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CNN Live At Daybreak
America Strikes Back: Richard Butler's Reaction to Taliban Press Conference
Aired October 22, 2001 - 07:33 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: For some perspective on all this, let's turn to Ambassador Richard Butler, who, of course, was the former U.N. chiefs weapons inspector several years ago.
Welcome to the broadcast.
Very quickly, your reaction to what we've heard here this morning.
RICHARD BUTLER, FORMER U.N. CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: One, facts no way of knowing what that man has said is true. I strongly doubt it. If you look at their recent track record, what they claim to be true almost inevitably is wildly untrue.
Secondly, he says this is terrorism against the Afghani people. For goodness sake, who are the terrorists here? Look at -- look at what they do to the people of Afghanistan.
He also said they're -- we're hostile to them because they want to create an Islamic state because they are an Islamic people. Paula, this is truly important, that is absolutely wrong. We have made clear, clear as can be, that this is not an action against Muslims or people of the Islamic faith, it is against terrorists. What Taliban represents is a distortion of Islam and leads to terrorism.
ZAHN: But what is abundantly clear, though, is the value of what you would allege to be total propaganda here. The idea is to increase the anti-American fervor?
BUTLER: Yes, actually that's what they're doing and I fear it. Frankly, I fear it. There are...
ZAHN: How effective is it?
BUTLER: There are people in the -- in the Arab and Muslim world and in central Asia, Pakistan for example, who will hear this man and believe him. We've got a problem. We've got a problem of propaganda. You know the old saying that the first victim of war is the truth, there's an example of it. That man is not telling the truth but, unfortunately, some people will believe him.
ZAHN: But he is certainly on message if you were to look at the original statement of Osama bin Laden and then the statement that followed by al Qaeda, so it's no surprise that this message would continue.
BUTLER: No, it is no -- it is no surprise. And it just makes it all the more important for us to make very, very clear over and over again in the Arab and Muslim world that this is not us against Muslims, it's against terrorists. And therefore, the Taliban's form of Islam is itself a terrible distortion of that great faith and we have to keep making that clear. We also, I think, have to start to make clear where we're going in Afghanistan. I think the in game is now becoming very important.
ZAHN: Well let's talk about that for a moment because the president has asked the American public to have some patience here...
BUTLER: Right.
ZAHN: ... and yet we hear the Northern Alliance is continuing to want to push to the south. They have not been given the permission or the support to do so just yet until I guess an alternative government is formed in Afghanistan. How long will the American public wait?
BUTLER: I think the American public are prepared to stay in this for the long haul for the very good reason, Paula, of what happened in this country on September 11. But having made that point, I think it is clear that the initial stage of bombing in Afghanistan to get rid of aircraft and military facilities and camps and so on has now got to go to the next stage which is to find Mullah Omar, find Osama bin Laden, to start to become consequent and to move on to see a new government in Kabul and to rebuild Afghanistan.
ZAHN: And at that...
BUTLER: People want to see that and I think it's time to start moving on towards that.
ZAHN: And clearly that's why the special forces are on the ground now...
BUTLER: Yes.
ZAHN: ... in Afghanistan. You're hopeful that will yield some of what you...
BUTLER: Yes, I think...
ZAHN: ... think you want to happen?
BUTLER: I think I was quite pleased, if that's the word, with the reports on the weekend of their arrival at the head of the Taliban's living compound and that they took away relevant materials which might help us find the al Qaeda network. It seemed to me like it was an excellent operation.
ZAHN: Before we let you go this morning, there has been some confusion, turning to this whole anthrax investigation,...
BUTLER: Right. ZAHN: ... about the quality of the anthrax that has been...
BUTLER: Right.
ZAHN: ... found in any of these letters that have either been sent to New York, Florida or Washington. Can you clarify that for us this morning? Do we have a straight story?
BUTLER: I don't think we do have a straight story, not that people are deceiving us. I think a little more of that scientific forensic work that I've spoken of before needs to be done, but I remain attracted to the idea principally because one person died of inhaling the stuff that it was therefore of a fine particle grade able to float through the air. What that means, Paula, is it's not crude anthrax. Someone has made this stuff in a more advanced way, heading towards weapons grade and I think that's important and that could help us find out who did it.
ZAHN: So you're still inclined to think that we're not dealing with some...
BUTLER: Not the crude stuff.
ZAHN: ... weirdo who's sitting...
BUTLER: Well,...
ZAHN: ... in a bathroom someplace manufacturing this stuff? You're more inclined to think, particularly when we're talking about this letter sent to Daschle and now that we know a...
BUTLER: Yes.
ZAHN: ... postal worker from Washington, D.C. now is being treated for inhaled anthrax, that points to something more sinister?
BUTLER: Yes, I think so. It could be some Unabomber-type person in a basement, but then he would need more sophisticated equipment to get that fine particle grade and I'm not sure where that person would get that from, so I don't know. And you and I have agreed we've got to always deal in the facts but my inclination would be that this was done by someone with real know-how, maybe a foreign power, not some cuckoo person sitting in a basement. That's my inclination.
ZAHN: All right, always good to see you.
BUTLER: OK.
ZAHN: Ambassador Butler, appreciate your perspective this morning.
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