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Osama Bin Laden's Top Deputy Warns of More Terrorist Attacks; 'Security Watch'

Aired August 04, 2005 - 11:33   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening now in the news. A new videotape surfaces from Osama Bin Laden's top deputy. Ayman Al Zawahiri warns the 9/11 attacks are nothing compared to what he says is coming. And he threatened Great Britain with more attacks, blaming Prime Minister Tony Blair for the recent London bombings. The new terror tape was aired first by the Arab channel Al Jazeera.
President Bush is putting the work in working vacation today. He welcomed the leader of Colombia to his ranch in Texas this hour. The government of President Alvaro Uribe is facing a growing threat from rebels financed by drug traders.

Martha Stewart will get to wear her electronic ankle bracelet another three weeks. No official reason is being given, but tabloids report suggest Stewart is in trouble for attending a yoga class. She was also spotted riding around her estate on a utility vehicle.

And police are linking Joseph Duncan to the 1997 murder of a California boy. They say a partial thumbprint found at the crime scene matches Duncan. He already faces three counts in the killings of an Idaho family. Eight-year-old Shasta Groene, allegedly kidnapped and raped by Duncan, was found alive in early July.

Osama Bin Laden's top deputy warns of more terrorist attacks on the U.S. and Britain, and threats are delivered in a new videotape that surfaced today from Ayman Al Zawahiri. For more context on the tape and its significance, let's bring in our senior editor of Arab affairs, Octavia Nasr.

Octavia, thank you for being here.

In this tape, Ayman Al-Zawahiri doesn't take credit for the bombings in London, but he does place blame.

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SR. EDITOR OF ARAB AFFAIRS: He places blame, and he also takes -- he accepts the victory basically. He blames it all on Tony Blair, as far as the London bombings are concerned. He doesn't mention the London bombings necessarily by name, but of course his last tape was June 17th, and nothing really big happened in London, other than the London bombings, since then. So you have to think this is what he talks about, and he talks directly to the British people, saying blame it on Tony Blair and his policies. He also threatens America, he says that you just haven't seen anything yet. What that means, of course, we do not know at this point.

KAGAN: What about at appearance of the tape?

NASR: The appearance is the most interesting thing for me, because this is the first time we see him, first time in a long time, we see him outdoors.

Now of course, we're not sure if they meant the to look like this is outdoors. You can see the sun shining there in background. You can also see the sun pretty strong in his face. So the appearance of the tape is very significant. I'm sure experts are going to be poring over this tape, trying to find clues. Also the appearance of the man himself, I mean, he looks well groomed. He looks well pressed. You can see that shirt doesn't have a single wrinkle on it. And also, compared to previous tapes, especially that last one, June 17th one, he has a different headdress. This one's black. The one on June 17th was white.

Also, he took off his vest. That vest that we've seen him in on most of his tapes, it just indicates that maybe it's a little more hot where he is, and that sun indicates that it is pretty hot where he is.

But I'm sure experts are going to be looking at this and trying to locate it. But you know, you think about it, he has a TV camera with him. And you have to wonder, does he travel with a crew, or does he have a crew available to him wherever he lands, wherever he's hiding.

KAGAN: Do we play into their hands by publicizing these tapes?

NASR: Of course he knows that he's going to publish this tape, and everybody is going to want it. I mean, we're not just talking about the U.S., and Britain and Europe, we're talking about the whole world. Every single little country in the world is going to be playing that tape, translating it to their own language. So, yes, Zawahiri knows, Al Qaeda knows, that these tapes will be broadcast widely in all languages. So there could be a message there. The message could be just for supporters, and recruiters, and those who are willing to pick up arms and fight for Al Qaeda.

KAGAN: Octavia Nasr, thank you for your insight and expertise. Thank you.

NASR: Any time.

KAGAN: To our CNN Security Watch now, law-enforcement officials are looking at ways to improve security along Amtrak's New York-to- Washington corridor. This is in the wake of the London transit attacks. They've agreed on the need for better coordination between different law enforcement agencies.

And now to our "Security Watch" series, safe at home, how far should authorities be allowed to go in the fight for terrorism?

Justice correspondent Kelli Arena looks at some surprising powers given to the government since the September 11th attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paul Burgess and Randy Olson are train enthusiasts and amateur photographers. So it's no surprise that one of their favorite pastimes is taking pictures of trains.

PAUL BURGESS, AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER: That was Hiawatha service from Milwaukee.

ARENA: Which is exactly what they were doing one day about seven months ago on this very platform in suburban Chicago when they were confronted and detained by police, their car searched and their names and information checked against terrorist databases.

BURGESS: There was a crowd of people standing here staring at us. We're up against a police car. We're not handcuffed. There's two armed officers standing in front of us telling us that we could be placed in federal detention.

ARENA: While it usually doesn't go this far, police officers do have the right to question you and will if you are taking pictures of transportation systems or bridges or other infrastructure. In fact, as CNN was shooting video for this story, our cameraman was stopped and questioned by authorities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was just trying to find out who you were with.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I told you who we're with.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, OK.

ARENA: As attacks in both London and Madrid have made obvious, trains and subways are attractive targets for terrorists, and terrorists often conduct early surveillance by taking photos.

Burgess and Olson understand that concern, but don't think stopping photographers will help.

RANDY OLSON, AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER: Examine the passengers' baggages. Two rail fans taking pictures on a platform, no. Guys getting on, looking suspicious with, you know, oversized suitcases, maybe you should stop and look at them, you know?

ARENA: Photography isn't the only hobby that could result in a confrontation with law enforcement. Ken Kurtis owns a dive shop in Los Angeles. He received a subpoena from the government in 2002 asking for customer information going back three years.

KEN KURTIS, DIVE SHOP OWNER: It was incredibly broad. It was incredibly unfocused, and, from that standpoint, in my opinion, going to be incredibly unproductive.

ARENA: Intelligence at the time suggested terrorists might be planning an underwater attack. And agents have the right to request business records while conducting terrorism investigations. Kurtis refused to comply with the subpoena and filed suit. And officials voluntarily backed off. But many other dive businesses did provide information, deciding security trumped their customers' privacy.

Most Americans are intimately aware of post-9/11 restrictions when they travel on airplanes, for example, taking off your shoes, going through metal detectors, showing your I.D. But most are probably not as familiar with new aggressive laws and practices that law enforcement and the federal government are now using in the war on terror.

Did you know, for example, that someone accused of plotting a terrorist attack can be held indefinitely if the president says so? The president, as commander in chief, can detain people allegedly fighting for the enemy.

(on camera): Jose Padilla got off a plane here, at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. His feet barely touched the ground before he was taken into custody, the attorney general alleging that he was involved in a plot to set off a dirty bomb in the United States. But Padilla was never charged. Instead, he was declared an enemy combatant and has been in military custody for more than three years. Padilla is a U.S. citizen.

(voice-over): Most enemy combatants are held overseas and are not U.S. citizens. The government argues Padilla's capture in the United States and subsequent detention are legal because al Qaeda made the U.S. a battlefield when it attacked New York and Washington on 9/11. Padilla's lawyers filed suit, arguing the government should charge him and present its evidence in a court of law.

DONNA NEWMAN, ATTORNEY FOR JOSE PADILLA: What the government has done is not only tried Mr. Padilla in the media before the public, they have charged him and been the jury. How convenient, except that it is such a violation of our Constitution that it is egregious.

ARENA: The FBI's new mandate to prevent terror attacks has raised other constitutional questions.

Did you know, for example, that your home could be search without you ever knowing if the government thinks you are a national security risk? Well, federal agents thought Brandon Mayfield was. Armed with a court order, they took 10 DNA samples, 335 digital photographs, searched his computer hard drives and wiretapped his home.

Mayfield had no idea until almost a year later. At the time, authorities thought Mayfield's fingerprints matched those found near the scene of the Madrid bombings last year, a good enough reason for a judge to sanction the government's actions. Later, the FBI admitted the prints did not match. And Mayfield is now suing.

GERRY SPENCE, BRANDON MAYFIELD'S ATTORNEY: You don't want to have people walking into your house and violating your Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches. That's what it's about. ARENA: Did you know that FBI agents have the authority to not only enter your home, but can enter your church, synagogue, mosque, or political meeting to gather information? Well, they can. Because, John Ashcroft relaxed FBI guidelines after 9/11. But many agents say they won't, without a good reason.

KEVIN PERKINS, BALTIMORE FBI OFFICE DIR.: I think what the public needs to know that any type of investigative technique along those lines, there is significant oversight by either -- by a judicial body, perhaps by Congress, perhaps by the inspector general's office.

ARENA: Kevin Perkins runs the FBI's Baltimore Field Office. With a major port and its proximity to the nation's capital, he says he doesn't have the resources or the desire to spy on law-abiding citizens.

PERKINS: We have to have a real specific reason why we do things we do.

ARENA: Case in point, under the Patriot Act, the government has the power, with a court order, to demand a library hand over a list of books you've borrowed, or Web sites you visited on computers there. Well so far, it's a power officials say they have not used.

Just as the public is getting used to the new powers, Congress is considering even more changes such as giving the FBI the ability to get records from hotels, schools and other businesses in terror investigations without even going before a judge and broader authority to examine the outside of letters or packages mailed to people connected to terror investigations. It's all supposed to make us safer.

PERKINS: I have to know that stopping a terrorist attack is my number one goal. But at the same time, protecting people and their civil rights is very important to me.

ARENA: Still, some, like photographer Paul Burgess are concerned about what the future may hold.

BURGESS: It's the old argument of the slippery slope. And I know people tend to laugh things off, and say, well, that can never happen. But you know, if you look at the history of police states, most of them are incrementalists.

ARENA: Burgess says ultimately Americans have to speak up like he did if they think the government is going too far.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Cameras watching you on the streets, biometric technology, it may sound like Big Brother, but it's the latest in our "Safe at Home" series. Tune into CNN and PAULA ZAHN NOW at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

CNN Security Watch keeps you up to date on safety. Stay tuned day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

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JOHN BOLTON, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS: ... obviously, in one of its most exacerbated forms in Iraq, but around the world in a number of the places he mentioned, in London, in Madrid, Casablanca, and Jerusalem, New York, obviously. So this is a global threat, and it's one reason that we're happy to have this resolution.

So good to see you all.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BOLTON: What I said in the prepared statement was that we call on all members to meet their obligations to stop the flow of terrorist financing and weapons, and particularly on Iran and Syria. We think this is very important, obviously, to help bring stability and security to the people of Iraq and to permit the constitutional process to go forward. It's the highest priority for the people and government of Iraq, and for the United States as well.

QUESTION: What else would you like to see in this resolution, if you could add a couple other things in there to top it up a little bit more?

BOLTON: In the resolution we just passed? We are very happy with it as written. I mean, I think it expresses an important view of the Security Council on behalf of all the member governments of the U.N. And I think it addresses a very serious problem that's taking place in Iraq right now, that we and other coalition members and the government of Iraq are trying to address.

Now, thank you, I have to run to the airport. Good to see you all.

KAGAN: A man on the run. That is the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. That is John Bolton. His first week on the job, his first day on the job. Earlier we saw him on his first appearance at the U.N. Security Council, just listening in to a place we'll see him often over the next year and a half, at the microphone, answering reporters' questions.

Now to Miami. Let's bring our Susan Candiotti in. She is tracking a story of what appears to be a major drug bust in the state of Florida. Good morning.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Yes, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announcing a ton of people arrested this day on a conspiracy charge of an intent to distribute oxycodone and oxycontin on the streets of Miami. Now, we're talking about 29 people who have been indicted, according to authorities, on an 84-count charge of, again, intent to distribute oxycontin.

These employees are not school teachers or administrators, but are described to me as low-level employees, as one official put it. We're talking about five bus drivers, 13 bus attendants, a custodian, a cashier, a cook. Those type of people. Also, about five or six people who don't work for the school district at all.

There is no evidence, I'm told at this time, that the intent was to distribute the pills to any school children or to sell them on school grounds. Now, how did they obtain or how were they going to obtain these drugs? We're told through fraudulent or counterfeit prescriptions. Again, more details, we expect, as the day goes on. But we are told that all 29 people have been arrested in an early morning raid -- Daryn?

KAGAN: And all in the general Miami area?

CANDIOTTI: Yes, they were all employed at a number of schools in the Miami-Dade County district.

KAGAN: All right. Susan Candiotti tracking that story for us from South Florida. Thank you for that.

Time for about a minute of weather. Rob Marciano handling that for us. Hey, Rob. I think we have Rob. All right, then. Well, let's call it a day. We'll send out a search party for Rob.

That's going to do it for me for today. The news continues at the top of the hour. International news for you, with Zain Verjee and Jim Clancy. They will be with you after a quick break. I'm Daryn Kagan and I'll see you right back here tomorrow morning. Have a great day.

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