Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Saturday
U.S. Issues Terrorist Warning to Troops in Persian Gulf
Aired March 08, 2003 - 17:42 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: There's a new warning about terrorist attacks, this one for U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's David Ensor is live at the Pentagon with details on this -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Renay, we understand there is a two-page CIA report, according to U.S. officials, which warns that terrorists based inside Iraq are planning attacks against U.S. forces, that they would launch in the event that there is a U.S. invasion -- an invasion by U.S. and allied forces into Iraq.
The CIA report says that a group -- one group of four to eight or more al Qaeda operatives have been spotted in Baghdad, a cell set up by Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, that's a person that Secretary Powell mentioned during his speech to the U.N. last month.
The other group are al Qaeda fighters who have fled Afghanistan for the small enclave. There's Zarqawi. But there's another group of al Qaeda individuals who have fled Afghanistan for a small enclave controlled by a sympathetic group in northern Iraq, called Ansar al- Islam, and this report estimates that there could be as many as 200 or more of these al Qaeda fighters up in that small area in northern Iraq.
Now, the CIA report says that after U.S. forces move into Iraq, the terrorist fighters might try to blend in with the Iraqi population, and then try to find ways to get close enough to the troops to attack them, using either conventional weapons, or possibly, as one official put it, some sort of toxins.
Reports said such plans are being -- attacks are being planned as independent terror operations. These groups are tolerated by the government of Saddam Hussein, the report says, but not controlled by it.
Now, U.S. officials say that this CIA report was prepared not in order to help the Bush administration make its case for war, but simply in order to warn policy makers and military officers, military brass here at the Pentagon of this potential threat -- Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: David Ensor live in Washington.
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 8, 2003 - 17:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: There's a new warning about terrorist attacks, this one for U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's David Ensor is live at the Pentagon with details on this -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Renay, we understand there is a two-page CIA report, according to U.S. officials, which warns that terrorists based inside Iraq are planning attacks against U.S. forces, that they would launch in the event that there is a U.S. invasion -- an invasion by U.S. and allied forces into Iraq.
The CIA report says that a group -- one group of four to eight or more al Qaeda operatives have been spotted in Baghdad, a cell set up by Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, that's a person that Secretary Powell mentioned during his speech to the U.N. last month.
The other group are al Qaeda fighters who have fled Afghanistan for the small enclave. There's Zarqawi. But there's another group of al Qaeda individuals who have fled Afghanistan for a small enclave controlled by a sympathetic group in northern Iraq, called Ansar al- Islam, and this report estimates that there could be as many as 200 or more of these al Qaeda fighters up in that small area in northern Iraq.
Now, the CIA report says that after U.S. forces move into Iraq, the terrorist fighters might try to blend in with the Iraqi population, and then try to find ways to get close enough to the troops to attack them, using either conventional weapons, or possibly, as one official put it, some sort of toxins.
Reports said such plans are being -- attacks are being planned as independent terror operations. These groups are tolerated by the government of Saddam Hussein, the report says, but not controlled by it.
Now, U.S. officials say that this CIA report was prepared not in order to help the Bush administration make its case for war, but simply in order to warn policy makers and military officers, military brass here at the Pentagon of this potential threat -- Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: David Ensor live in Washington.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
