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NYC Terror Scheme; Jihad Online: London: One Year Later

Aired July 07, 2006 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: New York City suddenly under water. Imagine the chaos, the casualties, the panic. It appears that was the scene envisioned by a terror group, allegedly setting its sights on high-use transportation targets in and around the city.
Here's what we know.

The FBI says it uncovered a plot several months ago to blow up tunnels in the New York area. The plot reportedly never got past the planning stage.

Not all the details are known or being released, but authorities in Lebanon have one man in custody. It's believed to be the mastermind of the plot. And two other suspects are being held in unnamed countries.

As for today, the FBI says there is no specific or credible threat to facilitates or transportation in New York City or anywhere else in the United States.

And now to New York City and one of the reported targets of the plot.

Our senior correspondent, Allan Chernoff, is outside the Holland Tunnel.

Allan, it was underscored that there were many conveyances across the river that were targets.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Yes. What they said in the press conference that just ended, the police commissioner of New York and the director of the FBI office here in New York said that there have been threats against the tunnels and bridges of New York going from Manhattan to New Jersey, but specifically they said during the press conference that just concluded is that the half-tunnels extending from lower Manhattan to New Jersey were the actual targets, apparently, in this specific case.

And very interesting, those half-tunnels actually extend from the World Trade Center site into New Jersey. So that's very critical here.

They did mention that there are eight principal players in this threat and that three of them are in custody. One actually facing charges in Lebanon, a 31-year-old male.

Also, this was a government operation that was coordinated worldwide. They said that actually six governments were involved, including the U.S. and Lebanon.

Now, when were they actually planning to pull all this off? Well, they said it was right now in the planning stages and that they intended to actually execute later this year in October or November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK MERSHON, FBI NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE: The -- I'll use the term that the planning or the plotting for this attack had matured to the point where it appeared the individuals were about to move forward. And this is to supplement the commissioner's testimony -- or talk here.

They were about to go to a phase where they would attempt to surveil targets, establish a regimen of attack, and acquire the resources necessary to effectuate the attacks. And at that point, I think it is entirely appropriate to take it down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: The authorities also said that they were quite displeased that this threat had been publicly reported. They said it was not intended to be released just yet, that the investigation is continuing. And they say the fact that it is now public is going to complicate the relations with the other governments involved in this investigation and the continuing investigation itself -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Allan Chernoff, thank you so much from New York City.

Well, sources tell CNN the New York tunnel plot was discovered by agents watching Internet chat rooms.

CNN's Octavia Nasr reports the Web is an invaluable weapon for would-be terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SR. EDITOR, ARAB AFFAIRS (voice over): A war is being waged online, complete with troops, arsenals and a propaganda machine. The intelligence community refers to it as "online jihad" and warns it is not to be taken lightly.

LAURA MANSFIELD, COUNTERTERRORISM EXPERT: Well, there's documented evidence over the past few years of terror attacks being planned on the Internet, including the Madrid bombings in May 2004, up to and including, possibly, the London bombings.

NASR: Terrorism experts believe it all began here with this chilling video of American contractor Nick Berg, as his cold-blooded beheading was taped and posted on the Internet for all to see.

Thousands of radical Islamist Web sites came into existence since that moment. Some representing specific insurgency groups, others speaking in the name of entire regions, all trumpeting attacks against U.S. forces and their allies, not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, but everywhere around the world.

Mansfield and other terrorism experts have been trying to find out who is behind this propaganda.

MANSFIELD: What appears to be happening, especially with the videos, is you have an individual who takes the video, he processes it on commercially available video editing software -- a lot of it is available even as freeware -- and then they post it on the Internet on the message boards, they use free file-sharing services, and it spreads almost virally.

NASR: From messages of al Qaeda leader to the world, to taped improvised explosive device attacks on U.S. troops and Iraqi forces, to suicide bombings of mosques and marketplaces, an abundance of video showing details of attacks or glorifying the suicide bombers, hailing them as martyrs, can be easily found online.

A war is being waged, and its main weapons are a camera, a microphone and a computer. It is simply called, "jihad online."

Octavia Nasr, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: For more on this so-called jihad online, I'm joined by Laura Mansfield. She's an expert on Internet terrorism.

Good to see you, Laura.

And I know you got a chance to hear most of the press conference, where officials were saying this investigation to help foil this plot really began a year ago. And do you think, in part, they're able to retrieve some of this information through informants and even translators who are seeing this kind of chat activity online?

MANSFIELD: Oh, I have no doubt they're able to retrieve the information that way. Actually, they should be able to go back in and, by looking at chat logs and looking at message board postings, it's a pretty good idea that they have pretty good idea of what's going on.

WHITFIELD: Why is it these terrorists, alleged terrorists, are plotting, are being so open with information online?

MANSFIELD: Well, when you go on the Internet, you can be anyone. Many of these people go on the Internet, some of them speak English, some of them speak Arabic, some speak both languages. They cloak their identity and their real location with a proxy server with a special kind of software that can make them look -- they can look like they're, for example, in Malaysia, when, in fact, they're sitting in Beirut. And that gives them a sense of anonymity that makes them feel safe to discuss these things quite openly.

WHITFIELD: And we're looking at video of some online activity that you helped supply to us. And what was interesting about this information that you supplied to us is you thought that this kind of open conversation of plotting attacks, of getting together in some way, was transpiring right online just this way.

MANSFIELD: Absolutely. Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: What kind of information was transferred?

MANSFIELD: In some cases -- I mean, we've seen -- we saw one gentleman back in -- I guess two or three years ago, planning -- announcing that he was going to martyr himself, and he gave specific details to where he was going to martyr himself in Basra.

We turned the information over to military intelligence. We were fortunate we were on the boards as soon as it was -- as soon as it was posted. And the next day, we heard that basically a bombing had been stopped.

There is serious stuff going on on the Internet. It's not just a bunch of kids out there running their mouths, although there is a certain amount of that. You know...

WHITFIELD: And how do you filter through that? Because, yes, there's going to be a lot of folks who are just bragging or boasting, and they really have nothing to do with the more serious players who are also on those same chat Web pages.

MANSFIELD: Exactly. And what you have to do is, when someone comes on and posts for the first time, you have no idea whether they have any credibility or not. What you have to do is watch them over time.

For example, when Arhabi 007 (ph), who is in currently custody in the U.K., was arrested -- when he first appeared on the Internet about three years ago, no one knew him from anyone else. But over the next few months, he gradually began to show that he was developing a relationship with, you know, higher-ups, at least in al Qaeda and Iraq. And he began posting videos, and he eventually became -- began acting sort of as a mentor for some of the younger jihadis.

It's the people that develop the track record that we have to watch. For example, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi actually had a spokesperson on the Internet for several years by the name of Abu Musayra al-Iraqi (ph). We knew whenever something came from Abu Musayra al-Iraqi (ph) the posting was legitimate.

WHITFIELD: So, now, having heard this public press conference involving these various entities, New York Port Authority, police commission, FBI, et cetera, I imagine the chat activity is going to be really busy. People are going to be talking about whether they're planners or not, about what they learned and what they heard.

Does it strike you as any particular information that might kind of lend -- lend, I guess, ammo, you know, to some of these planners?

MANSFIELD: Well, first of all, several of the major chat boards went down about 12 hours ago, and they have not come back up. That's kind of interesting, and I think it probably ties into this investigation being made public. Secondly, what you're going to see is probably an influx of a lot of -- you want to call them jihadi wannabes, people who want to join the jihad. They'll be flooding the boards talking about things. And, again, it could very well prove in some ways to be almost a recruiting bonanza.

WHITFIELD: All right,

Laura Mansfield, thanks so much for your insight. Very interesting. Appreciate it.

MANSFIELD: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Stocks on Wall Street are sharply lower.

Let's go to Susan Lisovicz, live from the New York Stock Exchange, to find out exactly why.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

WHITFIELD: A somber anniversary in London. One year after the train bombings that killed dozens, we'll see how people are marking the date.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: From a church in Edinburgh, to London's Big Ben, even the courts Wimbledon, silence marks a somber anniversary. It's been exactly one year since London was ripped apart by suicide attackers aboard three underground trains and a double-decker bus.

In all, 52 people were killed in the city's worst bombing since World War II. A memorial for the victims is under way this hour in London. And these are some live pictures of that coming up.

Well, today's London headlines probably put it milder than many residents. This one in the "Daily Mirror" reads -- there it is -- "Damn You to Hell."

British bitterness is intense over a tape released yesterday by Al-Jazeera. It was made by one of the suicide bombers before he carried out his lethal London assignment.

CNN's Matthew Chance has more on the tape and the timing of its release.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A chilling message from beyond the grave. The last statement of Shehzad Tanweer, one of the London bombers, broadcast on the eve of the anniversary of the attacks. His final recorded words were threats. SHEHZAD TANWEER, LONDON SUICIDE BOMBER (through translator): What you have witnessed now is only the beginning of a series of attacks that will continue and become stronger until you pull your forces out of Afghanistan and Iraq and until you stop support of America and Israel.

CHANCE: Tanweer, a 22-year-old British-Muslim, detonated his explosives in an underground train, killing seven other people and injuring more than a hundred. British police say the timing of his statements released would cause maximum hurt and distress for the families of the bereaved.

Like two of the other bombers, Tanweer came from Leeds, in the north of England. A friend of the family said the video was a further blow to the community there.

IRSHAD HUSSAIN, FRIEND OF TANWEER FAMILY: Everybody's in shock. All the community is in shock, because nobody knows exactly what went on. Nobody has any information whatsoever.

CHANCE: One strong possibility, direct help from al Qaeda. It's known Tanweer, along with another London bomber, Mohammad Sidique Khan, visited Pakistan in the year before the bombings. An official British report into the attack concluded it was likely they met al Qaeda figures and possibly received training. British police also believe it's in Pakistan both men made their recordings.

TANWEER (through translator): We are at war and I am a soldier.

CHANCE: Both tapes also featured al Qaeda's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, here describing Tanweer as physically fit for the job. Al-Zawahiri never appears with the bombers, but this al Qaeda claiming the London attacks as its own.

ABDEL BARI ATWAN, EDITOR, "AL QUDS": That's why Ayman al- Zawahiri insisted on appearing in both tapes, actually, to say that, "They are my boys,. I am the one who is responsible for that. I recruited that."

CHANCE: Matthew Chance, CNN London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Today's anniversary brings a mix of emotions to Leeds, 200 miles north of London. Several of the London bombers lived there.

At one mosque where three of the bombers used to meet there was reportedly no mention of the 7/7 attacks. But at another mosque, the imam called the violence "atrocious." Still, other mosques locked their gates and banned reporters altogether.

A soldier just back from Iraq near the end of his time in the service. What went wrong on a flight to Florida last night?

That story ahead on LIVE FROM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Let's check in back in the newsroom with Tony Harris.

Details on a developing story?

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, Fred. Want to give you an update on the story we told you, oh, a short while ago about the soldier who apparently just lost control last night on a commercial flight.

Now, until a few moments ago, all we really knew about Neftali Alexander Laimendez was that he was active duty Army. Now, we've just learned that he is, in fact, a corporal who was assigned to the Army's 1st Division out of Fort Riley, Kansas.

As for his status, he has signed his separation from the military papers. He did that in May and is on what's called terminal leave right now until next week. And at that time, he officially leaves the military.

Now, that's Laimendez' background. Here's why we're so interested.

Now, last night, Corporal Laimendez was traveling with his brother on a Delta flight headed to Tampa from New York. Now, as the plane was on approach into the Tampa airport, Laimendez apparently tried to force his way into the cockpit, not once, but twice, Fred.

He would take off running, and at full speed, he would just crash into the cockpit door. He was finally taken down by other passengers, first class passengers on that plane.

And now Laimendez' brother says his brother has been suffering mental problems, mental problems related to his service in Iraq. And, in fact, he may have been traveling to Tampa to get some help.

The plane landed safely, and Laimendez was taken into custody. So right now he is being examined. And he may face charges, but right now, the corporal has not been charged in this incident.

That's the latest that we have on this story -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: So, Tony, the brother is not disputing those allegations. Witnesses are saying they actually saw Laimendez trying to get inside the cockpit door.

HARRIS: Absolutely. On two separate occasions, picking up ahead of speed and running headlong into this door, crashing into this door, trying to gain access.

The other important point to mention here is that he was not armed. And the locks -- the new locks on the cockpit door held, so he never gained access. No idea what he was planning to do once he was inside the cockpit, but that never happened, never materialized because he never made it inside. But on two separate occasions, at full speed, crashed into the door, and we don't know why.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Certainly a bizarre case.

HARRIS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Tony.

HARRIS: OK, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Now in the Middle East, Israelis say it is self- defense. Hamas leaders are calling it a crime against humanity. Along the border between Gaza and Israel, the shells and rockets are flying.

CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us from Gaza City.

Paula, what is the latest from where you are?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, in the past couple of hours, we actually had the first direct statement from the militant groups who kidnapped the Israeli soldier a week last Sunday, almost two weeks ago now. Now, it's entitled "The Hamas Call to the Israeli People."

And this particular bit here is very interesting, because that's talking to Gilad Shalit's family, saying that basically he is well, they are treating him humanely, because that is what their religion demands. So that will certainly put them at ease in some way. And they are saying in this particular e-mail is the only way that Shalit will be freed is through negotiations. And then they're calling, once again, as they have been, for all Palestinian women and children, around about 500 of them, to be released from Israeli jails.

So, that's the first direct statement we've had from these particular groups that kidnapped him almost two weeks ago. And the airstrikes are continuing here in Gaza.

We know that six Palestinians have been killed on Friday alone. This is from Palestinian medical sources. And the Israeli defense forces confirming that they did fire three missiles.

Now, we're hearing from these sources, the Palestinian sources, that three were from the same family early on this morning. But the Palestinian casualty list is growing quite substantially.

We can also hear in the air at the moment Apache helicopters overhead shooting just in Beit Lahiya. This is sort of northern Gaza, an area where a tremendous amount of Israeli tanks and troops are.

We were there a little earlier. And also, there are Israeli snipers around there. They're really concentrating the efforts inching into Gaza, around that area at this particular moment -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Meantime, Paula, has Israel said anything again about the demands that the Palestinians are making? We know earlier they said no go. Is there any new response?

HANCOCKS: Well, we haven't had an official response to this e- mail at this point, but the public rhetoric from Israel has constantly been, we will not negotiate, we do not negotiate with terrorists, and there will be no prisoner swap. And they've also said that they're disappointed with the negotiations, they don't believe that they're going anywhere. But there's always back channels business between the Israelis and the Palestinians. There always have been in the past when both sides have said, all is lost, we are not talking any more.

And also, we also heard from President Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, earlier on this evening, about two hours ago, and he was saying that he's still talking to Egyptian mediators and he's still quite hopeful that they can find a way to free this Israeli soldier. Although, he's saying that the way to do this is through negotiations, and negotiations will not work if the kind of Apache helicopter fire you can probably hear and those incursions by Israel continue.

WHITFIELD: Paula Hancocks in Gaza City.

Thank you.

In Mexico, the conservative candidate wins by a razor-thin margin, but his challenger isn't giving up, not without a legal fight. Sound familiar?

Well, this time it is Mexico, where Felipe Calderon is set to become president. He wound up with the lead, barely, after four days of recounts.

Calderon resigned as energy minister to run for the presidency. He favors a free market economy, free trade, and what he calls a constructive relationship with the United States. Business leaders and wealthy Mexicans are his biggest supporters.

Many of the poor favor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. He alleges irregularities in the vote count and vows to fight the results in court. He also is calling for his supporters to rally in Mexico City tomorrow.

It happened in London, it was felt right here in the U.S. What the London transit attack taught America about its own security.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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