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Tape Calls for Muslims to Attack Embassies
Aired May 21, 2003 - 15:02 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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: It is 3:00 p.m. here in the nation's capital, noon on the West Coast. I'm Judy Woodruff live from Washington.
With Americans back on high alert for terrorism, there are disturbing new signs that Al Qaeda is still up and running and plotting deadly attacks. Saudi Security sources tell CNN that three alleged Al Qaeda members arrested at an airport in Jeddah are suspected of planning to hijack a Saudi plane and crash it into a building in that city.
And the Al Jazeera network has released an audiotape message purportedly from Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, Dr. Ayman al- Zawahiri. The tape calls on Muslims to attack embassies and other targets in the United States, Britain, Australia and Norway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI (through translator): ... will not be enough. You will only benefit by taking arms and using them against the enemies: the Americans and the Jews. Protests are a waste of time. They will not protect you (ph) threatened, sacred patrimony and they will not repel an occupying enemy and will not deter a shrewd aggressor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Let's bring in our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson. He is today at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Of course, recently back from Iraq. Nic, what do we know about when this tape was recorded?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We know that it appears to have been recorded after the war in Iraq, or at least during the war in Iraq. There certainly appears to be no indication there of the recent bomb bombings in Saudi Arabia, in Morocco. So it would be, perhaps, safe to say that it was recorded or at least possibly recorded before last week, but maybe perhaps within the last month and a half since the war in Iraq.
There are references to the war in Iraq; there are references to the leaders of the countries around Iraq to Egypt, to Jordan, to Saudi Arabia, to Kuwait, to Qatar, to Bahrain as well, telling Muslims in the region that these leaders have been essentially two-faced. Because while they have said that they oppose the war in Iraq, they have in fact given coalition support.
WOODRUFF: Nic, any significance to the fact that Norway was mentioned? That seemed to stick out among the countries he mentioned.
ROBERTSON: It does. We haven't seen Norway put in there with Britain, with the United States, with Australia in the past.
Now Norwegian intelligence officials we've talked to have been scratching their heads on this issue. They haven't come up with a reason so far. However, Norway does have troops inside Afghanistan and another Scandinavian country was involved in the coalition of the willing in Iraq. So perhaps either confusion within al Qaeda's ranks in giving that particular message or perhaps a reference to Norwegian presence inside Afghanistan.
WOODRUFF: Nic, let me mention or repeat back to you something that Richard Boucher, who is the State Department correspondent, said today. He was criticizing the news media. He said these tapes are inflammatory. He said they are not a news event per se in that it's not verifiable. He said it's just greed. Is there really some value in the -- for the news media to air these tapes?
ROBERTSON: Well certainly before we aired any portion of these tapes we reviewed them. We didn't take them to air as soon as they came in. We only aired portions.
We didn't air the inflammatory comments within there. But some of the information contained there, the nature of these specific threats to the United States, to Great Britain, to Australia, to Norway, the nature of the argument that al Qaeda is making to its people within the region, we feel and the reason we broadcast these particular parts is because we feel it's important for people's understanding about al Qaeda's thinking, about the way it's getting its message out about what it's trying to tell its people and its followers and broaden its support apparently at this time.
So we were very careful in reviewing the material before we broadcast any portion of it. Again, we didn't broadcast all of it -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: Right. All right. Nic Robertson. And again, it's great to see you back safe and sound from the region.
ROBERTSON: Thank you.
WOODRUFF: Thanks very much, Nic Robertson. And we want to tell you Nic will join Miles and Kyra again at the bottom of this hour to answer some of your questions about the latest terror threats. You can e-mail him at livefrom@cnn.com.
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 21, 2003 - 15:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: It is 3:00 p.m. here in the nation's capital, noon on the West Coast. I'm Judy Woodruff live from Washington.
With Americans back on high alert for terrorism, there are disturbing new signs that Al Qaeda is still up and running and plotting deadly attacks. Saudi Security sources tell CNN that three alleged Al Qaeda members arrested at an airport in Jeddah are suspected of planning to hijack a Saudi plane and crash it into a building in that city.
And the Al Jazeera network has released an audiotape message purportedly from Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, Dr. Ayman al- Zawahiri. The tape calls on Muslims to attack embassies and other targets in the United States, Britain, Australia and Norway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI (through translator): ... will not be enough. You will only benefit by taking arms and using them against the enemies: the Americans and the Jews. Protests are a waste of time. They will not protect you (ph) threatened, sacred patrimony and they will not repel an occupying enemy and will not deter a shrewd aggressor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Let's bring in our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson. He is today at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Of course, recently back from Iraq. Nic, what do we know about when this tape was recorded?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We know that it appears to have been recorded after the war in Iraq, or at least during the war in Iraq. There certainly appears to be no indication there of the recent bomb bombings in Saudi Arabia, in Morocco. So it would be, perhaps, safe to say that it was recorded or at least possibly recorded before last week, but maybe perhaps within the last month and a half since the war in Iraq.
There are references to the war in Iraq; there are references to the leaders of the countries around Iraq to Egypt, to Jordan, to Saudi Arabia, to Kuwait, to Qatar, to Bahrain as well, telling Muslims in the region that these leaders have been essentially two-faced. Because while they have said that they oppose the war in Iraq, they have in fact given coalition support.
WOODRUFF: Nic, any significance to the fact that Norway was mentioned? That seemed to stick out among the countries he mentioned.
ROBERTSON: It does. We haven't seen Norway put in there with Britain, with the United States, with Australia in the past.
Now Norwegian intelligence officials we've talked to have been scratching their heads on this issue. They haven't come up with a reason so far. However, Norway does have troops inside Afghanistan and another Scandinavian country was involved in the coalition of the willing in Iraq. So perhaps either confusion within al Qaeda's ranks in giving that particular message or perhaps a reference to Norwegian presence inside Afghanistan.
WOODRUFF: Nic, let me mention or repeat back to you something that Richard Boucher, who is the State Department correspondent, said today. He was criticizing the news media. He said these tapes are inflammatory. He said they are not a news event per se in that it's not verifiable. He said it's just greed. Is there really some value in the -- for the news media to air these tapes?
ROBERTSON: Well certainly before we aired any portion of these tapes we reviewed them. We didn't take them to air as soon as they came in. We only aired portions.
We didn't air the inflammatory comments within there. But some of the information contained there, the nature of these specific threats to the United States, to Great Britain, to Australia, to Norway, the nature of the argument that al Qaeda is making to its people within the region, we feel and the reason we broadcast these particular parts is because we feel it's important for people's understanding about al Qaeda's thinking, about the way it's getting its message out about what it's trying to tell its people and its followers and broaden its support apparently at this time.
So we were very careful in reviewing the material before we broadcast any portion of it. Again, we didn't broadcast all of it -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: Right. All right. Nic Robertson. And again, it's great to see you back safe and sound from the region.
ROBERTSON: Thank you.
WOODRUFF: Thanks very much, Nic Robertson. And we want to tell you Nic will join Miles and Kyra again at the bottom of this hour to answer some of your questions about the latest terror threats. You can e-mail him at livefrom@cnn.com.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
