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Is There a Link Between al Qaeda, Iraq?

Aired July 11, 2002 - 14:39   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Is there a link between al Qaeda and Iraq? It would put more teeth into any military action the Bush administration takes against that country. But such a link is far from proven and, many say, unlikely. Our national security correspondent, David Ensor, joins us more with this. David, what do you think?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, whenever there's any suggestion Iraq and al Qaeda might be working together, a lot of people, in this town, at least, focus in with laser-like precision.

And tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, or 10:00 in some cities, the new PBS show "Wide Angle" will broadcast a documentary about Iraq in which an unidentified Iraqi defector -- a colonel, the program says -- claims that he saw Osama bin Laden in Iraq in 1998.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "WIDE ANGLE," PBS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It happened on July the 9th at midnight. A group of Iraqi intelligence people came to me at Salman Pak and told me that tomorrow we had important visitors at the camp. They say we must set up proper security.

At 4:00 a.m. we moved to our positions. And at 10:00 a.m. four black Mercedes drove into the camp with heavy security. The accompanying vehicles were equipped with heavy, double-barrel machine guns. Qusay, Saddam's son, was driving the third car. And next to him sat Osama bin Laden.

At 11:00 a.m. they drove out in an open-top vehicle and reviewed the group, some way away from where I was standing. There were three companies of trainees. I was told they all belonged to Osama bin Laden's group, which had just completed six months of training. And today was their graduation day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENSOR: Now, one of the co-hosts of the new show is James Rubin, the former State Department spokesman. And he says the U.S. government should thoroughly investigate all this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JAMES RUBIN, HOST OF "WIDE ANGLE": The film is very clear that this is not proof, but this is a sufficiently compelling allegation that deserves more investigation.

Because if it's true, this is the link that the president has said is what makes Saddam Hussein so dangerous. Not so much that he would use his weapons of mass destruction directly against us, but that, someday, some way, somehow, they would fall into the wrong hands. And if the al Qaeda organization, the bin Laden organization, is now getting training or has been getting training in chemical and biological weapons, that's a pretty frightening prospect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENSOR: But is it true? Officials I've spoken to say U.S. intelligence has no evidence that members of al Qaeda were trained in the use of chemical or biological weapons in Iraq. They also say they have no evidence, none, that bin Laden visited Iraq in 1998. Although they're not ready to rule that out altogether.

There have of course been other suggestions Iraq and al Qaeda might have been cooperating -- evidence from Czech officials that Mohamed Atta, one of the September 11 hijackers, might have met in Prague with an Iraqi intelligence officer. But again, on that, knowledgeable officials say, while Atta apparently did pass through Prague in '99 and possibly 2000, they have no evidence that he was there in April of 2001, when the meeting was alleged to have taken place.

Now, certainly, there are many in Washington predisposed to believe there is an Iraqi connection to al Qaeda. And it would help the Bush administration convince others of the need for military action to affect regime change in Baghdad. But the U.S. officials I've been speaking to, at least, are skeptical about these allegations that are made in the PBS program tonight, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK, David Ensor, thank you. That PBS "Wide Angle" show, 9:00 Eastern Time on PBS.

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