Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Saturday
Who Is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed?
Aired March 01, 2003 - 16:41 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Who exactly is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed? Turns out he's a bit of a playboy. CNN's Maria Ressa has more on the man said to be the biggest single arrest in the war on terror since 9/11.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, one of the world's most wanted men, carrying a reward of $25 million. For years, these were the only two known pictures of him.
He is the head of al Qaeda's military committee, one of four key lieutenants of Osama bin Laden. U.S. authorities say he is a key planner for the September 11 attacks.
The blueprint goes back to 1995, when Mohammed lived in the Philippines, officials here say. He established a cell here with multiple plots against the U.S., to bomb American plans, assassinate Bill Clinton and hijack and crash planes into buildings in the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is educated. He can speak fluent English. I think he has some skills in flying and also SCUBA diving.
RESSA: Mendoza interrogated a member of Mohammed's cell, who told him attacks would move beyond one suicide bomber to bigger operations by land, sea and air, a foreshadowing of al Qaeda attacks Mohammed would be involved in: the 1998 bombs of the U.S. embassies in east Africa, the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 and less than a year later, September 11.
Mohammed was finishing the groundwork in 1999, meeting with one group of September 11 hijackers in Germany and a few months later the second group in Malaysia.
Asian sources tell CNN he was also planning ahead, sending this man, Mohammed Mansour Jawarah to activate cells in southeast Asia one day before the September 11 attacks.
Jawarah worked with al Qaeda's senior representative in the region, Omar al-Farouk, to push local cells to acquire a goal of 21 tons of explosives to be used for suicide bombing attacks against U.S. and western interests in the region.
(END VIDEOTAPE) RESSA: Although that plot was foiled, authorities around the world say that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was successful. He's been linked to the Tunisian bomb attacks in April, 2000, as well as the Bali attacks in October 2002 in Indonesia -- Carol.
LIN: Maria, a short time ago, CNN's Mike Boettcher, reporting live from Kuwait City, was saying his sources were telling him about this arrest, though it's great news, obviously, but that because such a top operative in al Qaeda was arrested, that we are about to enter a dangerous time. Mike didn't know exactly what that meant, but he was speculating that it could mean that there could be retaliations against Americans because Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was arrested. Are your sources telling you anything or what you know of al Qaeda operatives or how it works in the Philippines? Is that likely?
RESSA: Well, what's interesting is that while authorities are saying here that it is a good thing, it is a victory, this man, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, is really one of the key figures who set up the al Qaeda network in Southeast Asia. He lived for several years both in Malaysia and in the Philippines, and he also ran several operatives here, including this Canadian citizen, Mohammed Mansour Jawarah.
He also, by the way, ran an operative familiar to American audiences, Richard Reid, the shoe bomber.
The flip side of it, however, is that even though he has been arrested, like Osama bin Laden, if Osama bin Laden were to have been arrested, the network is in place. And that network can and has active plots and can activate it at any time. So that's one of the key things to watch out for.
I've also been told by one of the intelligence officials in the Philippines that they'll be on high alert in the next few days.
LIN: Very interesting. All right, thank you very much, Maria Ressa reporting live from Manila, by telephone.
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 March 1, 2003 - 16:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Who exactly is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed? Turns out he's a bit of a playboy. CNN's Maria Ressa has more on the man said to be the biggest single arrest in the war on terror since 9/11.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, one of the world's most wanted men, carrying a reward of $25 million. For years, these were the only two known pictures of him.
He is the head of al Qaeda's military committee, one of four key lieutenants of Osama bin Laden. U.S. authorities say he is a key planner for the September 11 attacks.
The blueprint goes back to 1995, when Mohammed lived in the Philippines, officials here say. He established a cell here with multiple plots against the U.S., to bomb American plans, assassinate Bill Clinton and hijack and crash planes into buildings in the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is educated. He can speak fluent English. I think he has some skills in flying and also SCUBA diving.
RESSA: Mendoza interrogated a member of Mohammed's cell, who told him attacks would move beyond one suicide bomber to bigger operations by land, sea and air, a foreshadowing of al Qaeda attacks Mohammed would be involved in: the 1998 bombs of the U.S. embassies in east Africa, the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 and less than a year later, September 11.
Mohammed was finishing the groundwork in 1999, meeting with one group of September 11 hijackers in Germany and a few months later the second group in Malaysia.
Asian sources tell CNN he was also planning ahead, sending this man, Mohammed Mansour Jawarah to activate cells in southeast Asia one day before the September 11 attacks.
Jawarah worked with al Qaeda's senior representative in the region, Omar al-Farouk, to push local cells to acquire a goal of 21 tons of explosives to be used for suicide bombing attacks against U.S. and western interests in the region.
(END VIDEOTAPE) RESSA: Although that plot was foiled, authorities around the world say that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was successful. He's been linked to the Tunisian bomb attacks in April, 2000, as well as the Bali attacks in October 2002 in Indonesia -- Carol.
LIN: Maria, a short time ago, CNN's Mike Boettcher, reporting live from Kuwait City, was saying his sources were telling him about this arrest, though it's great news, obviously, but that because such a top operative in al Qaeda was arrested, that we are about to enter a dangerous time. Mike didn't know exactly what that meant, but he was speculating that it could mean that there could be retaliations against Americans because Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was arrested. Are your sources telling you anything or what you know of al Qaeda operatives or how it works in the Philippines? Is that likely?
RESSA: Well, what's interesting is that while authorities are saying here that it is a good thing, it is a victory, this man, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, is really one of the key figures who set up the al Qaeda network in Southeast Asia. He lived for several years both in Malaysia and in the Philippines, and he also ran several operatives here, including this Canadian citizen, Mohammed Mansour Jawarah.
He also, by the way, ran an operative familiar to American audiences, Richard Reid, the shoe bomber.
The flip side of it, however, is that even though he has been arrested, like Osama bin Laden, if Osama bin Laden were to have been arrested, the network is in place. And that network can and has active plots and can activate it at any time. So that's one of the key things to watch out for.
I've also been told by one of the intelligence officials in the Philippines that they'll be on high alert in the next few days.
LIN: Very interesting. All right, thank you very much, Maria Ressa reporting live from Manila, by telephone.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
