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CNN Live At Daybreak

Al Qaeda Interrogations Going Well

Aired January 09, 2002 - 06:04   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.
COSTELLO: And U.S. officials hope the capture two top al Qaeda members will lead to critical intelligence in the anti-terror war. CNN's Jeff Levine has an update from the Pentagon now. Good morning to you Jeff.

JEFF LEVINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning. Even though Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar are still at large, the U.S. has taken a number of top prisoners. Two top officials of the al Qaeda terrorist network were taken into custody on Monday.

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(voice-over): According to the Pentagon, U.S. soldiers stopped the pair near a massive cave hideout in eastern Afghanistan known as Zawar Kili. The military thinks the unidentified duo could provide valuable intelligence.

GEN. RICHARD MEYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: Now the U.S. team determined that two of these individuals met the criteria for detention and moved them to Kandahar. Laptop computers, cell phones, some small arms, and training documents were also found and returned to Kandahar with the two detainees and we're exploiting those as we speak.

LEVINE: Currently the U.S. is holding 360 prisoners. Most of them are at a facility in Kandahar. Nine are on a ship in the Arabian Sea. At least one of them is said to be most cooperative. He's Al- Shaykh al-Libi, and he was one of America's 12 "Most Wanted" al Qaeda suspects. Meyers believes the dragnet strategy is paying off.

MEYERS: Indeed we are getting some intelligence on this. We think we have thwarted some attacks, but to go into any more detail starts to give away what we know and what they don't know we know, and so we've got to be very, very careful there. But yes, this has been somewhat fruitful.

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LEVINE: The detainees are ultimately destined for a maximum security jail being constructed at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba, but it's going to be quite a complicated trip. Now we understand that the detainees are going to be picked up in Kandahar by C-17's probably. These are planes that can take off and land on a very, very short runway. Then the prisoners will go to a secure location probably elsewhere in the region, but be off loaded from those C-17's. Then they'll get onto a bigger plane, a C-141 -- that's a big cargo plane, and finally, ultimately onto Cuba -- a long, long and difficult, dangerous trip -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Boy you're not kidding. Jeff Levine reporting live for us from the Pentagon this morning. Thank you very much Jeff.

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