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CNN Live Saturday
U.S. Turns Attention to Southeast Asia in War on Terror
Aired August 03, 2002 - 17:15 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell toured six nations in Southeast Asia this week and promised US aid for the fight against terrorism. The Bush administration wants to make sure Southeast Asia, which is heavily Muslim, does not become a haven for Al Qaeda.
CNN's Maria Ressa looks at terrorist links in that region.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Intelligence officials in Southeast Asia say Osama bin Laden began setting up Al Qaeda's infrastructure in the region as early as 1988. Sending his brother-in-law Muhammed Jamal Kalefa to find local extremist groups and help establish a terrorist cell in the Philippines. Officials here say that cell came up with the plot for the September 11 attacks as early as 1995. It was foiled then with the arrest of key members now in US prisons.
US officials say one of the men involved then, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, became a key lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, and was a key planner of September 11. Over the years, intelligence reports show Mohammed helped set up a leadership base in Malaysia, with sleeper cells in Singapore and training camps in the Philippines and Indonesia.
In June 2000, bin Laden's number two, Ayman Al Zawahiri and Mohammed Atef, Al Qaeda's former military chief, visited Indonesia. This Philippine intelligence report says why. "This visit was part of a wider strategy of shifting the base of Osama bin Laden's terrorist operations from the Subcontintenent to Southeast Asia."
That didn't happen, but intelligence officials in Southeast Asia say Al Qaeda's infrastructure remains largely intact, despite the arrest of more than 100 suspected terrorists since September 11. Part of the reason the US is throwing attention and money to the region's war on terror.
COLIN POWELL. U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: People are being picked up around the world who if they hadn't been picked up would be well on their way to conducting a terrorist act. And, the number of nation's in Southeast Asia have made important apprehensions in recent weeks.
RESSA: Indonesia arrested and deported two Al Qaeda operatives. One is now in US custody. Singapore helped arrest another Al Qaeda operative with direct links to Osama bin Laden. Mohammed Jabarah, a.k.a. Sammy. He helped plan attacks against US and Israeli embassies in the region and is also now in US custody.
US authorities are also interested in another man arrested in Malaysia. Yaseed So Faad (ph). He hosted several Al Qaeda operatives in his apartment, including the man behind the bombing of the USS Cole, two September 11 hijackers, and Zacarias Moussaoui, now on trial in the United States.
There's another reason the US is focusing its attention on Southeast Asia. It's home to more than a quarter of the world's Muslims. This week, Colin Powell pledged $50 million to Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population. The US wants to make sure Southeast Asia and its moderate Muslims stay on its side of the War on Terror.
Maria Ressa, CNN, Manila.
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