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CNN Live Saturday
Interview With Harvey Kushner
Aired May 10, 2003 - 16:33 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: Harvey Kushner is an expert on al Qaeda and other terrorist groups and he's the author of the "Encyclopedia of Terrorism" and chairman of the Criminal Justice Department at Long Island University. He's with us now from New York to talk more about this alleged threat from al Qaeda. Good to see you.
HARVEY KUSHNER, TERRORISM EXPERT: Pleasure.
WHITFIELD: Well, how seriously are you taking this reported threat from this Arabic magazine? Do you believe it? Do you believe there's any credence to it?
KUSHNER: Well, I always take it seriously. But do I think it's on my short list of tragedies that are about to happen? Absolutely no. I agree with those experts out there who claim that al Qaeda's ability to strike us in a mammoth type of 9/11 attack has been seriously interrupted. It's going to be very difficult for them to pull something like that off, certainly here in the United States and also abroad. But, you know, that doesn't say that there's potentiality for something horrific to happen out there, but certainly we've made tremendous strides over the last couple of months in wiping out their infrastructure, and in not allowing them to train, not allowing them to communicate.
WHITFIELD: So you say interrupted, but do you feel that that means that al Qaeda has been crippled, even by some interruption in its financial infrastructure?
KUSHNER: I do. I think they've been severely harmed on their structure side. We've just seen in a report before that, only three leaders remain out of many that we've been able to capture or either kill. So certainly, you have an ability -- they have to scramble now to pull something off. I really believe that the structured side of al Qaeda is not the same al Qaeda prior to 9/11.
That said, however, we face, you know, a severe threat from individuals, small groups of individuals who heretofore might not have been related to al Qaeda, who would step up to the plate in al Qaeda's name to strike the at us overseas or right here in the United States.
WHITFIELD: Robert Mueller says the U.S. would be prepared for any potentially severe attacks. Do you feel confident that that is, indeed, the case, that there has been a dent made on this war in terrorism, enough to feel that this country would be able to protect itself against a very similar or -- a very similar type of attack of a 9/11?
KUSHNER: That's very tough to say. Let's face it, how do you prepare so that you can rule out any act happening and that -- what the impact would be? Certainly, the psychological impact would be great, and the fact that we faced something in the biological or a chemical, or even nuclear realm. So that's a tough statement. But I think we're certainly much better prepared today than we were prior to 9/11, and that's very good.
WHITFIELD: All right. Harvey Kushner, thank you very much for joining us. Appreciate it. Always good to see you.
KUSHNER: Pleasure.
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 May 10, 2003 - 16:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Harvey Kushner is an expert on al Qaeda and other terrorist groups and he's the author of the "Encyclopedia of Terrorism" and chairman of the Criminal Justice Department at Long Island University. He's with us now from New York to talk more about this alleged threat from al Qaeda. Good to see you.
HARVEY KUSHNER, TERRORISM EXPERT: Pleasure.
WHITFIELD: Well, how seriously are you taking this reported threat from this Arabic magazine? Do you believe it? Do you believe there's any credence to it?
KUSHNER: Well, I always take it seriously. But do I think it's on my short list of tragedies that are about to happen? Absolutely no. I agree with those experts out there who claim that al Qaeda's ability to strike us in a mammoth type of 9/11 attack has been seriously interrupted. It's going to be very difficult for them to pull something like that off, certainly here in the United States and also abroad. But, you know, that doesn't say that there's potentiality for something horrific to happen out there, but certainly we've made tremendous strides over the last couple of months in wiping out their infrastructure, and in not allowing them to train, not allowing them to communicate.
WHITFIELD: So you say interrupted, but do you feel that that means that al Qaeda has been crippled, even by some interruption in its financial infrastructure?
KUSHNER: I do. I think they've been severely harmed on their structure side. We've just seen in a report before that, only three leaders remain out of many that we've been able to capture or either kill. So certainly, you have an ability -- they have to scramble now to pull something off. I really believe that the structured side of al Qaeda is not the same al Qaeda prior to 9/11.
That said, however, we face, you know, a severe threat from individuals, small groups of individuals who heretofore might not have been related to al Qaeda, who would step up to the plate in al Qaeda's name to strike the at us overseas or right here in the United States.
WHITFIELD: Robert Mueller says the U.S. would be prepared for any potentially severe attacks. Do you feel confident that that is, indeed, the case, that there has been a dent made on this war in terrorism, enough to feel that this country would be able to protect itself against a very similar or -- a very similar type of attack of a 9/11?
KUSHNER: That's very tough to say. Let's face it, how do you prepare so that you can rule out any act happening and that -- what the impact would be? Certainly, the psychological impact would be great, and the fact that we faced something in the biological or a chemical, or even nuclear realm. So that's a tough statement. But I think we're certainly much better prepared today than we were prior to 9/11, and that's very good.
WHITFIELD: All right. Harvey Kushner, thank you very much for joining us. Appreciate it. Always good to see you.
KUSHNER: Pleasure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
