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American Morning
American Journalist Kidnapped in Iraq; What Do We Really Know About Osama Bin Laden?; New You Resolution
Aired January 11, 2006 - 08:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead, more on the story we told you about on Tuesday, an American journalist who has been kidnapped in Iraq. U.S. and Iraqi forces are still searching for Jill Carroll. She's a writer for "The Christian Science Monitor." More on her story now from AMERICAN MORNING's Dan Lothian.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Danger never deterred freelance journalist Jill Carroll from pursuing her dream, covering the war in Iraq.
MATT VATOUR, FRIEND: Any time she started talking about her career in journalism in general, she would talk really fast like her mouth couldn't quite keep up with her brain.
LOTHIAN: Sportswriter Matt Vatour said he noticed her passion in the late '90s, when both were studying journalism at the University of Massachusetts.
VATOUR: She's doing what she always wanted to do.
LOTHIAN: "All I ever wanted to be was a foreign correspondent," she wrote last year in "The American Journalism Review." Carroll considered it the ideal platform to "fulfill the public service role of journalism," despite the risks, which she detailed in the article saying, "several freelance journalists have been kidnapped in Iraq."
That happened to her last Friday in one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhoods while on assignment for "The Christian Science Monitor." Gunmen ambushed her car. Carroll was kidnapped. Her translator was killed. The driver escaped.
(on camera): Officials at "The Christian Science Monitor" would not comment on camera, but in a statement, they called Jill Carroll's work invaluable and they say they are pursuing every avenue to secure her release. Friends in colleagues say Carroll was eager, but cautious. Her dark hair and tan helped her blend in, as did her traditional clothing.
In an e-mail, a close friend, who was her former editor of "The Jordan Times," tells CNN, "I queried her like mad about her precautions. I felt a bit like her brother." She never seemed really worried or never let on that she was, but she did seem to watch out for herself. The tour and others are praying someone else is now watching out for her. VATOUR: I think everybody is just trying to be positive and hopeful and just hope that things turn out OK.
LOTHIAN: That the first American female journalist kidnapped in Iraq is also the first to be released.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: That was Dan Lothian reporting. Let's certainly hope that that's the case, that she is released. Jill Carroll's relatives, who say they're not ready to go public yet, are urging her captors to consider the work she's done to reveal the truth about the war in Iraq and release her -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: What do we really know about Osama bin Laden? Beyond his terror rap sheet and the sketchiest details about his background, we really don't know too much, do we? How did the son of a powerful and wealthy construction magnate turn into the personification of Islamist terror? And how and why did he create Al Qaeda? Well, no one in the West knows better than CNN's Peter Bergen, our terrorism analyst. He is an author, and he's out with a new book called "The Osama Bin Laden I Know."
Peter Bergen, good to have you with us.
You spoke to about 50 people who have had direct contact with him. That, in and of itself, must have been a little bit of a scary assignment. You're dealing with people who, obviously, have contact to some very bad people.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Yes, most of the people I dealt with have sort of rejected Osama bin Laden, even if they were onetime friends or colleagues or whatever, and they, you know, 9/11, most of them basically turned against him as this was against Islam, what was the point?
M. O'BRIEN: So there were some people out there who had this knowledge...
BERGEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: ... who were willing to spill a little bit of information?
BERGEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Give us a sense of what happened with Osama bin Laden. This has been the mystery I think for a lot of us. As you look at this life, clearly 1979, Afghanistan was this pivotal moment, this wealthy guy suddenly takes up the cause of jihad, fighting against the Soviets. And that changed things. What have you been able to figure out about that?
BERGEN: Before the war, you know, he was described as a sort of shy, retiring, monosyllabic multimillionaire. He was doing good work. And you know, stood out only because he was sort of hyper-religious, fasting twice a week, praying seven times a day.
Fighting the Soviets directly after they invaded 1979 changed him. War changes people. War certainly changed him. It turned him into a leader. People didn't think he had many leadership skills before. He also began to think about developing his own military organization.
M. O'BRIEN: So somewhere in the course of that, in the crucible of battle, he found himself, if you will?
BERGEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: As somebody who thrives in that military environment. So the Soviets leave.
BERGEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: And he needs to find a new way to fight this war, because clearly this feeds something -- I'm doing some armchair psychology here, but clearly he felt that need. So this is where Al Qaeda is born, and you actually -- it's very interesting, you actually Take us to the meeting back in August of 1988 where this all comes together. Explain what happened.
BERGEN: In the book, I found the minutes of the meeting were discovered actually in Sarajevo in 2002, and so I was able to put them in the book.
M. O'BRIEN: Sarajevo? That's probably another story how they got there, but...
BERGEN: They were in an Arabic charity. There was a raid on the office, and the Al Qaeda founding minutes, and a number of Bin Laden's correspondence from that is from that time period. Basically he decided that he -- the Soviets are about a withdrawal, might as well set up my own military force. he found it with only a dozen people. They had this conversation, we'll have a particular kind of oath, we'll set up a military base, and we'll start sort of doing jihads around the world.
M. O'BRIEN: So it's as if you were there at the founding of the Mafia or whatever?
BERGEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Including what the oath would be and what the rules would be to be a part of Al Qaeda. And it gives you a little bit of insight into how this all got started, but it took 13 years for Al Qaeda to come to really full fruition in the 9/11 attacks. Were we missing something? How did we miss the 13 years? There were a lot of signals along the way that I don't think the west was plugged into.
BERGEN: Well, no doubt. I mean, rarely have our enemies warned us so often about what they're planning to do. Imagine if in 1937 the Japanese starting saying we're going to attack the United States, how Pearl Harbor would have played out differently. I mean, I produced the first television interview with bin Laden, he told us then, in '97, we're going to attack you, you know, that's the plan at the time. I thought that seemed unlikely. Here he was sitting in a mud hut in Afghanistan. On the other hand, one thing we tended to do is underestimate his seriousness.
M. O'BRIEN: Clearly, we have done that. Now you met him, as you say, in that 1997 interview, and your analysis of him jibes with what you get from the people who you spoke to in this book. He's kind of inscrutable, isn't he?
BERGEN: I didn't have much of a reaction to him, to be honest. I -- he was hard to read. He was very low key, spoke in sort of a whisper. He seemed quite well informed, and rather intelligent, and very serious, not a humorous guy.
M. O'BRIEN: Final thought her, is Osama bin Laden, how big a player is he right now? How important is it that the U.S. get him?
BERGEN: I think psychologically, it would be enormously important to get him. Most Americans agree with that.
M. O'BRIEN: Psychologically, though?
BERGEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Not tactically or strategically?
BERGEN: Well, he keeps releasing videotapes and audio tapes in which he provides broad strategic guidance to the whole jihadist network. We haven't heard from him for a year. I don't know what that means. I anticipate that he will out with a major statement at some point, trying to say that he's still in the game.
M. O'BRIEN: CNN's Peter Bergen, our terrorism analyst. And the book is "The Osama Bin Laden I Know." It is fascinating. It id insights that I have no seen anywhere else. Good luck with the book, and we'll probably see you when that next statement comes out, whenever that happens.
Thank you -- Soledad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MARKET REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, day three of the New You Resolution.
Are you feeling better? Are you?
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: A military family that runs a tight ship, except when it comes to eating, right, and exercise. Dr. Sanjay Gupta's prescription for change for them ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Watch us and you will feel better.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Ask yourself what other program can offer you a new you and deliver 100 percent of the time?
S. O'BRIEN: In eight weeks. In only eight weeks.
M. O'BRIEN: What more do you want, folks?
S. O'BRIEN: AMERICAN MORNING.
M. O'BRIEN: New Year resolutions, three days in, and everybody is feeling better, right? Well, Soledad was not so sure. We get to meet our second power pair. They are a military couple, Pedro and Denise Rampolla.
S. O'BRIEN: They say they run a pretty tight ship at home, with military discipline, except -- and it's a pretty big except -- for their health habits.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on our couple du jour. Good morning.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL ANALYST: Good morning. And the O'Briens just keep getting better and better.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, yes.
GUPTA: The Rampollas, as well. Denise actually wrote in with a new mission in mind, and now that Pedro is back from his Iraq tour, the "New You Resolution" was in mind to shape up their own family.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Make no mistake, the Rampollas run a military household. 5:00 a.m....
PEDRO RAMPOLLA, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: Good morning, boys.
GUPTA: Pedro Rampolla wakes up the boys.
DENISE RAMPOLLA, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: From that point, it's what I call organized chaos.
GUPTA: Breakfast, homework, getting the kids to school.
P. RAMPOLLA: OK, love you. Have a good day.
GUPTA: 8:00 a.m., hours after tending to the demands of family, Pedro and Denise take on the demands of work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One zero niner (INAUDIBLE).
P. RAMPOLLA: Roger.
GUPTA: Pedro controlling air traffic, and Denise counseling families left behind after soldiers deploy.
D. RAMPOLLA: Denise Rampolla calling.
GUPTA: 1:00 p.m., already lunch time. One Rampolla eats fast.
P. RAMPOLLA: Typical fast food. You know, Burger King, McDonald's.
GUPTA: The other? Not at all.
D. RAMPOLLA: I don't often have a lot of time for lunch.
GUPTA: And not a lot of time for dinner, either. Just when you think the day is winding down...
D. RAMPOLLA: We got to get everybody in and out and go and get everybody fed and get their homework done and everything.
GUPTA: Time flies so fast for this military crew, they often favor quick over fresh.
D. RAMPOLLA: You can look in our freezer. We've got your standard frozen pizzas there. Little crab rolls here. Lots of frozen vegetables.
GUPTA: And let's not even talk about exercise. There's simply no time. No wonder these two need a New Year's health prescription, and they're raring to do it, Rampolla-style, together.
P. RAMPOLLA: If we're not both engaged into it, then it's not going to work.
D. RAMPOLLA: We have to work as a team.
GUPTA: Teamwork will be essential to pry into this busy routine and insert healthy habits.
D. RAMPOLLA: We're ready to do this. And we're not going to do it half-heartedly, either. We need to do it for us and we need to do it for our kids. It's time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, she's so serious!
M. O'BRIEN: Not a half-hearted couple!
S. O'BRIEN: Not half-heartedly. Oh my...
M. O'BRIEN: She's tough.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, yes, they're going to be fine.
D. RAMPOLLA: Never do anything half-heartedly.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, now, Pedro, you just got from Iraq, air traffic control. You're home, but another deployment could loom. I know you volunteer for these things. What is it like when he's gone? It must compound the temptation to fill that freezer with those frozen pizzas?
D. RAMPOLLA: That and stopping at McDonald's on the way. There are some evenings where we don't home until 9:00, almost 9:30 some evenings, and that makes it harder for the children with homework. And often times, because of their meetings, whether it be Boy Scouts, various practices, soccer, basketball, it tends to be very hectic.
M. O'BRIEN: I can relate to that, but as a single parent it's really tough.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, and it's just crazy in trying to imagine the schedule of four children. Especially the ages of your kids, between 14 and seven.
D. RAMPOLLA: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: So what do the kids think of this whole revamping process? Because, I mean, are they like, yay, we don't do anything half-heartedly! Or are they taking...
M. O'BRIEN: We want more pizza, Mom.
D. RAMPOLLA: Their lives are going to change a little bit.
P. RAMPOLLA: They're kind of excited about all of the attention this has caused, but they realize that we just got to do it. They understand that eating the fast food is probably not the healthiest thing to do.
D. RAMPOLLA: Really, they do.
P. RAMPOLLA: And so now we just got to come up with new ways and...
S. O'BRIEN: A beautiful segue to the man who's got the new ways!
GUPTA: And then vegetables we talked about already.
D. RAMPOLLA: We knew vegetables, yes.
GUPTA: We've already enlisted the help of your own family doctor, starting our eight-week process. Here's your "New You" prescription.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Verdict for the Rampollas after the doctor's visit?
Blood pressure good, check. Cholesterol OK, check. Heart doing well, check. But one concern...
P. RAMPOLLA: Heart disease. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In who?
P. RAMPOLLA: My mother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, what did she have?
P. RAMPOLLA: She ended up with a triple bypass.
GUPTA: Your doctor's advice to combat heart disease in both your families -- improve that diet.
D. RAMPOLLA: Pizza!
GUPTA: First step before the diet overhaul, keeping a food diary to figure our your food pitfalls. And slow down the furious family activity enough to fit in some exercise. Military discipline will be key to achieving your "New You" goals.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: All right, Rampollas, good luck to you for sure. I think you're going to do very well. We've had 100 percent success over eight weeks.
S. O'BRIEN: No pressure!
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, sir. No pressure this time, in this group. He's going to be tough. I think he'll be tough.
GUPTA: Thursday, we're going to sit down with the twins, a doctor in New York, a lawyer in D.C. They're very competitive and that competitive nature bleeds into their "New You" goals to outdo the other sibling. It's going to be fun. The doctor, maybe I'll even get some tips for myself. So tune in tomorrow for their prescription for a "New You." Of course, you can follow on at CNN.com/newyou.
S. O'BRIEN: I'm excited for them. This is great. And I want to get all the tips and information. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.
Short break. We're back in just a moment. Stay with us, everybody.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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