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CNN Live At Daybreak
Fighting Underway in Tora Bora; Government Calls in Independent Experts for bin Laden Tape
Aired December 12, 2001 - 05:01 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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, CNN's Brent Sadler is covering the intense fighting that's going on between the anti-Taliban forces and al Qaeda fighters in the eastern Afghan mountains.
He's joining us now live from that area that's held by the Eastern Alliance -- Brent, what is the latest from there?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Catherine.
Something of a deadlock here on the ground. Several hours after the passing of an ultimatum for al Qaeda to lay down their weapons and surrender.
Now, for the past few hours there's been a top level meeting of Eastern Alliance commanders not far from here. One of those commanders, Hazrat Ali, who's the security chief of the Eastern Alliance, has just shown up at this tank position. We're swinging across now and you'll see him sitting there on the left hand side cross legged. The three of them, Hazrat Ali and two of his senior military commanders, sitting there discussing what they should do next, a quite bizarre scene there, as I'm sure you'll agree, of these three top officials deciding what their strategy is going to be, whether or not they should proceed with attempts to try and negotiate a surrender from al Qaeda or what they should do on the battlefield.
Now, if we swing more to the left, you'll see in the shade of the mountains there some smoke rising. That's just come from an air strike within the past 60 seconds or so, a blast against another al Qaeda position, again, one of the several air strikes we've seen earlier today.
It began earlier this morning after we saw in the skies over Tora Bora the spirals of B-52 contrails, a 360 degree turn by a huge aircraft, U.S. bomber. That began the resumption of air strikes and as I talk to you now, I can hear the roar of a jet engine. So the probability of yet another air strike about to take place.
We've also had reports of fire fights overnight between al Qaeda and the Eastern Alliance. This follows yesterday, we can show you now, where I was get to a very -- where I was able to get to a very far advanced front line position where the Eastern Alliance Afghan warriors had overrun an al Qaeda former training camp. Inside that camp, it was clear to see the results of nearly two weeks of U.S. heavy air strikes, bomb craters and a lot of damage, splintered trees. And also we were able to get to one of these much talked about cave complexes and look inside there. We saw abandoned training manuals, abandoned ammunition and discarded weapons.
But today we have not been able to get anywhere near that location. Instead, the media has been held back to this tank position here as we await news from that meeting of Eastern Alliance leaders, what should happen next, whether or not they continue to try and maintain military pressure with those continuing U.S. air strikes and try and force a surrender to peacefully end this siege of Tora Bora or whether or not they have to go from the air and on the ground with a renewed tank and infantry assault here -- back to you, Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Brent, indeed, you have just shown us an unusual situation going on behind you. It sure does appear to be a fluid situation there. Any discussion at all, any word at all of any possible surrender by the al Qaeda fighters?
SADLER: No, none whatsoever. We heard yesterday from the Alliance commanders that it had been discussed with some of the al Qaeda defenders. But as I understand from sources close to that meeting, there is a split between al Qaeda resistance, terrorists, and Taliban factions within those groups that are spread across those mountains behind me there.
The Taliban, as I understand it, are ready to negotiate a surrender and the al Qaeda resistance is not. So some dispute there.
And the overall idea of a surrender of several hundred al Qaeda or Taliban, a mixture of the two, several hundred fighters from this very remote, very hostile terrain, is an extraordinarily difficult surrender, a laying down of weapons, an extraordinarily difficult procedure to implement. So we'll have to see how this pans out in the hours ahead -- back to you, Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Brent, any word of any more possible survivors inside those caves that the Alliance has been able to take?
SADLER: No. Quite clearly, when they went through that area some 24 hours ago, in what was a breakthrough advance, there was no real possibility of any of the al Qaeda or Taliban elements remaining within those areas.
As we understand it from sources close to military leaders, special forces are now on the ground in some of those advanced positions. It might explain, of course, why the media is not being taken to that area which they overran yesterday, because of activities on the ground there. And certainly we saw that there were special forces close to the meetings that were taking place today regarding the possible surrender of any forces behind me.
So clearly outside international involvement in both the military and the political levels in terms of any negotiated settlement. But it's early days here yet. Whether this surrender plan has any real hope of flying, at this stage it does not seem as though it does because we're seeing no change on the battleground here other than a resumption of those U.S. air strikes -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, CNN's Brent Sadler joining us from eastern Afghanistan.
Thank you, Brent.
Well, one senator who has seen the videotape of Osama bin Laden calls it a smoking gun. Americans may be able to judge the recently discovered Osama bin Laden tape for themselves as early as today, however.
Let's go to CNN's Natalie Pawelski. She's joining us from the Pentagon with the very latest from there -- good morning, Natalie.
NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Catherine.
Those who have seen the tape say it is convincing, proof that Osama bin Laden was behind the deadly attacks of September 11.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: History didn't record Hitler's reaction to the Holocaust or Stalin's reaction to the Soviet purges. But we have Osama bin Laden's reaction to September 11 on videotape. It is graphic. It is compelling. It's conclusive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAWELSKI: Sources say the White House is aiming to release the videotape, not the one seen here, by the way, today. On the tape, a sort of home movie of a dinner party. Sources say bin Laden makes it clear he knew the details of the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center before they happened. They say he gloats about the attacks and says he was surprised the World Trade Center towers collapsed completely.
White House sources say President Bush likes the idea of allowing people to hear bin Laden for themselves. But plans to make the tape public raised concerns that intelligence assets or covert methods might be comprised.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: What one has to do in a case like this is to see if the authorities, the people who make these decisions, feel it should be released. And I'm told that they do. And the second thing one has to do then is to make sure it's checked with the intelligence community so that by doing so something is not revealed that could cause someone to lose their life or to reveal some piece of information about intelligence capabilities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAWELSKI: White House sources say independent language experts have been called in to look at the tape and make sure that the official transcript is accurate and also to counter any suggestion that the government is somehow putting words in bin Laden's mouth -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, thank you, Natalie Pawelski at the Pentagon this morning.
Thanks, Natalie.
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