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Suspected Al Qaeda Audiotapes Released

Aired February 24, 2004 - 15:03   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: Terrorists will pose a threat to the U.S. for the foreseeable future. That's according to the CIA director, George Tenet, testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee today. Tenet says al Qaeda is weakened, but still intent on carrying out catastrophic attacks.
However, he testified the greatest threat may come from other Islamic extremist groups. The talk also turned to Iraq and the flap over prewar intelligence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: In terms of weaponization and deployment and then finding nothing, it's a pretty bitter pill to swallow with respect to the value of intelligence, particularly in a preemptive war.

GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: We're spending a lot of money and we've got a lot of people doing it, but from a professional perspective, we darn well better know one way or another and be damn honest about it at the end of the day, because we have that responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Tenet says he thinks WMDs, weapons of mass destruction, could still be found in Iraq.

And tonight, more of our special series on U.S. intelligence concerns. On March 29, 2003, U.S. forces in Iraq thought they were under imminent attack. CNN was inside the war room when intelligence analysts and the most advanced technology completely misread the situation on the ground. Mike Boettcher brings us the anatomy of an intelligence failure. That's at 8:00 Eastern tonight on CNN's "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And on the highs of that report, a promise to sew death in America, reportedly from Osama bin Laden's top deputy. Two Arabic-language networks airing audiotapes now said to be the voice of Ayman al-Zawahiri.

With us now, Octavia Nasr, CNN senior editor for Arab affairs.

Kind of decipher what do you see kind of reading between the lines of what he came out and said.

Let's first listen to this piece of the tape, OK? Zawahiri talking about Bush.

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SR. EDITOR FOR ARAB AFFAIRS: All right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Bush has delivered his State of the Union address to Congress and he filled his speech with lies and he stuffed it with misleading information. One has to wonder how the leader of the strongest country on the face of the earth is not ashamed of flagrantly lying and making things up in this way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right, what do you take away from this?

NASR: The interesting thing in this part that we just heard, this is the message that we heard on Al-Jazeera.

It's very important to say that we heard two different audiotapes today, one aired on Al-Arabiya based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and one aired on Al-Jazeera. The one on Al-Jazeera was a direct message to President Bush. It was answered directly to the State of the Union address. If this is, indeed, al-Zawahiri he, was very careful to say that in the beginning of his speech, that this is a direct answer to the State of the Union address. He called President Bush a liar.

He said that he's making things up, that he cannot believe how people are manipulated by these lies. He talked about Iraq. He talked about Afghanistan. And he also talked about a threat. What we didn't hear in this sound bite here is that he said: The Muslim nation which sent you the contingent of New York and Washington is determined to send you a contingent after the other, carrying death and longing for paradise -- very strong words, a very strong message.

And this is where this whole threat, the renewed threat, is coming from. When we say there are renewed threats, there were threats, we just didn't hear them from him, but we can transliterate them and say what he said.

PHILLIPS: All right, speaking of threats, let's listen to what he had to say here regarding al Qaeda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We remind Bush that he didn't destroy two-thirds of al Qaeda. On the contrary, al Qaeda, with God's help, remains in the field of jihad, raising the flag of Islam in the face of the Zionist crusader campaign against it.

Bush, protect your targets, strengthen your defenses and heighten your security measures. The Muslim nation which sent you the contingent of New York and Washington is determined to send you a contingent after the other carrying death and longing for paradise.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Trying to say that al Qaeda is much stronger than Bush says it is.

NASR: Sort of.

But it's also a direct answer to President Bush, in his State of the Union address, saying that two-thirds of al Qaeda has vanished. They were either captured or killed. He's saying -- later on in his speech, he says, here we are. We're sending out messages. So try to explain that, if you can.

PHILLIPS: All right, we're going to talk more about these messages. Finally, this regarding head scarves in France, this is interesting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The French president's decision to pass a law banning Muslim women from wearing the hijab, the head scarf, in schools is another proof of the crusaders' hatred towards Muslims.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, you were saying that every time a country has been mentioned, this is the country that's attacked. What does that mean?

NASR: It seems like that. Everyone who has been watching, all the experts watching Zawahiri point out the fact that every time he mentions a country, there is some sort of attack. He mentioned Turkey. There were a few bombings in Turkey. He mentioned Pakistan's president by name. There was two attempts on the life of the Pakistani president.

So here, the question mark is, is this a message to his to followers to do something, to move in France or not? The interesting thing in this is that this message was aired on Al-Arabiya. And it's totally different from the message that aired on Jazeera. This one is about the head scarves. Again, it gives us a timeline. It tells us when this tape was recorded.

And another element that is very interesting in this speech, later on, he says, when you are in France, the land of freedom, you are free to get naked, but you are not free to be decent and cover yourself up, a very clear and strong message to supporters of Islam and supporters of the head scarf in particular.

PHILLIPS: Octavia Nasr, thank you so much.

NASR: Thank you.

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 February 24, 2004 - 15:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Terrorists will pose a threat to the U.S. for the foreseeable future. That's according to the CIA director, George Tenet, testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee today. Tenet says al Qaeda is weakened, but still intent on carrying out catastrophic attacks.
However, he testified the greatest threat may come from other Islamic extremist groups. The talk also turned to Iraq and the flap over prewar intelligence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: In terms of weaponization and deployment and then finding nothing, it's a pretty bitter pill to swallow with respect to the value of intelligence, particularly in a preemptive war.

GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: We're spending a lot of money and we've got a lot of people doing it, but from a professional perspective, we darn well better know one way or another and be damn honest about it at the end of the day, because we have that responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Tenet says he thinks WMDs, weapons of mass destruction, could still be found in Iraq.

And tonight, more of our special series on U.S. intelligence concerns. On March 29, 2003, U.S. forces in Iraq thought they were under imminent attack. CNN was inside the war room when intelligence analysts and the most advanced technology completely misread the situation on the ground. Mike Boettcher brings us the anatomy of an intelligence failure. That's at 8:00 Eastern tonight on CNN's "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And on the highs of that report, a promise to sew death in America, reportedly from Osama bin Laden's top deputy. Two Arabic-language networks airing audiotapes now said to be the voice of Ayman al-Zawahiri.

With us now, Octavia Nasr, CNN senior editor for Arab affairs.

Kind of decipher what do you see kind of reading between the lines of what he came out and said.

Let's first listen to this piece of the tape, OK? Zawahiri talking about Bush.

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SR. EDITOR FOR ARAB AFFAIRS: All right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Bush has delivered his State of the Union address to Congress and he filled his speech with lies and he stuffed it with misleading information. One has to wonder how the leader of the strongest country on the face of the earth is not ashamed of flagrantly lying and making things up in this way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right, what do you take away from this?

NASR: The interesting thing in this part that we just heard, this is the message that we heard on Al-Jazeera.

It's very important to say that we heard two different audiotapes today, one aired on Al-Arabiya based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and one aired on Al-Jazeera. The one on Al-Jazeera was a direct message to President Bush. It was answered directly to the State of the Union address. If this is, indeed, al-Zawahiri he, was very careful to say that in the beginning of his speech, that this is a direct answer to the State of the Union address. He called President Bush a liar.

He said that he's making things up, that he cannot believe how people are manipulated by these lies. He talked about Iraq. He talked about Afghanistan. And he also talked about a threat. What we didn't hear in this sound bite here is that he said: The Muslim nation which sent you the contingent of New York and Washington is determined to send you a contingent after the other, carrying death and longing for paradise -- very strong words, a very strong message.

And this is where this whole threat, the renewed threat, is coming from. When we say there are renewed threats, there were threats, we just didn't hear them from him, but we can transliterate them and say what he said.

PHILLIPS: All right, speaking of threats, let's listen to what he had to say here regarding al Qaeda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We remind Bush that he didn't destroy two-thirds of al Qaeda. On the contrary, al Qaeda, with God's help, remains in the field of jihad, raising the flag of Islam in the face of the Zionist crusader campaign against it.

Bush, protect your targets, strengthen your defenses and heighten your security measures. The Muslim nation which sent you the contingent of New York and Washington is determined to send you a contingent after the other carrying death and longing for paradise.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Trying to say that al Qaeda is much stronger than Bush says it is.

NASR: Sort of.

But it's also a direct answer to President Bush, in his State of the Union address, saying that two-thirds of al Qaeda has vanished. They were either captured or killed. He's saying -- later on in his speech, he says, here we are. We're sending out messages. So try to explain that, if you can.

PHILLIPS: All right, we're going to talk more about these messages. Finally, this regarding head scarves in France, this is interesting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The French president's decision to pass a law banning Muslim women from wearing the hijab, the head scarf, in schools is another proof of the crusaders' hatred towards Muslims.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, you were saying that every time a country has been mentioned, this is the country that's attacked. What does that mean?

NASR: It seems like that. Everyone who has been watching, all the experts watching Zawahiri point out the fact that every time he mentions a country, there is some sort of attack. He mentioned Turkey. There were a few bombings in Turkey. He mentioned Pakistan's president by name. There was two attempts on the life of the Pakistani president.

So here, the question mark is, is this a message to his to followers to do something, to move in France or not? The interesting thing in this is that this message was aired on Al-Arabiya. And it's totally different from the message that aired on Jazeera. This one is about the head scarves. Again, it gives us a timeline. It tells us when this tape was recorded.

And another element that is very interesting in this speech, later on, he says, when you are in France, the land of freedom, you are free to get naked, but you are not free to be decent and cover yourself up, a very clear and strong message to supporters of Islam and supporters of the head scarf in particular.

PHILLIPS: Octavia Nasr, thank you so much.

NASR: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com