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Walker Lindh Sentenced Tomorrow
Aired October 03, 2002 - 14:35 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: California-born John Walker Lindh is due to be sentenced tomorrow for his role as a Taliban fighter, and he's expected to get 20 years. You may recall Lindh pleaded guilty instead of going to trial, thus sparing the government the unwanted task of publicizing evidence against him.
CNN has obtained some classified summaries of Lindh's interrogations back in Afghanistan.
CNN's Mike Boettcher joins us with this exclusive and compelling detail.
Mike, what can you tell us?
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, on December 1, U.S. Special Forces did an interrogation of John Walker Lindh. This is the secret summary of that particular interrogation. Then, on December 9 and 10, the FBI had their turn interrogating John Walker Lindh, and this is the secret summary of that interrogation.
Now, in examining these two summaries, John Walker Lindh told his interrogators that the attacks on 9/11 were part one of a three-phase attack against the United States. The second phase, he said, was to have occurred in November of 2001, during Ramadan. That attack, he said, was to use biological weapons and also could include an attack on a nuclear weapons facility. Phase three was to begin in early 2002, but there were no specific details on that particular attack.
His interrogators noted in these summaries that they felt that this was conjecture based on John Walker Lindh's conversation with other people in the camp, and did not indicate hard information that he had.
Now, as well, John Walker Lindh says he was told by his instructor at the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) camp in Afghanistan that 50 al Qaeda operative were sent to the United States to conduct 20 suicide missions. But there are no other details about future terrorist attacks. And again, it appears, looking at the summaries, Kyra, that he was getting information -- it was the talk in the camps -- except that he said his instructor told him about those 50 operatives.
He also says in the interrogations that he was asked to -- if he would want to carry out an attack in the United States or go on a mission. He said he rejected the offer, deciding to join Taliban forces on the front line in Afghanistan instead -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So Mike, taking a look at these interrogations, did it look -- has it been easy for officials to interrogate John Walker Lindh versus other al Qaeda operatives?
BOETTCHER: It's kind of hard to tell from the summary. There is a lot of information in the summaries. It's hard to tell what approach they used. The approach that works most for interrogators -- and I was at the Army's interrogation school in Fort Huachuca, Arizona -- those interrogators say the best approach usually is the direct approach: asking the question and giving certain little rewards or incentives for answers being given. There are other approaches: fear up -- making someone fearful -- or fear down, trying to calm down someone to try to get information.
But I really can't tell from looking at these interrogation reports, Kyra. He did give information, but a lot of al Qaeda prisoners have given information. Some are trained specifically to dole out information, let's say, perishable information in the beginning of the interrogation, and maybe later on giving substantial information, as is the case with Abu Zabedah, the top al Qaeda member who is now in coalition custody.
PHILLIPS: Any of this information that you've been able to read in this testimony, has any of this helped the intelligence communities with regard to tracking down terrorists or possible plots?
BOETTCHER: There is one specific piece of information in there that might help greatly. And that is John Walker Lindh reports that in the interrogations that the families of top al Qaeda members were sent to Yemen in early 2001 and in the summer of 2001, before the 9/11 attacks. And it was his belief that Osama bin Laden might go to Yemen.
PHILLIPS: Mike Boettcher, incredible stuff. Thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 3, 2002 - 14:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: California-born John Walker Lindh is due to be sentenced tomorrow for his role as a Taliban fighter, and he's expected to get 20 years. You may recall Lindh pleaded guilty instead of going to trial, thus sparing the government the unwanted task of publicizing evidence against him.
CNN has obtained some classified summaries of Lindh's interrogations back in Afghanistan.
CNN's Mike Boettcher joins us with this exclusive and compelling detail.
Mike, what can you tell us?
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, on December 1, U.S. Special Forces did an interrogation of John Walker Lindh. This is the secret summary of that particular interrogation. Then, on December 9 and 10, the FBI had their turn interrogating John Walker Lindh, and this is the secret summary of that interrogation.
Now, in examining these two summaries, John Walker Lindh told his interrogators that the attacks on 9/11 were part one of a three-phase attack against the United States. The second phase, he said, was to have occurred in November of 2001, during Ramadan. That attack, he said, was to use biological weapons and also could include an attack on a nuclear weapons facility. Phase three was to begin in early 2002, but there were no specific details on that particular attack.
His interrogators noted in these summaries that they felt that this was conjecture based on John Walker Lindh's conversation with other people in the camp, and did not indicate hard information that he had.
Now, as well, John Walker Lindh says he was told by his instructor at the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) camp in Afghanistan that 50 al Qaeda operative were sent to the United States to conduct 20 suicide missions. But there are no other details about future terrorist attacks. And again, it appears, looking at the summaries, Kyra, that he was getting information -- it was the talk in the camps -- except that he said his instructor told him about those 50 operatives.
He also says in the interrogations that he was asked to -- if he would want to carry out an attack in the United States or go on a mission. He said he rejected the offer, deciding to join Taliban forces on the front line in Afghanistan instead -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So Mike, taking a look at these interrogations, did it look -- has it been easy for officials to interrogate John Walker Lindh versus other al Qaeda operatives?
BOETTCHER: It's kind of hard to tell from the summary. There is a lot of information in the summaries. It's hard to tell what approach they used. The approach that works most for interrogators -- and I was at the Army's interrogation school in Fort Huachuca, Arizona -- those interrogators say the best approach usually is the direct approach: asking the question and giving certain little rewards or incentives for answers being given. There are other approaches: fear up -- making someone fearful -- or fear down, trying to calm down someone to try to get information.
But I really can't tell from looking at these interrogation reports, Kyra. He did give information, but a lot of al Qaeda prisoners have given information. Some are trained specifically to dole out information, let's say, perishable information in the beginning of the interrogation, and maybe later on giving substantial information, as is the case with Abu Zabedah, the top al Qaeda member who is now in coalition custody.
PHILLIPS: Any of this information that you've been able to read in this testimony, has any of this helped the intelligence communities with regard to tracking down terrorists or possible plots?
BOETTCHER: There is one specific piece of information in there that might help greatly. And that is John Walker Lindh reports that in the interrogations that the families of top al Qaeda members were sent to Yemen in early 2001 and in the summer of 2001, before the 9/11 attacks. And it was his belief that Osama bin Laden might go to Yemen.
PHILLIPS: Mike Boettcher, incredible stuff. Thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
