Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Kidnappers Extend Deadline For Daniel Pearl

Aired February 01, 2002 - 05:02   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Okay, let's talk more about Daniel Pearl. U.S. officials are expressing their concern over the fate of the reporter while acknowledging they cannot meet the demands of his Pakistani kidnappers.

CNN's Andrea Koppel reports on word that the deadline in the threat to kill the reporter has been extended.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The latest e-mail from "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl's captives extended his death sentence another 24 hours. "We give you one more day. If America will not meet our demands," they threatened, "we will kill Daniel."

Among their demands, the release of all Pakistani prisoners held in Guantanamo, Cuba. But at the State Department, Secretary of State Powell made clear the U.S. would not cut a deal.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: The demands that the kidnappers have placed are not demands that we can meet or deal with or get into a negotiation about.

KOPPEL: But in a desperate plea, Pearl's employer presented the kidnappers with its own proposal. In an open letter, the managing editor of the "Wall Street Journal" wrote: "Journalists are by definition trained messengers. Danny can be your messenger. A free Danny can explain your cause, your beliefs, to the world."

HELENE COOPER, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Danny is the kind of reporter who has like made his career on, you know, explaining other cultures to the readers of the "Wall Street Journal." That's the perfect, the perfect sort of thing that he could do with these kidnappers.

KOPPEL: To date, all of the kidnappers' e-mails have been written in English riddled with spelling errors. Unlike the two previous e-mails, no new pictures accompanied Thursday's electronic missive. But there were new threats. "Don't think this will be the end. It is the beginning and it is a real war on Americans," wrote the kidnappers. "Americans will get the taste of death and destruction, what we had got in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Inshallah." (on camera): The State Department is taking these threats very seriously and U.S. diplomats in Pakistan have already met with U.S. journalists there to urge them to take extra security precautions. In the meantime, as the investigation continues, a senior administration official here in Washington expresses a growing frustration over the kidnappers' demands. "It's not like there's something reasonable to negotiate here," he said. "We just have to hope they recognize there's no purpose, no benefit to what they're doing."

Andrea Koppel, CNN, at the State Department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And we'll go live to Pakistan in our next hour.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com