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Sixth Member of Alleged Terror Cell Pleads Guilty
Aired May 19, 2003 - 15:36 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The last and youngest member of the so-called "Buffalo Six" expected to plead guilty this afternoon. Twenty-two-year-old Mukhtar al-Bakri is one of six Yemeni-American men from Lackawanna accused of training at an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan just a few months before the September 11 attacks.
CNN's National Correspondent Susan Candiotti joins us live from Buffalo with the latest on all this. Susan, all of these members of the Buffalo group here, the Buffalo Six, cut deals, didn't they?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They did. And the last of those six, Mukhtar al Bakri, who is just 23 years old, is in the process of pleading guilty right now. That hearing is just about over.
Miles, you remember that this case broke just a few days after the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The charges were and the story broke that a sleeper cell of terrorists was operating, allegedly, out of, of all places, a suburb of Buffalo, New York, called Lackawanna, New York.
And today, now, eight months later, the case is eventually winding down with the last of the six defendants, Mukhtar al Bakri getting ready to plead guilty even as we speak.
All six admitted taking a trip to Afghanistan in the spring and summer of 2001, and in effect, because they attended that camp, provided material support to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization. All but two of the men admitting that they knew that this trip was illegal before they went.
Now, the government, all along, has said, Miles, that it never has had any evidence that these men were planning any specific attacks against the United States.
But we did learn, during the course of this plea agreement today, some new information. And that is that among other things, at least one member of the group talks about having been shown a map of U.S. military installations in the Mideast that were supposed to be targets of al Qaeda. Furthermore, that this young man had a personal meeting with Osama bin Laden, during which time he told Osama bin Laden that his parents didn't know that he was over here, and bin Laden told him to write a letter to his parents and to tell him he was OK.
And furthermore, the leaders of the camp told this group, according to the one defendant here, that there was an intention to attack the United States, and that they were looking for volunteers to do so. Also, that they had extensive training not only in how to use weapons, explosives, including plastique, land mines, and Molotov cocktails -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Susan Candiotti in Buffalo, 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 May 19, 2003 - 15:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The last and youngest member of the so-called "Buffalo Six" expected to plead guilty this afternoon. Twenty-two-year-old Mukhtar al-Bakri is one of six Yemeni-American men from Lackawanna accused of training at an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan just a few months before the September 11 attacks.
CNN's National Correspondent Susan Candiotti joins us live from Buffalo with the latest on all this. Susan, all of these members of the Buffalo group here, the Buffalo Six, cut deals, didn't they?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They did. And the last of those six, Mukhtar al Bakri, who is just 23 years old, is in the process of pleading guilty right now. That hearing is just about over.
Miles, you remember that this case broke just a few days after the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The charges were and the story broke that a sleeper cell of terrorists was operating, allegedly, out of, of all places, a suburb of Buffalo, New York, called Lackawanna, New York.
And today, now, eight months later, the case is eventually winding down with the last of the six defendants, Mukhtar al Bakri getting ready to plead guilty even as we speak.
All six admitted taking a trip to Afghanistan in the spring and summer of 2001, and in effect, because they attended that camp, provided material support to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization. All but two of the men admitting that they knew that this trip was illegal before they went.
Now, the government, all along, has said, Miles, that it never has had any evidence that these men were planning any specific attacks against the United States.
But we did learn, during the course of this plea agreement today, some new information. And that is that among other things, at least one member of the group talks about having been shown a map of U.S. military installations in the Mideast that were supposed to be targets of al Qaeda. Furthermore, that this young man had a personal meeting with Osama bin Laden, during which time he told Osama bin Laden that his parents didn't know that he was over here, and bin Laden told him to write a letter to his parents and to tell him he was OK.
And furthermore, the leaders of the camp told this group, according to the one defendant here, that there was an intention to attack the United States, and that they were looking for volunteers to do so. Also, that they had extensive training not only in how to use weapons, explosives, including plastique, land mines, and Molotov cocktails -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Susan Candiotti in Buffalo, 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
