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CNN Live Saturday

Alleged Tape Of bin Laden Call For Attacks Against U.S. Allies

Aired October 18, 2003 - 16:01   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.


ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Now the new audiotapes, two of them, purportedly from Osama bin Laden. They were broadcast today by the al Jazeera Arab Network. CNN national correspondent Mike Boettcher has listened to them. Mike, this is only a month since Osama bin Laden allegedly release another round of tapes, anything new in them?
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this time, there are time references. And bin Laden, instead of speaking in generalities, as he did on September 10, in that tape, you couldn't identify when that was made, in this one, there are two time references that put the making of the tape in the latter half of the summer, but that will have to be further investigated by the CIA.

The underlying theme of the tape, jihad against the United States in Iraq. There were 2 messages. The first one was issued to the American people, and he warned the American people and its allies that there would be more suicide attacks.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

OSAMA BIN LADEN, AL QAEDA (through translator): Should know that we reserve the right to respond in the time and place that we see appropriate in all countries that are participating, especially England, Spain, Australia, Poland, and Italy. And there's no exception if that country that's helping is an Arab country, especially Kuwait in the Gulf. That is the springboard for all the troops in the area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOETTCHER: Another section of the tape was directed at the Iraqi people and at young Muslims in the Arab world. He called for them to rise up and launch a jihad, a holy war, against the United States in Iraq. He asked Iraqis not to cooperate with the United States in its attempts to build a new government there, and he made another statement that had a time reference that could help investigators know when it was made.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BIN LADEN (through translator): Any government that's formed by America will be an agent, a puppet government, just like all the other governments in the area, like Mahmoud Abbas, that were set up to shed the blood of Muslims.

(END AUDIO CLIP) BOETTCHER: Now, in that reference, he speaks of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister who resigned on September 6, as if he were still in office. So that would mean that the tape would have had to have been made before September 6.

He also refers to U.S. budget deficit figures which were released on July 15. So this is purely an analysis, but it looks like the tape would have been made in the last half of the summer, and it goes to further answer the question is bin Laden alive or dead, Andrea.

KOPPEL: And the answer right now is we know he's alive, at least up until early September.

BOETTCHER: It looks like it. This, to me, studying this, the time references are very key. In the past, it's been his assistant, Amin al Zawahiri, who released the more up to date tapes and released a specific threat. Now you have bin Laden doing this. Sometimes in the past, when he does this, attacks will follow.

KOPPEL: Now, why are we only ever hearing from Osama bin Laden -- the last time, September 10, there was videotape. But later experts looked at it and says this looks like it was made months and months and months ago and not as recently as the audiotapes. Why don't we ever see him?

BOETTCHER: Well, there are a couple of answers to that. They're both speculation. But this is the best guess of intelligence analysts around the world. They believe he may not be in good health, may not look very well, and so he's trying to disguise that fact, hide that fact by just releasing an audiotape.

Also, it's much harder to a smuggle videotape out. It's larger, and he doesn't want to give the U.S. and its allies any indication of where he might be by showing a back drop. So those are two possibilities.

KOPPEL: Sure. I know that you and some of our other colleagues at CNN have listened to these al-Jazeera tapes that purport to be Osama bin Laden. You believe it's him. But how long will it take the CIA analysts with all the bells and whistles to analyze it and give their determination?

BOETTCHER: Well in the past, they've use the voice tracing technology to match the voice to previous known speeches of bin Laden. It's taken about two days. We should know something by early in the week.

KOPPEL: Mike Boettcher, thanks for your analysis.

BOETTCHER: You're welcome.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Allies>


Aired October 18, 2003 - 16:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Now the new audiotapes, two of them, purportedly from Osama bin Laden. They were broadcast today by the al Jazeera Arab Network. CNN national correspondent Mike Boettcher has listened to them. Mike, this is only a month since Osama bin Laden allegedly release another round of tapes, anything new in them?
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this time, there are time references. And bin Laden, instead of speaking in generalities, as he did on September 10, in that tape, you couldn't identify when that was made, in this one, there are two time references that put the making of the tape in the latter half of the summer, but that will have to be further investigated by the CIA.

The underlying theme of the tape, jihad against the United States in Iraq. There were 2 messages. The first one was issued to the American people, and he warned the American people and its allies that there would be more suicide attacks.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

OSAMA BIN LADEN, AL QAEDA (through translator): Should know that we reserve the right to respond in the time and place that we see appropriate in all countries that are participating, especially England, Spain, Australia, Poland, and Italy. And there's no exception if that country that's helping is an Arab country, especially Kuwait in the Gulf. That is the springboard for all the troops in the area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOETTCHER: Another section of the tape was directed at the Iraqi people and at young Muslims in the Arab world. He called for them to rise up and launch a jihad, a holy war, against the United States in Iraq. He asked Iraqis not to cooperate with the United States in its attempts to build a new government there, and he made another statement that had a time reference that could help investigators know when it was made.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BIN LADEN (through translator): Any government that's formed by America will be an agent, a puppet government, just like all the other governments in the area, like Mahmoud Abbas, that were set up to shed the blood of Muslims.

(END AUDIO CLIP) BOETTCHER: Now, in that reference, he speaks of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister who resigned on September 6, as if he were still in office. So that would mean that the tape would have had to have been made before September 6.

He also refers to U.S. budget deficit figures which were released on July 15. So this is purely an analysis, but it looks like the tape would have been made in the last half of the summer, and it goes to further answer the question is bin Laden alive or dead, Andrea.

KOPPEL: And the answer right now is we know he's alive, at least up until early September.

BOETTCHER: It looks like it. This, to me, studying this, the time references are very key. In the past, it's been his assistant, Amin al Zawahiri, who released the more up to date tapes and released a specific threat. Now you have bin Laden doing this. Sometimes in the past, when he does this, attacks will follow.

KOPPEL: Now, why are we only ever hearing from Osama bin Laden -- the last time, September 10, there was videotape. But later experts looked at it and says this looks like it was made months and months and months ago and not as recently as the audiotapes. Why don't we ever see him?

BOETTCHER: Well, there are a couple of answers to that. They're both speculation. But this is the best guess of intelligence analysts around the world. They believe he may not be in good health, may not look very well, and so he's trying to disguise that fact, hide that fact by just releasing an audiotape.

Also, it's much harder to a smuggle videotape out. It's larger, and he doesn't want to give the U.S. and its allies any indication of where he might be by showing a back drop. So those are two possibilities.

KOPPEL: Sure. I know that you and some of our other colleagues at CNN have listened to these al-Jazeera tapes that purport to be Osama bin Laden. You believe it's him. But how long will it take the CIA analysts with all the bells and whistles to analyze it and give their determination?

BOETTCHER: Well in the past, they've use the voice tracing technology to match the voice to previous known speeches of bin Laden. It's taken about two days. We should know something by early in the week.

KOPPEL: Mike Boettcher, thanks for your analysis.

BOETTCHER: You're welcome.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Allies>