I do believe they're going to get the guy.

O'BRIEN: Eleven thousands troops in Afghanistan right now. Many people have said that is far too few when you consider just how difficult that terrain is. What do you think?

GRANGE: Well, keep in mind where they're operating. The NATO forces are pretty much only in Kabul and a few other areas outside of that, and the U.S. forces are on the eastern border and the southeast and northeastern borders between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that's really the only place that the forces are operating. The rest of it is really under the control of the warlords. So the focus is on that area. That's the area where the remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda are hanging out, where they're operating back and forth across the border. So there may be enough for that. But again, it's the second priority compared to Iraq.

And I believe that maybe it needs to be enhanced somewhat if, in fact, they're going to get this guy and keep this insurgency down within the next year.

O'BRIEN: They talk about a spring offense. They're going to wait until after the winter thaw. What exactly do you think it would entail?

GRANGE: Well, the spring offensive is just the ability to fly, to move, get through mountain passes and that, because of the weather and terrain conditions. But I think that the U.S. forces have some winter operations on going right now to take advantage of when a lot of the enemy forces like to lay low, more or less hibernate during the cold weather. So the spring is when everybody historically has fought each other. So you keep the pressure on now, keep them tired, keep them on the run, and you hit them really hard with a very aggressive, large-scale operation in the spring.

O'BRIEN: Brigadier General David grange for us this morning. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us.

GRANGE: 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 January 30, 2004 - 09:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. military is planning an offensive in Afghanistan this spring. One of its goals, catch Al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, and a coalition spokesman made this promise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. BRIAN HILFERTY, COALITION SPOKESMAN: I can say that Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar and Hechmat Char (ph) represent a threat to the world, and they need to be destroyed, and we believe we will catch them in the next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: That intention has been stepped up, with one military source saying that the U.S. is, quote, "sure," it will catch Osama bin Laden within the next few months. So why the sudden optimism?

Retired Brigadier General David Grange joins us this morning from Chicago.

Nice to see you, general. Thanks for being with us.

Explain this optimism to me, because I find it a little bit baffling. Is there anything that you know of that backs it up?

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, I think it's very dangerous to say for sure you're going to accomplish any type of mission, especially when it relies so heavily on intelligence, actionable intelligence, in this part of the world.

But I think the optimism comes from increased interaction between the coalition forces in Afghanistan and the local tribesmen that are on the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Better relations have been established. They're getting more human-level intelligence, low-level intelligence for the operation. And I think that the capture of Saddam Hussein motivated people that this, in fact, can be done.

O'BRIEN: When they give this one-year timeline, in essence are they saying that they're very close? Is that sort of a clue that they're even closer than that?

GRANGE: Well, maybe. They may have better intelligence than they have in the past. But again, I think it's a very dangerous thing to say. It's like saying I'm going to cross the Salve (ph) River into Bosnia on a certain day no matter what, and then the weather, or land mines or other conditions prohibit you from doing that, and it seems like you failed your mission. It's all, you know, in combat, these kind of operations, the unknown, is so paramount, that you just -- it's a thinking enemy. They have a vote in the operation. It's just very hard to say that. But I think they have a good chance to do that, and I do believe they're going to get the guy.

O'BRIEN: Eleven thousands troops in Afghanistan right now. Many people have said that is far too few when you consider just how difficult that terrain is. What do you think?

GRANGE: Well, keep in mind where they're operating. The NATO forces are pretty much only in Kabul and a few other areas outside of that, and the U.S. forces are on the eastern border and the southeast and northeastern borders between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that's really the only place that the forces are operating. The rest of it is really under the control of the warlords. So the focus is on that area. That's the area where the remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda are hanging out, where they're operating back and forth across the border. So there may be enough for that. But again, it's the second priority compared to Iraq.

And I believe that maybe it needs to be enhanced somewhat if, in fact, they're going to get this guy and keep this insurgency down within the next year.

O'BRIEN: They talk about a spring offense. They're going to wait until after the winter thaw. What exactly do you think it would entail?

GRANGE: Well, the spring offensive is just the ability to fly, to move, get through mountain passes and that, because of the weather and terrain conditions. But I think that the U.S. forces have some winter operations on going right now to take advantage of when a lot of the enemy forces like to lay low, more or less hibernate during the cold weather. So the spring is when everybody historically has fought each other. So you keep the pressure on now, keep them tired, keep them on the run, and you hit them really hard with a very aggressive, large-scale operation in the spring.

O'BRIEN: Brigadier General David grange for us this morning. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us.

GRANGE: 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