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Possible Link Between Kenya, Saudi Attacks
Aired December 02, 2002 - 14:04 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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Is there a connection between the shoulder-fired missiles used to target an Israeli jet last week, and an attempt to shoot down a U.S. military plane in Saudi Arabia last May?
CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, with the details on this one, and it is interesting -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Martin, it appears there is a connection, and it is essentially al Qaeda, at least that's what U.S. intelligence believes. U.S. officials say that the serial numbers found on the missile launchers, the SA-7 missile launchers found in Kenya, are very close in sequence to the serial numbers found on a similar missile launcher found outside the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia back in May.
Now, what they believe is that these missiles were all purchased about the same time, in the same place, by the same people, and they believe those people are al Qaeda operatives. This would very strongly suggest a link with al Qaeda in both the Kenya attacks and, of course, the incident in Saudi Arabia.
Now, in both cases, the missiles failed to take down the planes. In Saudi Arabia, it appeared the missiles misfired. In Kenya, it appeared that they simply missed. Now, that could be a function of the operators not having enough training, or it could be that this equipment, these Russian-made SA-7 shoulder-fired missiles, which are from the 1970s, they may just not be in very good operating order anymore -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Jamie, I've got another question for you. Reports of leaflets being dropped over the southern no-fly zone?
MCINTYRE: They're dropping more leaflets all the time in the no- fly zones. This is an ongoing effort by the U.S. military to try to send a message to the rank-and-file Iraqi forces that they should stop, A, targeting U.S. planes, and specifically in this case, not rebuild some of the things that the U.S. is bombing. The U.S. is targeting Iraq's air defense system, and part of that is underground cables -- fiber optic cables that are used to link the various radars together.
And in the latest leaflets that they dropped, they warned the Iraqis not to rebuild those cables that had just been bombed.
SAVIDGE: Jamie McIntyre live from the Pentagon -- 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 December 2, 2002 - 14:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Is there a connection between the shoulder-fired missiles used to target an Israeli jet last week, and an attempt to shoot down a U.S. military plane in Saudi Arabia last May?
CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, with the details on this one, and it is interesting -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Martin, it appears there is a connection, and it is essentially al Qaeda, at least that's what U.S. intelligence believes. U.S. officials say that the serial numbers found on the missile launchers, the SA-7 missile launchers found in Kenya, are very close in sequence to the serial numbers found on a similar missile launcher found outside the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia back in May.
Now, what they believe is that these missiles were all purchased about the same time, in the same place, by the same people, and they believe those people are al Qaeda operatives. This would very strongly suggest a link with al Qaeda in both the Kenya attacks and, of course, the incident in Saudi Arabia.
Now, in both cases, the missiles failed to take down the planes. In Saudi Arabia, it appeared the missiles misfired. In Kenya, it appeared that they simply missed. Now, that could be a function of the operators not having enough training, or it could be that this equipment, these Russian-made SA-7 shoulder-fired missiles, which are from the 1970s, they may just not be in very good operating order anymore -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Jamie, I've got another question for you. Reports of leaflets being dropped over the southern no-fly zone?
MCINTYRE: They're dropping more leaflets all the time in the no- fly zones. This is an ongoing effort by the U.S. military to try to send a message to the rank-and-file Iraqi forces that they should stop, A, targeting U.S. planes, and specifically in this case, not rebuild some of the things that the U.S. is bombing. The U.S. is targeting Iraq's air defense system, and part of that is underground cables -- fiber optic cables that are used to link the various radars together.
And in the latest leaflets that they dropped, they warned the Iraqis not to rebuild those cables that had just been bombed.
SAVIDGE: Jamie McIntyre live from the Pentagon -- 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.
