Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Are Captured al Qaeda, Taliban Leaders Going to Talk?

Aired January 05, 2002 - 16:04   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The Taliban no longer controls Afghanistan, and coalition forces are cutting into the al Qaeda network. However, two of the most wanted men in the war on terror are still at large: Of course, Osama bin Laden, and Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Omar.

So let's turn to retired General Wesley Clark who is joining us in Little Rock, Arkansas, for his perspective on the latest developments. Thanks for being with us again this afternoon.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good to be with you.

CALLAWAY: Your response first to now having Mullah Abdul Zaeef -- certainly, we remember him from the beginning of the conflict, when we saw him holding news conferences for the Taliban. Now that he's in custody, are we likely to see any information come from him that could lead to information finding Mullah Omar or Osama bin Laden?

CLARK: I think he's a very promising source. He's got to talk, of course, and he may or may not chose to do so. But if he does talk, he'll know about communications, he'll know about relationships, he'll know about all kind of details with the high command of the Taliban, which will help us in finding Mullah Omar and probably help us in continuing to break up al Qaeda. So yes, it's a very -- he's a very promising source.

CALLAWAY: He seemed almost in shock as he was brought into custody. Do you think he even -- anyone expected when this began -- did he expect to think to be brought in?

CLARK: I think he and all the rest of the Taliban leadership have just been astonished at how quickly their regime collapsed. And you know, he had appealed for some kind of asylum, and instead he was arrested. And so, I think it's an indication also of Pakistan's support for the United States that he was brought in and turned over to the United States. It's a very important gesture by Pakistan.

CALLAWAY: It is. And now another development with Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi who is believed to be responsible for running the training camps, the terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. Certainly the camps are no longer in existence, but what can we learn from him about how these camps operated and who was trained there? CLARK: Well, I think those are the two key question, how do they operate? Who funded them? Who gave them -- where did they get the ammunition? And what kinds of techniques did they train on and why those techniques? And then, who came through and how did they recruit new agents, and where is the roster of everybody who was trained and what they were sent out to do? And so, he can help us a lot. Plus, of course, he's a close acquaintance of Osama bin Laden. He may know personal details that he'll share with us about where bin Laden's likely to go, where his family is, and so forth.

CALLAWAY: Will they not be able to get information too about these other cells that we hear about, connected to the Taliban? It could be in other countries, since many of them were probably trained in Afghanistan.

CLARK: That's exactly right. And he should have the master key, so to speak, of where those people are in the other countries, and that will be very helpful to us. Not only as we hear all the news about Somalia, but in places like the Philippines and Indonesia and Yemen and Lebanon -- and everywhere that they've been.

CALLAWAY: But General Clark, how likely are they to give the information? What do they have to gain by giving that?

CLARK: Well, they have to gain a new life. And that's what the United States can offer, in many, many different ways. They are -- they are in a dark alley. They can't get out of where they are right now. And their future is -- there is no future for them. They are going to be tried, imprisoned. They have really no hope of a normal life.

And I think the greatest inducement for all of these people, the al Qaeda and the Taliban, including the key leaders, is to turn over a new leaf, come in, work with the United States, tell us what you know, and let the United States help you get on with your life and help your family.

CALLAWAY: How likely is that to happen, though, general? When you compare it to other conflicts when people of this caliber have been apprehended, have been questioned. Have we seen this successful in the past?

CLARK: We have in some cases, and in others we haven't. We've had several high-ranking Serbs, for example, tell us a lot. And other Croates, who have been considered possible war crimes indictees have talked. In other conflicts, for example, the Iraqis, many Iraqis have come forward. Saddam Hussein's son-in-law escaped from Iraq and came and gave us a lot of information.

So it's very possible that there were problems in the high command that these people will, given the opportunity, break with the past and share their ideas with us. And that's what we have to work on.

CALLAWAY: Certainly, the number one concern from the U.S. military's perspective right now is trying to find Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden. What kind of information will we see from these two gentlemen on finding Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, and which do you think would be more likely to give the most important information?

CLARK: That's hard to know, but I think what we heard yesterday from Tommy Franks was that the strategy was going to continue, we're going to be following up on all of our intelligence, we're going to be developing relationships with local people, and throughout the various problems of Afghanistan, whatever information we get from these two top Taliban people, or al Qaeda person and the Taliban person, we're going to use to fill out the puzzle of who they are, what the connections are. And it will give us deeper knowledge.

But will it be a sort of a smoking gun that will lead us right to Mullah Omar or Osama bin Laden? I doubt it. And we shouldn't have those kinds of expectations. We're going to have to be very, very patient in this. We'll see long periods, days, where it appears nothing is happening on the surface. And then, something will happen, and there will be a bomb strike or there will be a raid, and it will be unexpected, and it may or may not produce any demonstrable results.

But this is all part of this struggle in Afghanistan to take apart this network. And so, the American people will just have to be patient and understanding.

CALLAWAY: All right, General Wesley Clark, thank you very much for giving your perspective again today. Thank you, general.

CLARK: 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