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Praise for Attackers Attributed to Bin Laden
Aired October 14, 2002 - 13:09 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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A statement attributed to Osama bin Laden praises the Kuwaitis that attacked those Marines and praisers the bombers of the French oil tanker off Yemen. An Islamic Web site carried the message, and Al-Jazeera says it has a copy. More on this from CNN's Mike Boettcher in London.
Mike, is this verified as an actual message from Osama bin Laden himself, by his own hand?
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT; Well, Carol, not completely verified yet, but it has all the hallmarks of Al Qaeda messages, and you have to look at where the messages came from. It came two sources this morning. We've been tracking it for eight hours off an Islamic Web site on a server. We monitor all those sites. This is a message signed by Osama bin Laden. Then about three hours ago, the Arabic- language television news network Al-Jazeera also broadcasts the same message, a copy of this message, also signed reportedly by Osama bin Laden.
Really, truly it is impossible to know 100 percent that it is from him, but the language is very consistent. Let's take a look at some of the language from this particular statement that was released. It is written that "The heroic operation in Kuwait proves the level of danger that threatens Islamic countries. The priority in this war at this stage must be against the infidels, the Americans and the Jews who have not stopped their injustice."
Also, they go further than just congratulating those. They actually seem to take credit and say that the timing under further analysis of this letter, "The timing was meant to coincide with the beginning of U.S. operations against Al Qaeda in the beginning of October." So, we're completely analyzing this letter from top to bottom, Carol, but it does look to be authentic at this point.
LIN: Mike, at this point, Mike, wouldn't you make -- is there a pattern here? You have an attack on the American soldiers, you have the attack on the French tanker; now in Indonesia you have this attack against Western tourists in Bali. Is there a connection here?
BOETTCHER: Could be. Could be a matter of signals. There's been a lot of Al Qaeda chatter around the world. We had the two audiotapes released of Aman Al-Zwari (ph), the right hand man of Osama bin Laden, and then an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden himself. There were fears from U.S. intelligence agencies and coalition agencies that these two tapes may have been trigger mechanisms to start attacks around. Now, one of the interesting things about the Aman Al-Zawari (ph) taped statements and bin Laden's, it really points to the fact that they're looking at economic targets, while at the same time, keeping up the pressure against symbolic targets, like U.S. military in Kuwait.
But if you look at this whole economic campaign, which was mentioned specifically by Aman Al-Zwari (ph) the right hand man. We had the attack on the tanker. That is going to impact on oil prices, because insurance rates for tankers could rise as much as 250 percent.
Then you had the attack in Bali. Now the Bali attack was not mentioned in this release, purported release from Al Qaeda, but that will have a dramatic impact on tourism, worldwide, especially in Indonesia, and according to all experts and intelligence agencies we've spoken to, it is believed by them truly that this is an Al Qaeda attack in Bali.
LIN: And also, when you look at it from a geographic standpoint, very interesting. It seems like the theater of war for Al Qaeda is widening, Mike. Is this a new front, then, in the South Pacific?
BOETTCHER: Well, the Southeast Asia and the South Pacific front has been one that they have attempted for a long time. If you go back to the U.S. attacks in Afghanistan, there was a lot of evidence, some of it Mohamed Attef's bombed-out house, that pointed to attempts by Jamaa Islamia (ph), a group that has been nurtured by Al Qaeda for about 10 years in Indonesia, this is a group that wants to create an Islamic state in Malaysia, in Indonesia, and in the Philippines, and if you go back and look at the evidence found there, videotapes, surveillance tapes of U.S. targets that were taken, supposedly by this group, and also, look at the videotape from the Al Qaeda archives which CNN recovered, Nic Robertson in Afghanistan this past fall, you will see that they collected much tape from this group that there was a lot of interest in the Indonesian groups, and this will be a front that will be much more active -- Carol.
LIN: Very interesting. Thank you very 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 14, 2002 - 13:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A statement attributed to Osama bin Laden praises the Kuwaitis that attacked those Marines and praisers the bombers of the French oil tanker off Yemen. An Islamic Web site carried the message, and Al-Jazeera says it has a copy. More on this from CNN's Mike Boettcher in London.
Mike, is this verified as an actual message from Osama bin Laden himself, by his own hand?
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT; Well, Carol, not completely verified yet, but it has all the hallmarks of Al Qaeda messages, and you have to look at where the messages came from. It came two sources this morning. We've been tracking it for eight hours off an Islamic Web site on a server. We monitor all those sites. This is a message signed by Osama bin Laden. Then about three hours ago, the Arabic- language television news network Al-Jazeera also broadcasts the same message, a copy of this message, also signed reportedly by Osama bin Laden.
Really, truly it is impossible to know 100 percent that it is from him, but the language is very consistent. Let's take a look at some of the language from this particular statement that was released. It is written that "The heroic operation in Kuwait proves the level of danger that threatens Islamic countries. The priority in this war at this stage must be against the infidels, the Americans and the Jews who have not stopped their injustice."
Also, they go further than just congratulating those. They actually seem to take credit and say that the timing under further analysis of this letter, "The timing was meant to coincide with the beginning of U.S. operations against Al Qaeda in the beginning of October." So, we're completely analyzing this letter from top to bottom, Carol, but it does look to be authentic at this point.
LIN: Mike, at this point, Mike, wouldn't you make -- is there a pattern here? You have an attack on the American soldiers, you have the attack on the French tanker; now in Indonesia you have this attack against Western tourists in Bali. Is there a connection here?
BOETTCHER: Could be. Could be a matter of signals. There's been a lot of Al Qaeda chatter around the world. We had the two audiotapes released of Aman Al-Zwari (ph), the right hand man of Osama bin Laden, and then an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden himself. There were fears from U.S. intelligence agencies and coalition agencies that these two tapes may have been trigger mechanisms to start attacks around. Now, one of the interesting things about the Aman Al-Zawari (ph) taped statements and bin Laden's, it really points to the fact that they're looking at economic targets, while at the same time, keeping up the pressure against symbolic targets, like U.S. military in Kuwait.
But if you look at this whole economic campaign, which was mentioned specifically by Aman Al-Zwari (ph) the right hand man. We had the attack on the tanker. That is going to impact on oil prices, because insurance rates for tankers could rise as much as 250 percent.
Then you had the attack in Bali. Now the Bali attack was not mentioned in this release, purported release from Al Qaeda, but that will have a dramatic impact on tourism, worldwide, especially in Indonesia, and according to all experts and intelligence agencies we've spoken to, it is believed by them truly that this is an Al Qaeda attack in Bali.
LIN: And also, when you look at it from a geographic standpoint, very interesting. It seems like the theater of war for Al Qaeda is widening, Mike. Is this a new front, then, in the South Pacific?
BOETTCHER: Well, the Southeast Asia and the South Pacific front has been one that they have attempted for a long time. If you go back to the U.S. attacks in Afghanistan, there was a lot of evidence, some of it Mohamed Attef's bombed-out house, that pointed to attempts by Jamaa Islamia (ph), a group that has been nurtured by Al Qaeda for about 10 years in Indonesia, this is a group that wants to create an Islamic state in Malaysia, in Indonesia, and in the Philippines, and if you go back and look at the evidence found there, videotapes, surveillance tapes of U.S. targets that were taken, supposedly by this group, and also, look at the videotape from the Al Qaeda archives which CNN recovered, Nic Robertson in Afghanistan this past fall, you will see that they collected much tape from this group that there was a lot of interest in the Indonesian groups, and this will be a front that will be much more active -- Carol.
LIN: Very interesting. Thank you very 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
