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War on Terror Bigger Than Any One Person

Aired September 03, 2002 - 14:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if U.S. special operations forces have, as "The New York Times" reports, concluded that Osama bin Laden is probably dead, they can cite tantalizing evidence and plenty of experts. But so can the people who think bin Laden is alive and scheming.
As we hear now from CNN's Barbara Starr, both sides agree on one thing: The war on terror is bigger than any one person.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just six days after the 9/11 attacks, the president is unequivocal about Osama bin Laden:

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want justice. There is an old poster out west, as I recall, that said "wanted: dead or alive."

STARR: But over the last year, that vow is unfulfilled. No one in the Bush administration knows what has happened to the world's most wanted man.

BUSH: Osama bin Laden, he may be alive. If he is, we'll get him. If he's not alive, we got him.

STARR: There are compelling reasons for the experts to argue either way.

DALE WATSON, FBI EXEC. ASST. DIR. FOR COUNTERTERRORISM: I'm not real sure of answer is he alive are a dead? I personally think he is probably not with us anymore.

STARR: Dale Watson, the FBI's counterterrorism chief, believes one reason bin Laden is dead is that his former bodyguards are now in custody, and they would not have been captured away from their boss unless he was already dead.

Another potential piece of evidence bin Laden is dead: There has been no verified sighting, videotape or audio recording of him in nine months.

But some intelligence analysts say bin Laden might simply be lying low, that if he was dead, intercepts would have picked up chatter from his many followers.

So why no videotapes taunting the U.S.? DONALD RUMSFELD, SECY. OF DEFENSE: One might be he is not physically able, because he is injured in some way. Another might be because he is afraid if he does it, he will get caught. Intelligence experts are now combing the Internet, believing some recent e-mail messages may contain "markers" -- codewords used specifically by bin Laden, a possible indication he remains alive.

If he is alive, how does he keep getting away and where is he? This videotape made in Kandahar late last year shows bin Laden had already moved from his longtime hideouts near the border with Pakistan.

Rumors have continued that by December, he was in the mountains of Tora Bora, but then escaped again.

What is clear, finding bin Laden may not bring much comfort, as the Al Qaeda is rumored to be planning more attacks.

RUMSFELD: We do not know if he is dead or alive. We do know that he is having a great deal of difficulty functioning. He may be dead. He may be seriously wounded. He may by in Afghanistan. He may be somewhere else. But wherever he is, if he is, you can be certain he is having one dickens of a time operating his apparatus.

Now, is he critical? Well, he is important. But there are plenty of people who -- six, eight, 10, 12 people probably who could take over the al Qaeda.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And now live from New York, Barbara Starr.

Barbara, hello.

STARR: Hello, Kyra.

Well, let's talk about this "New York Times" article, and special operations, the head of special operations, saying this a fruitless hunt in Afghanistan. We are taking our missions elsewhere. What else are you hearing about special ops?

PHILLIPS: Well, officially, the special operations community says they have made no official assessment about bin Laden, whether he is alive or dead, and whether or not they could should continue searching for him. That is the official word.

Now, apparently, some members of the special forces community have told "The New York Times," they think bin Laden is dead and they think they should go on to higher priority tasks.

It is unlikely, actually, that, you know, the Bush administration is going to ever officially tell us that special operations have -- has given up looking for bin Laden. What's much more likely to happen here is they will continue to look for him on some level, so will law enforcement authorities, and of course so will members of the CIA. If he is alive, the best guess by the intelligence community is that he's continuing to operate somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistan border in those wild tribal regions, where there is very little central government.

But it's really quite interesting, a year later, as we approached this September 11th, the picture really hasn't changed all that much. No one for certain knows if he is dead or alive, or if he is in Afghanistan or somewhere else.

PHILLIPS: And, Barbara, your series continues. What can we expect from you tomorrow?

STARR: Tomorrow, we are going to shift focus a little bit. We are going to take a very special look inside the national military command center at the Pentagon, which was really the nerve center for the U.S. military on 9-11, as events unfolded.

PHILLIPS: All right, our Barbara Starr in New York. Thanks a lot, Barbara.

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