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CNN Live At Daybreak
Is The Anthrax Terrorism Homegrown or Foreign?
Aired October 29, 2001 - 07:32 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: One of the things that makes the anthrax outbreak even more frightening, if that's possible, is that so far the government has told the public almost nothing about who may be behind the attacks. Over the weekend, "The Washington Post" said CIA and FBI officials believe the attacks may be the work of extremists in the United States and not connected to the Al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden. Other officials say they haven't ruled out any source.
For some insight now, we once again turn to the former Chief Weapons Inspector of the United Nations Ambassador Richard Butler who joins us here from New York -- good morning.
RICHARD BUTLER, FORMER UNITED NATIONS CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Morning, Paula.
ZAHN: For the folks who haven't been, you know, waiting for every single second of what you've had to say over the last couple of weeks, we need to repeat a little bit of what we've gone over, because it seems to me we're handed a thread, we examine it and then you're thrown another curve ball. What do we know? And how likely is the prospect of these anthrax letters being sent by someone from here in the United States not connected to Al Qaeda?
BUTLER: I agree, Paula, that the situation has lost clarity and that it obliges us to go over some of what we've already talked about. Let me -- let me try and summarize what I think we do know. First of all, there were the letters that were sent to Florida and New York and Washington. They contained a kind of anthrax that was very sophisticated. Someone had taken raw anthrax and made it smaller particle size, able to float through the air and become much more dangerous. You had to be a smart scientist to know how to do that.
ZAHN: And are you willing to accept the fact that you believe the Daschle letter was even more sophisticated...
BUTLER: Yes.
ZAHN: ... with the additive added in?
BUTLER: Absolutely, you're...
ZAHN: So slightly different...
BUTLER: Yes. ZAHN: ... the New York and the Florida letter?
BUTLER: I think -- I think that's a big fingerprint, the quality of the anthrax that was in the Daschle letter.
Now secondly, it would appear that there's possibly another letter out there that went to the Washington area and we don't know whether or not that's true. But because another State Department worker became ill, he was no where near the Daschle original Washington letter so it would appear there may be another one out there. That has to be found. A bit of a dilemma here because they've got mailed stored that they don't necessarily want to go near and they're thinking of decontaminating first, but if they decontaminate it,...
ZAHN: Then they (CROSSTALK) for the letter.
BUTLER: ... then that letter gets cleaned. So, yes, that's the next thing.
Now big question that you and I have talked about a lot and it's still confusing is does this come from some crazy domestic source or is the anthrax from overseas? And once again, Paula, in the last couple of days, officials in Washington have said both things. On one hour, elevating the possibility that it's a crazy hate group in the United States that has done this. We even hear reference to the names of some of those groups and that they had a meeting in Beirut, Lebanon a while ago and so on.
On the other hand, in the next hour, other members of the government say, you know, this is pretty sophisticated stuff and we still think that we should look to the possibility of it being supplied from overseas like from Iraq or Russia. Where are we, I don't know.
ZAHN: Now the one story that has taken on more weight over the last several days...
BUTLER: Right.
ZAHN: ... is the story you and I have talked about for weeks...
BUTLER: Right.
ZAHN: ... and that is -- well the change now is that Czech officials are actually confirming...
BUTLER: Yes.
ZAHN: ... that Mohamed Atta,...
BUTLER: Yes.
ZAHN: ... one of the hijackers, actually met with a high ranking official from Iraq prior to the September 11 attacks.
BUTLER: Right.
ZAHN: How significant is that?
BUTLER: We're not sure on either front whether that meant Iraq knew about September 11 and was collaborating with Mohamed Atta. And let's remind viewers, he is one of the guys who drove a plane into the World Trade Center. Now whether they were talking to him about that or whether, as another report suggests, that they gave him some anthrax, that's far sketchier. But you are absolutely right, it is important that the Czech government has now confirmed that that meeting took place.
ZAHN: Need a brief answer to this one, what are you willing to weight more heavily this morning, the prospect of domestic grown terrorism here or foreign based?
BUTLER: I've always said that foreign based is something we should look at, but, Paula, I think we've got to get hot on the trail now as well of a hate group in the United States. I think that's elevating a little.
ZAHN: And we're going to be counting on you in the days to come...
BUTLER: OK.
ZAHN: ... to keep us on top of all of this because, as we've just pointed out this morning, the information is often, often conflicting and confusing.
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