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Alleged 9/11 Plotters Facing Justice; Obama's Campaign Kickoff; Bin Laden's Secret Letters

Aired May 05, 2012 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight a CNN special report. Osama bin Laden's secrets -- newly released letters give us a glimpse inside the mind of America's most wanted terrorist.

And a CNN exclusive: files hidden in pornographic videos detailing future attacks.

And a very candid interview with billionaire Warren Buffett. He sets the record straight about his health, who to blame when it comes to unemployment and who should be in the White House.

I'm Don Lemon. The news you need to know right now.

(MUSIC)

LEMON: They stand accused of plotting the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans. Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspects facing arraignment today in Guantanamo Bay.

CNN's Chris Lawrence is there for us.

Chris, it seems like these men are doing everything they can just to drag all of this out further.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Don. And the arraignment was just about over and there was another outburst in the courtroom, just literally a few minutes ago. We were watching the court proceedings. Everything seemed to be wrapping up, and then the judge sort of turned to one of the detainees and said, "No, no, no." And the judge said, "Put your shirt back on and sit down or you will be escorted out of the courtroom."

Now, because of the vantage point, we couldn't tell which defendant he was speaking to, but clearly, there was an attempt by one of the defendants to take his shirt off in the courtroom, which the judge quickly put a stop to and moved on -- Don.

LEMON: So, Chris, what about that first outburst during the proceedings? Something like we're all going to die, or something like that?

LAWRENCE: That's right. Up until about halfway through, Don, in the morning, the defendants had been completely silent, ignoring instructions from the judge, really refusing to participate at all. And then at one point, Ramzi bin al-Shibh sort of gestured and shouted out, "This may be the last time you see me." He made some sort of comparison, trying to compare the camp guards at Guantanamo Bay to dead Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, saying that -- seemed to hint that the guards may try to kill the detainees and make it look like suicide.

The judge basically said, this is not the time or the place for that. You're out of order. And he settled back down.

But, yes, two major outbursts during the proceedings today, Don.

LEMON: All right. Chris Lawrence, Guantanamo Bay -- thank you very much, Chris.

The man those Gitmo defendants allegedly worked for, Osama bin Laden, tonight a new look into the twisted, paranoid mind of the al Qaeda leader drawn from clues he left behind at his Pakistan hide-out. A CNN special report in just moments here on CNN.

Let's talk politics now. It is official. The official launch in a political showdown will be tracking all the way to November. President Barack Obama kicking off his reelection campaign officially today with rallies in a pair of battleground states.

And our chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin joins me now.

So, Jessica, it's interesting because people were writing me on social media saying, wait a minute, I thought it happened already. So this is the official kickoff of the campaign. And it's our first look at the president's appeal for a second term, right?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. This is the real launch of the campaign, according to the campaign. Meaning, this was a political rally, and the president made his case for re-election here today, Don. In a nutshell, his argument is that even though the economy is -- the recovery is sluggish, even though there's a sense of anxiety out there, it could have been worse and he's made it better thanks to his policies. This is the president's argument.

And then their motto "forward" is a contest to what he argues the Republican agenda would be, which would be to take the nation backward in their views, to trickle down policies that help the wealthy. That is the case the president will try to make in the coming months. Here's a little bit of what he had to say today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My opponent said it was tragic to end the war in Iraq. He said he won't set a timeline for ending the war in Afghanistan. I have. And intend to keep it. After a decade of war that's cost us thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars, the nation we need to build is our own.

(CHEERS) (END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: All right. Well, that was on Afghanistan. But you can see he's trying to draw a contrast with Mitt Romney there. At one point, Don, he said in reference to a famous Romney line, "Corporations aren't people, people are people." So he's taking it to the opponent now -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Let the games begin, kind of. They really began a long time ago.

That Afghanistan thing, you know, the Republicans are going to say he's spiking the ball, he's politicizing this. So, here we go.

The interesting thing, though, I'm looking behind you and there are folks there taking down the stages. What was the turnout like? The crowds were big, right?

YELLIN: You know, we've all been talking about how to measure this. So in Ohio, it was a 20,000-some-odd -- 18,000 to 20,000 people. They had about 14,000 turnout. So that's a much larger crowd than we've ever seen for Mitt Romney, but he did not fill the stadium.

So compared to expectations and the notion that they thought they could fill that stadium, it wasn't full. But again, bigger than what Romney has done.

And this stadium here, this 8,000-person arena where I am in Virginia was full.

So it's not 2008 where he could fill any size, it seems, but again, big crowds, bigger than his opponent has gotten to date.

LEMON: You just answered. Compared to 2008, a little different.

Thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Go ahead. You can finish, Jess.

YELLIN: My point is, you know, they say it's still early, so we'll see what happens by the time we get closer to November. Both sides, I bet, will be getting big crowds.

LEMON: All right. We will be following. Appreciate it.

In other news, Warren Buffett is talking about how he is dealing with prostate cancer, basically calling it a nonevent. At Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting, he told attendees that he feels terrific. And when the 81-year-old billionaire made his health public last month, rumors swirled about who would take over for him one day.

CNN's Poppy Harlow asked him about which presidential candidate is best for the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?

WARREN BUFFETT, CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC.: I think Barack Obama. He's my choice.

I think the American economy is going to be well in the future, though. I mean, for 200 years, our system has worked. And we haven't lost the secret sauce. We go off the tracks occasionally. Capitalism overshoots. We have bubbles, all that sort of thing.

But in the end, you know, we keep finding ways to unleash more human potential.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. Osama bin Laden wanted America's president dead. Letters from his secret files confirm this and give us a look at the thinking of this country's number one terrorist threat.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Tonight on CNN, we are taking a close look at Osama bin Laden's secrets.

Newly declassified documents reveal a frustrated terror leader who was out of control and found it difficult to fund his operation.

And joining me now is CNN's Nic Robertson. He is in London. And Nic has been poring over documents obtained in the raid on bin Laden's compound last May.

Nic, thank you so much for joining us. This is a pretty extraordinary story here.

What struck you the most as you read through these documents and all of these letters?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a huge insight into bin Laden's mind, but I think what struck me most was what surprised me most. Here is the guy who's the leadership of this most terrible terrorist organization. Yet, he is jealous of some of its rising stars, Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni cleric.

The Yemenis are suggesting to bin Laden that Anwar al-Awlaki, this English-speaking American-Yemeni cleric should be given the leadership of al Qaeda in Yemen. He's so charismatic. But bin Laden says now, wait a minute, we believe that you can be a leader when you've been tested on the battlefield.

That's a huge putdown. It seems bin Laden didn't like this guy stealing some of his thunder, if you will.

LEMON: Even though he was in hiding, he still wanted to be the number one guy. And also, his operation hurt by the impact of counterterrorism drone strikes, correct?

ROBERTSON: Correct. We only have an appreciation because we know some of the key players in al Qaeda's core that had been taken out there in the tribal border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. But we see bin Laden there suggesting even that he needs to get his people out of the training camps in Waziristan, that tribal border region inside Pakistan, move them to safer places. He says that, you know, the United States has essentially control over the skies with the drones, with the satellites.

And he's even suggesting his son Hamza, 20-year-old son Hamza, who's in those training camps in Waziristan, gets himself not to the semi safety of the Afghan mountains, but actually gets himself completely out of the region, to Kata (ph), one of the Gulf states where is it would be safe. But the suggestion, only travel when there's cloud cover.

So we really get an insight here into just how the drone strikes satellite surveillance is impacting right there at the core of al Qaeda.

LEMON: Nic, let's talk about other things, like money, financial struggles. No money flowing in to OBL. Mistrust. Lack of loyalty.

ROBERTSON: All of these things are circulating in there. Isolated CEO trying to run this organization, has got outside pressure from drone strikes, internal problems with his affiliates.

So at one point, he's considering sending one of his really top trusted deputies on a mission to Algeria and Yemen. These are long journeys for top al Qaeda wanted operatives to make just to raise a quarter of a million dollars. That's a dangerous journey to raise what is not a huge sum of money for operations.

So he feels that al Qaeda and Yemen and those in Algeria as well have the money. They're just not sending it to him for what he wants to do -- what he wants to do with it. So he's willing to potentially compromise a senior leader. This is an insight.

Bin Laden, we thought he had a lot of money -- billionaire son, money flowing in from the gulf. Seems not to be so, Don.

LEMON: The more you talk about it, the more fascinating it gets, Nic.

And it seems bin Laden had his eye on the vice president. Why he wanted Joe Biden to be in charge.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Our conversation on the secrets of Osama bin Laden continues right now, and it expands. Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is back with us.

I want to bring in our other guests now. First now to Anthony Lemieux, who is joining me here in Atlanta. He's an investigator at the National Center for the Study of Terrorism.

It's interesting that he wanted the president out of the way because he wanted the vice president in charge. Why would he want Joe Biden in charge instead of Barack Obama?

DR. ANTHONY LEMIEUX, NATIONAL CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF TERRORISM: Well, that was actually a very interesting piece in these letters. And one of the things that I think it highlights is: (a), that these guys are really paying attention to the political scene in the U.S. and they were thinking about what kind of chaos that would wreak. So they don't have a particularly high opinion of the vice president, but they really intended for that to cause massive problems and disruption.

LEMON: And, Bill Roggio, editor of "Long War Journal", the image of al Qaeda is important to Osama bin Laden, are the offshoot organizations, the people running it. That was all important to him, to be in charge, but then to have other organizations that followed him.

BILL ROGGIO, THE LONG WAR JOURNAL: Yes. It's very important for bin Laden, the affiliate strategy for al Qaeda is extremely important for the terror group. It's a way -- it's a redundant command and control structure.

One of the things I disagree with the analysis of the documents, I think what these documents show is that bin Laden -- there's a lot of back and forth, the memo between him and Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. There was a lot of suggestions back and forth that yes, he did disagree with the appointment of Anwar al-Awlaki, but one thing that al Qaeda has wanted s they want their leaders to also have been battlefield leaders. Ibn al-Libi has chastised many terrorists -- or I'm sorry, many of the clerics in the Islamic world for talking about jihad, without waging jihad themselves.

So -- but the affiliates for al Qaeda, I think when you read these documents, you see the importance of the affiliates, and I don't think what you're seeing is that they're disobeying orders. I think what you see is Wuhayshi and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula actually obeyed bin Laden's orders to delay fighting for a year and try and cut a deal with the president of Yemen.

LEMON: Hey, Nic, you've covered this internationally and you also know very well about U.S. politics and there is some question about the timing of the release of these documents, and whether or not they coincide with the presidential campaign season.

ROBERTSON: Well, and they seem to also coincide with the cases that are now under way, beginning in Gitmo. So there's never going to be a perfect time. There's never going to be a time where you cannot claim from one side of the political divide or the other that somebody is taking advantage, et cetera. So there is no perfect -- there can be no perfect time.

However, putting on the record after a year, some of these documents to indicate how al Qaeda has been diminished and the state of al Qaeda -- let's face it -- only 17 of over 6,000 documents have been revealed here. So, we only have at best a partial picture that we can observe from this. So it certainly will -- I think perhaps more in the long run build the case that will support the narrative that al Qaeda core in Afghanistan, Pakistan is significantly diminished and therefore withdrawing large quantity of forces by 2014 from Afghanistan is the correct course of action. I think that's the larger narrative that's being built here and you can argue, of course, that is, to meet political needs as well. So, while it may sort of enter into the political campaign to a degree, I think there's a longer narrative at work here as well, Don.

LEMON: And, Bill, I want to get your response to this, because I talked to Nic earlier about the information found in these documents. Were you surprised by anything? And if you can just quickly tell me, were you surprised by anything that you saw that has been revealed from these documents?

ROGGIO: Actually, one thing did surprise me. The document that -- the letter that bin Laden wrote to the head of Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, that actually confirmed a bit of reporting I did in August of 2010. I reported that there were secret communication where al Qaeda leadership had suggested to Shabaab to keep those links on the down low, and that's exactly what this document showed.

LEMON: Yes.

ROGGIO: So that was sort of satisfying personally.

But, you know, I think, what surprised me was given that the narrative is that al Qaeda's defeated and that's what everyone's analysis -- you know, other than mine, seems to be, I think these documents show quite the opposite. It shows -- when you read these documents, you see the reference in communication after communication with each other. There's names of al Qaeda operatives in there --

LEMON: Right.

ROGGIO: -- who we've never heard of, that we've never seen.

LEMON: Yes.

ROGGIO: And we have the administration saying that we need to kill only two senior al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan and it's over. But what about this whole cadre that's talked about that has never popped up in reporting?

LEMON: And, Tony, same question to you.

LEMIEUX: I think one of things for me that's very interesting with all of this is that there has been a lot of discord. We see that there's discord.

We see that there's kind of disagreement on some particular issues -- and issues of great importance, you know, about how we handle the media, for instance, or why some of the actions we do and the attacks we do are really going in the wrong direction so. So, that was a really insightful aspect. LEMON: And as someone in the media, I thought that was very significant and interesting to me as well.

Tony, thank you.

Bill, thank you very much.

And, of course, Nic Robertson, I really appreciate it. Great reporting, great reporting.

Appreciate it, my entire panel.

In another interesting find, the elaborate plans for future attacks hidden in pornographic videos. This is a CNN exclusive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Osama bin Laden's death wasn't the only setback for al Qaeda last year. CNN's Nic Robertson explains how the arrest of an operative exposed more secrets.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): As U.S. Navy SEALS were preparing to storm the now infamous compound in Pakistan a year ago, two of his recently trained European recruits were sneaking out of the country on a mission to cause carnage. They were headed for Vienna and Berlin.

(on camera): But not long after they returned to Europe, one of them was being questioned at this police station. He was arrested and searched. And hidden in his underwear, police found memory recording device like these.

Buried deep in the devices was a pornographic video and hidden in files inside that were what police believe were more than 100 secret al Qaeda documents.

(voice-over): Documents that included detailed accounts at the planning for some of al Qaeda's biggest attacks, and ideas for future operations, apparently drawn up by some of the terror group's most senior operatives three years ago.

YASSIN MUSHARBASH, DIE ZIET NEWSPAPER: According to the Germany federal criminal police, it must have been written up by the inner core of al Qaeda.

ROBERTSON: Investigative journalist Yassin Musharbash works for German "Di Zeit" Newspaper and was the first to report on the documents.

Among al Qaeda's plans, attacks like the one in Mumbai, India, in 2008 when 10 Pakistani militants armed with automatic weapons on a suicide mission stormed three hotels, killing more than 160 people.

And another plan, the most chilling yet. MUSHARBASH: He said that we could hijack a passenger ship on the sea and then use it to pressure -- to pressurize the public. What he most likely means is that, you know, that they would then start executing passengers on those ships and demand the release of particular prisoners.

ROBERTSON: They would dress passengers in orange jump suits, mimicking al Qaeda prisoners in Gitmo. Executions would be quickly uploaded to an al Qaeda Web site.

Also in the planned document titled "Future Works," to flood Europe with trained terrorists and overwhelm counterterrorism agencies.

MUSHARBASH: The author seems to be convinced that al Qaeda should be pursuing a two-track strategy of low cost, low damage attacks and large-scale attacks.

ROBERTSON (on camera): Like the 9/11.

MUSHARBASH: Yes.

The reason being that if al Qaeda were to pursue only large-scale attacks and those are foiled, then they have nothing.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): And that's where these two men sent back to Europe fit into al Qaeda's planning. Yusuf Ocak, seen here in a militant video threatening Germany -- and 22-year-old Maqsood Lodin, the man found with the memory sticks. German prosecutors allege their job was to recruit a network of suicide attackers.

MUSHARBASH: We do not know what these two young men were actually up to, but there are certain information in those files that would make it plausible to assume that they probably were thinking of the Mumbai-style attack.

ROBERTSON: They are currently on trial in Berlin and have denied being members of a terrorist organization.

Other files hidden deep in that porn video show not only al Qaeda's thinking about the future, but also shed light on the planning of past attacks and elaborate efforts to fool intelligence services.

(on camera): U.S. intelligence sources tell CNN this information is pure gold, but it contains details of some of al Qaeda's most dangerous attacks, including the attack on the London subway seven years ago.

(voice-over): Fifty-two were killed, several hundred injured. The mastermind of that attack: Rashid Rauf, a British member of al Qaeda. In one of the documents found in Berlin he spells out his role in that attack -- as this bomber recorded his martyrdom statement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you have witnessed now is only the beginning. ROBERTSON: Rauf writes he was in the room off camera. He set up a computer and put the scripted statement. Rauf also reveals there was a shortlist of three targets: the Bank of England, the G8 Summit that would be taking place in Scotland, and the London subway. They picked the subway because it required less explosives.

(on camera): Rauf's big takeaway of the success of this team was the time he spent with them helping them memorize codes so they could communicate securely, teaching them counter-surveillance techniques, to switch their phones, how to use email accounts and Internet chats.

He also reveals that two of the bombers were sure they were being watched by British intelligence, because some of their associates had been arrested in connection with another plot. They acted up that life was normal, going to the movies, joking out loud a lot.

(voice-over): A subsequent inquiry in Britain found that the intelligence service, MI5, were aware of the two men and their connections, but didn't think they posed a threat.

Even as London was recovering from that terrible day, Rauf was planning a devastating follow-up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Well, that was a lucky break for Londoners.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: More now on our special report, the secrets of Osama bin Laden. Newly declassified documents now confirm that al Qaeda was in fact responsible for several terror attacks across Europe.

More now from senior international correspondent Nic Robertson's special investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): It was at this Berlin police station that German police stumbled on al Qaeda's crowned jewels: 141 heavily encrypted documents recovered from a man brought in for questioning.

(on camera): It took German intelligence operatives several weeks to crack this super secure password that was hiding the documents. Until now, investigators have found nothing to indicate a specific target or attack is being planned.

(voice-over): But they have learned a lot about how al Qaeda plans, how it learns from its mistakes and how it still poses a global threat, because of operators like Rashid Rauf. He planned the London subway attacks July 7th, 2005 and admits he was responsible for more plots, including the failed mass transit attack two weeks later, July 21.

MUSHARBASH: Looks like a confirmation that al Qaeda was behind the 21/7 plot as well, something which I don't think was that clear before.

ROBERTSON: According to a document written by Rauf, the 7/21 ringleader, Mukhtar Said Ibrahim flew from London's Heathrow Airport to Pakistan in late 2004. British intelligence was suspicious and had asked Pakistani security services to watch him. Even so, he was able to travel to an al Qaeda camp and get explosives training. But Ibrahim and his fellow plotters were unable to detonate their bombs.

(on camera): Rauf blamed it on a communications failure. He said that the 7/7 bombers had had the same problem with their bomb- making, but because they spent more time learning codes and secure communication, he was able to help them sort their problem out. The 7/21 plotters, he said, had not had so much communications training and they lost contact with him. Londoners were lucky.

(voice-over): All the time, Rauf and al Qaeda explosives experts were refining their skills and moving to their next big plot -- to bring down planes using liquid explosives. It's why to this day we are limited to small amounts of liquids on flights.

Rauf recalled that just 400 grams of high explosives had brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland in 1988. And after several trial runs, devised a plan to detonate similar sized bombs of hydrogen peroxide aboard transatlantic flights.

(on camera): His document reveals al Qaeda's technical expertise. They knew which chemicals could pass undetected through an airport scanner, which dyes to use to make the liquid look like soda and not damage the explosives, and how to turn a AA battery into a detonator, all achieved through determined experimentation in Pakistan.

(voice-over): That large plot was eventually broken up after British intelligence began tracking some of those involved. Even so, Rauf wrote that some of the brothers involved were still at-large.

Rauf himself was arrested in Pakistan only to escape before being killed in a drone strike in 2008. U.S. counterterrorism sources say his death was a major blow to al Qaeda. His organizational skills and focus on security sorely missed -- a recurring theme in the Berlin documents. Al Qaeda is under pressure, needs to adapt.

MUSHARBASH: If you read the "Future Works" document, it clearly -- it clearly has -- delivers the notion that al Qaeda knows that they are -- that they are being followed very closely and it explicitly says that the Western security institutions have become very good at finding attacks and that they have to come up with new ways, and better plotting.

ROBERTSON: And that's just what they are trying to do. It may be that the future brings the sort of lone gunmen attacks that recently left seven people dead in France rather than anything complex like 9/11.

No coincidence that a year after these documents were written, European intelligence agencies were scrambling to deal with exactly the sort of plot they outlined, a low cost assault along the lines of the Mumbai attacks.

MUSHARBASH: Would I say the Euro plot is off the table? No. But I believe that the general idea is still alive. And I believe that as soon as al Qaeda believes that they have the capacity to realistically go after that sort of scenario, they will immediately do it.

ROBERTSON: German prosecutors say that Yusuf Ocak and Maqsood Lodin, the pair who came back to Europe last year, may have been intended as the latest wave of attackers, but their names were on a watch list and triggered an alert when they arrived.

(on camera): Lodin and Ocak's trial is expected to last several more weeks. Their case appears to be living proof that the blueprint laid out in the document is still active, the carnage in Europe al Qaeda has not changed its ambitions.

(voice-over): And if it finds another Rashid Rauf, it may yet be able to translate those ambitions into devastating attacks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: We'll discuss this a bit more now with senior international correspondent Nic Robertson.

Nic, I want to focus on al Qaeda's efforts to recruit supporters and sympathizers. Are they having much success with this?

ROBERTSON: They seem to be. Every time they get people into these training camps who go back to Europe, as these two guys in Germany did, they go back with lists of other people to recruit their methods and sophistication to try and cheat intelligence counterterrorism officials using their own sort of counter- surveillance methods, gets more complex. So, this is what they're trying to achieve.

They're not so successful in getting people to these training camps and back home safely, but the ones they are getting back, they're using to recruit other people.

And this Rashid Rauf that we saw here, he wasn't just planning attacks in Europe. He was plotting an attack, an attack that somebody's been taken to court for now in the United States, for targeting the New York subway system. So this was a man who had plots and plans in a lot of parts of the world and al Qaeda is trying to replicate his particular role as well, which in itself would be a very -- would be very threatening if they can get somebody back into his shoes as well, Don.

LEMON: And, Anthony Lemieux is investigator at the National Center for the Study of Terrorism, you're shaking your head. Another question for you -- but you're shaking your head. You're agreeing with what Nic said.

You want to follow up? LEMIEUX: Yes, I think they've had some successes, and I think what the evidence is starting to show is that their successes is becoming more and more mixed, because there's so much more operational pressure. So, there are certainly people who are motivated to go join the cause, but they're having a harder time actually doing that, I think.

LEMON: Well, I think it's interesting that some of the things were just bungled, right? But when they do have success, it's on a large scale and we know what happened with the attacks here and also in Europe. But what's interesting to me is that you talked about -- there's still communication coming out. Even though Osama bin Laden is gone, there's still communication coming out. And just recently, right? Well, two.

LEMIEUX: Yes, two issues, actually. This is from the al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, publishing this English language magazine since 2010.

LEMON: "Inspire".

LEMIEUX: "Inspire", yes. And, you know, it was published with the editorship of Awlaki and Samir Khan (ph), both killed in drone strikes. So, one questions we had was how is this thing --- this magazine going to continue? And so, just this week, two new issues came out and have some kind of articles and guidance. They have a formula with what they do with that.

LEMON: Is there anything in there that breaks ground, or is it just hey, we're still here, are there new tactics?

LEMIEUX: Every issue has some kind of new tactical idea. So, in the latest one, there is how you can start a forest fire. It even talks about rain patterns and what kind of send area devices you would need to optimally start a forest fire. So, every time there is something in there like that.

What I think is interesting about it is bin Laden had a particularly negative opinion of this English language publication, which were in the documents released just this week.

LEMON: Yes, there was -- Anthony, you said there was something about in an SUV, putting razor blades -- almost like a lawn mover, take it into crowds.

LEMIEUX: Right.

LEMON: And Osama bin Laden, according to Anthony, and his reaction was, Nic, whose idea was this? This wasn't my idea. This is not coming from the top.

And basically coming back from the top to what you said, he was sort of a jealous leader and he wanted to call the shots even though he was in hiding, in seclusion.

ROBERTSON: Well, he saw himself as the CEO, that he really wanted to set the direction and agenda. In a way, he's sort of created a Frankenstein that he couldn't control. I mean, that's part of the picture.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al Qaeda leader in Iraq, who grew famous for beheading people, this was something that appeared at one stage to be abhorrent even to bin Laden. There was a letter written sort of essentially telling him to tone it down, and then telling, you know, al Qaeda supporters we need to follow this guy because he was out of control. But the al Qaeda leadership, bin Laden, couldn't do, and Zawahiri, couldn't do anything about it.

And he's gone on to write to other groups in Somalia and Yemen: don't attack tribes because that's what Abu Musab al-Zarqawi did in Iraq, which was his overthrow. We saw the Sunni awakening in Al Anbar province that the Marines were able to help to use to crush al Qaeda in Iraq.

So, he's learning all these strategic lessons, but he wants to make sure they understand.

LEMON: Yes, so much to get in -- so much to get in, Nic. Including this, a word of warning -- Al Qaeda still has a future in the U.S. and the U.S. is still a target.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you come to the class, you know that you have a voice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's going to love you, but at the same time, you're going to have discipline.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Educator Award goes to Shekema Silveri.

STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: What I look at from a demographic perspective, Mount Zion is a largely black and Latino. Some people love their kids and don't get any results. You love your kids in a school that at least in 2009-2010 didn't meet (INAUDIBLE), yet you are a teacher who has been awarded one of the most prestigious awards in education, period.

SHEKEMA SILVERI, TEACHER, MOUNT ZION HIGH SCHOOL: Well, I was one of 1 teachers in the state who had 100 percent pass rate on all of my state standardized testing.

PERRY: But you don't teach like the other teachers teach.

SILVERI: No, I don't.

What do we know about power?

KRISTOFFER CAIN, STUDENT, MOUNT ZION HIGH SCHOOL: She's like, technology can be used for teaching. She said it's on us not to abuse it. DASHON GREEN, STUDENT, MOUNT ZION HIGH SCHOOL: We use things like twitter to get in contact with other students at other schools and we blog every week, and with those blogs, we are able to connect with those all over the world.

SILVERI: This is a bring your own device classroom. Maybe the county would like us to have everything, but we can't afford. So, we do what we can. Almost every student I have has a cell phone.

PERRY: You're teaching them English. AP English --

SILVERI: Using cell phones.

PERRY: -- using cell phones. You're not hamstringed by the limits of cash coming to you or the limits of technology.

People tell me all the time that the kids can't do the work because they don't have access to the technology.

SILVERI: If you look around, dictionaries. These are the only dictionaries I have.

PERRY: These right here.

SILVERI: These right here.

PERRY: You have 26 kids, seven dictionaries.

SILVERI: Right. But we make it work. They have to have the Dictionary.com app downloaded on their phone. That's free. I get them to write more using the blog. And they're engaged in dialogue. It's a life course as well.

Because you're in a title 1 school do you feel that there's an achievement gap between and you your ability to use digital literacy --

I see that my community is hurting. And it's time for everybody to get this type of education and not just the students in 110.

PERRY: You can't do this in 8 1/2 hours.

SILVERI: Nope.

PERRY: You have kids. You have a husband. Some real costs you've got to pay in order to do this.

SILVERI: I want my kids to change the world in ways that matter the most to them. I don't have specific desires for them. And I do what's good for the children. And that's why I come to work every day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made his mark this week when speaking to U.S. troops at Fort Benning, Georgia. He received -- he was widely applauded there, and he told soldiers success on the battlefield depended on their behavior off the battlefield as well. Panetta said embarrassing incidents may be the work of a few soldiers but they reflected badly on the entire military.

The future of terrorism and where the threat is the greatest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: While the death of Osama bin Laden was a serious blow to his terrorist organization, al Qaeda is a resilient virus, finding footholds in other areas and plotting its next act of terror.

So, Nic, where is the threat from al Qaeda the greatest right now? Can anyone answer that?

ROBERTSON: We can take a very educated guess at it. Look, the key takeaway here is that al Qaeda's expectations of what they can achieve have come down. They're a resilient organization. They're determined. They're sophisticated.

So do they want to attack big? Will they hope to try? Yes.

The key places they'll try and do that from, Yemen. And the disturbances there and the Arab spring there, if you will, al Qaeda has taken control of three provinces.

Their best bomb maker is there. He built the underpants bomb. He built the printer bombs. He's still at large. He can be training other people.

In Libya, al Qaeda has set up training camps there. That is a huge threat for Europe, and that is something that will mature for them over the coming next few years.

Syria -- Al Qaeda operatives from Iraq can move into Syria and take advantage of the instability there.

So there are key places that al Qaeda is already trying to use to get a foothold in, Don.

LEMON: And, Anthony Lemieux, the investigator at the National Study on Terrorism, you say everyone in your estimation should be cautious because it could be anywhere. Nic talked about the hot spots and an educated guess.

But you want to go even beyond that?

LEMIEUX: Well, I think one of the things that we just have to remain vigilant, because the issue with terrorism is al Qaeda and the threat from al Qaeda and groups like it is one of several different kinds of terrorism -- different kinds of groups with different sorts of motivations that we need to be concerned with and just vigilant about. And I think since 9/11, you know, in the U.S. the public has really taken a much more active role. You know, noticing things that seem out of place. So I think there is a real benefit there as well.

LEMON: And, Nic, Anthony mentioned 9/11. And you and I and many of our colleagues -- I mean, hour after hour we sat here and we covered the Arab Spring. How has the Arab Spring affected al Qaeda?

ROBERTSON: Instability in Yemen. Al Qaeda's taken control of three provinces. The vice president there who's now the president told me that last summer.

The instability in Libya. Now, Gadhafi has gone, the infighting between different militia groups there. Zawahiri sent one of his top lieutenants to Libya specifically to set up al Qaeda camps. They now have hundreds of recruits there in these camps, replicating what they had in Afghanistan.

And in Syria right now, you have this growing suicide bombing tendency that's joining the opposition side against Bashar al Assad. And that expertise is coming from those al Qaeda members who are based in Iraq, moving across the border. They'll try and export their global jihad into this notion of trying to overthrow a president in that country, Don.

LEMON: Nic Robertson, this has certainly been a fascinating talk. Great reporting. I enjoyed the reports. And we should do more of that. We appreciate that.

Thank you, Anthony Lemieux here in Atlanta.

I'm Don Lemon at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, going to see back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

"CNN PRESENTS: In the Footsteps of Bin Laden" -- it begins right now.