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CNN Live At Daybreak
Pakistani Scientist Has Been Secretly Traveling into Afghanistan; 'Here is What I Don't Get'
Aired November 12, 2001 - 08:34 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.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: There is late word this morning that a Pakistani scientist has been secretly traveling into neighboring Afghanistan.
Our Tom Mintier joins us now from Islamabad to try to describe to us why he's making these trips.
Good morning, Tom, evening there.
TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. There were more than four trips by two scientists between the year 2000 and 2001. Pakistani sources tell CNN that U.S. officials have been interviewing these two nuclear scientists repeatedly over the eight days that they were held in detention. Now these interview sessions lasted from six to eight hours.
Sofan Mashin Din Mahud (ph) and Abdul Majeed. We do have books that were written by Mr. Mahud, "Cosmology and Human Destiny," "Our Journey Through Time and Space," "Doomsday" and "Life After Death."
We also have a picture of the scientists from his book, and also we have some pictures of his house, and when we tried to approach the house today, somebody from the intelligence bureau came out and said that he was not accepting any visitors, no one was allowed to see him, no one was allowed to meet with him.
Now what the American investigators want to know from this nuclear scientists is why indeed he went into Afghanistan for four different times over a period of two years, staying about two weeks. He claims that he was working on a hydroelectric project there. He also met with Mullah Kabir (ph), who is a high-ranking Taliban official. They also, in their questioning, wanted to know about the contacts with the Taliban, and questions about whether they indeed made contacts with Osama bin Laden. So these two nuclear scientists have been much in the news in the last two weeks here, have indeed been interviewed by U.S. officials, according to Pakistani sources, these interviews lasting six to eight hours, for a period of eight days, and there is still a lot of security around their house, even today.
I'm Tom Mintier, CNN, reporting live from Islamabad.
ZAHN: And, Tom, what you have learned come on to heels of a front-page story in "USA Today" saying 10 of Pakistan's top nuclear scientist were approached by either the Taliban or members of the Al Qaeda movement to discuss the potential of creating nuclear weapons program in Afghanistan. Is it your understanding two scientist you are talking about may is a been a part of the group of 10 that's being referred to in this article?
MINTIER: It's quite possibly that they are a part of the 10. Now one of these scientists, who was the leading scientist on the project of development of nuclear weapons, resigned from the commission basically because the previous government of Mazar-e Sharif was going to sign the nuclear test ban treaty. He said no one would be safe if Pakistan signed that treaty, and he basically tendered his resignation. That's when went into the humanitarian businesses, setting up a couple of flower mills inside Afghanistan and also working on this hydroproject, so he is one of the key players that investigators detained or interviewed repeatedly over the last two weeks.
ZAHN: Tom Mintier, thank you for the update. Appreciate it.
Now it is time to move on one of my favorite parts of the morning, and that is about 20 minutes before the hour, most days, before 9:00, we check in with Jack Cafferty who drops along for his daily segment called "Here is What I Don't Get."
Good morning. How was your weekend?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was good. It was quiet, pleasantly quiet.
ZAHN: Good. Those are good weekends, when you kind of go...
CAFFERTY: What time do you get up to be here?
ZAHN: Various, 3:00, 3:30, 4:00.
You are up earlier than that.
CAFFERTY: Great time of night, isn't it?
ZAHN: There is a lot going on, lot of activity out there, 57 and 10th.
CAFFERTY: So what we learned over the weekend is the new meaning of the word "gesture." "Gesture" now means one billion dollars, because the Pakistani President Pervaz Musharraf came to Washington last Friday looking for a gesture from the United States, and President Bush gave him a billion dollars.
ZAHN: That's a pretty friendly gesture, wouldn't you say?
CAFFERTY: Next time come to New York, Mr. President. We've got a different definition up here.
In the meantime...
ZAHN: No, no, no, you don't want to go there.
CAFFERTY: In the meantime, while I was out of town, some of the intellectual elite in Pakistan got together for this MENSA meeting that's on your little screen. This was a general strike called by people who think we're "terrarist." How can you have credibility when you can't spell terrorist, and they can't spell Israel, and they've been complaining about Israel for a couple of hundred years.
ZAHN: Well, they got India, right, Jack, America.
CAFFERTY: Only a five-letter word.
Anyway, you know, and of course "The New York Times" print this pictures, leading me to wonder if they noticed.
ZAHN: I wondered that when I saw the picture.
CAFFERTY: There was no mention of it.
ZAHN: No mention, not at all.
CAFFERTY: Maybe they think that's how you spell it over there at the...
ZAHN: I'm sure they are watching you this morning, and they'll say, oops, Maybe we should have made reference to that, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Meantime, if you're on duty over there in Afghanistan, and after long days, you know, working on one of those air cruisers, whoever, and the commander tells you you're going to get a little break, and the USO is bringing a show to entertain you, this is what you're likely to see.
That's Wayne Newton.
ZAHN: Yes.
CAFFERTY: This could cause defections from the U.S. military. We could have soldiers and sailors going over to the other side.
ZAHN: Oh, come on, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Bill Geist wrote a piece in the "Times" sending Wayne Newton to entertain the troops is like using mustard gas.
ZAHN: Oh that is so mean.
CAFFERTY: It's terrible.
ZAHN: I like Wayne. Do you have a problem -- I mean, he's a nice guy. He's committed to what he's doing.
CAFFERTY: He's old. He's older than I am. They want to see Britney Spears. They want to see Jennifer Lopez. They don't want to see old guys like me. Bob Hope used to go there, and he told jokes about the armed forces and he told jokes about the government, and he took ladies with him, women, line Ann Margaret, and Marilyn Monroe, and the Playboy bunnies, and, you know, Wayne Newton is just...
ZAHN: Maybe when the troops come, we'll ask them if he had any allure. He's a nice boy.
CAFFERTY: Finally, things at Mount Vernon, at George Washington are tough, after the terrorist attacks in America on September 11th, tourism has fallen off, so they are going to do this. Those are George's wooden teeth.
ZAHN: What are they going to do with them?
CAFFERTY: Boy, the bottoms are not in very good shape. I wonder where they used to eat. Apparently, in an effort to boost tourism, only until February 2002 will these tooth be on display at Mount Vernon, so make your plans now boys and girls.
ZAHN: And it's such a pleasant time of the year to travel.
CAFFERTY: Yes, pack up the family in February and go down to Mount Vernon to look at Washington's wooden teeth. The question is, if they put them in a jar, would they float, because they're wooden? And the director of the Mount Vernon Museum, James Reese (ph), says, we never felt this was appropriate, but when things get tough, you have to break a few rules. I don't think he'd really wants us to do this, but we are going to do it anyway.
ZAHN: So the question I have now, where do these teeth usually hang out, do we know?
CAFFERTY: Probably in a jar, or something.
ZAHN: But you know what, can I tell you? I saw the picture of those teeth on Friday, and I thought, my kids want to go to Mount Vernon now.
CAFFERTY: To see the teeth?
ZAHN: Yes, absolutely, it seems so odd.
CAFFERTY: Don't they have grandparents that has some they could show them.
ZAHN: We'd rather travel to Washington D.C. I would never admit on national television whether my mother's teeth are really or not, Jack.
CAFFERTY: It's like going to Wally World.
ZAHN: Take care. I get it all now.
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