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Al-Zarqawi Killed; The Intelligence

Aired June 08, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq, it may be the biggest development since the capture of Saddam Hussein. A coalition strike 30 miles northeast of Baghdad levels a house and kills the most wanted insurgent in Iraq. This is video of the actual bombing released just over an hour ago. The U.S. military also released this photograph. The body of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. U.S. and Iraqi officials say fingerprints confirm that it's him. Here are some of the details of the strike.
A the U.S. military aircraft dropped two 500-pound precision- guided bombs on the safehouse. The breakthrough in finding al-Zarqawi report lead came from a senior insurgent leader who had been arrested. In addition to al-Zarqawi, seven others died in the attack. One was a key lieutenant who served as al-Zarqawi's spiritual adviser. Let's get the latest now from CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

And, Barbara, the U.S. military, are they boasting that this was their operation from top to bottom?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No boasting here, Fred. A very sober-minded approach to all of this. In fact, it was U.S. and Iraqi forces in the end who collaborated on this mission. But from the -- in the initial phases, as we look at this video, it was two F- 16s dropping 500 pound precision-guided bombs. The first bomb goes in. Then they made an assessment about whether or not they wanted to drop a second bomb to ensure the destruction of the safehouse. They did. They dropped two bombs on this house.

Of course, the spokesman in Baghdad, General Caldwell, also showing a picture of the dead Zarqawi. General Caldwell very candidly saying the body was cleaned up before this picture was taken and shown to the world. That some of the photographs were simply too gruesome. The blood, the debris removed. But you see Zarqawi relatively clean shaven here. Trimmed beard, if you will. So they wanted to show the world that they had absolutely identified that they got Zarqawi through fingerprints, facial identification and identification of scars. They will conduct a DNA analysis, but they have no question in their mind that they got Zarqawi.

A lot of details coming out now, Fred, that they decided to go with an air strike last night, for example, because they were worried that one last time Zarqawi might escape if they simply went in with ground forces. But U.S. special operating forces on the ground had eyes on the target. They say there was no question in their mind that Zarqawi was inside that house. In fact, he was with a key spiritual adviser, Sheik Abdul Rahman. And it was about six weeks ago that they began to develop the information on this spiritual adviser about his movements, when he was meeting with Zarqawi, when they were hooking up and they were tracking all of this over the last many weeks. The end game essentially beginning six weeks ago. Very patiently going after all of this, piecing it together and last night having what they say was the unshakeable information that both men were in this house.

But the question now, you might ask, what now? General Caldwell saying within hours of this strike, they took the next step and launched a number of other strikes. Let's listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. BILL CALDWELL, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ: And in those 17 raids last night, a tremendous amount of information and intelligence was collected and is presently being exploited and utilized for further use. I mean, it was a treasure trove, no question.

And we had identified other targets we had previously not gone after to allow us to continue staying focused on getting Zarqawi. But now that we have got him, it allows us now to go after all these other targets we had been using in order to establish his movements, his patterns, his habits and where we could find him like we did last night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Fred, if you want a sober-minded approach to all of this, consider this. The U.S. military says they have already identified an Egyptian Arab man that they believe Zarqawi may have designated to be his successor and they are already looking for him.

Fred.

WHITFIELD: You had to believe there had to be a contingency plan in place. Barbara Starr, thanks so much. We'll check back with you.

Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, obviously, we heard from the president this morning and he said that this violent man will never murder again. President Bush talking about the death of Abu Musab al- Zarqawi. Now we expect to hear more from the administration in a White House briefing just minutes from now.

The president spoke earlier from the Rose Garden and White House correspondent Ed Henry joins us with more details.

Ed, exactly when did the president find out about Zarqawi's death?

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Carol.

The president found out yesterday just around 5:00 p.m. or so that, in fact, the president found out about 5:00 p.m. or so that, in fact, the U.S. military believed that al-Zarqawi was, in fact, dead. It was not until after 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, though, that there was official confirmation to the president from top officials here that it, in fact, was al-Zarqawi. This morning the president came out to the Rose Garden and, as you noted, he was trying to make clear that he believes the death of al-Zarqawi could turn the tide in Iraq. But he was also trying to measure the tone a bit, offer a little caution so that nobody gets ahead of themselves. Take a listen to the president in the Rose Garden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now Zarqawi has met his end and this violent man will never murder again. Iraqis can be justly proud of their new government in its early steps to improve their security. And Americans can be enormously proud of the men and women of our armed forces who worked tirelessly with their Iraqi counterparts to track down this brutal terrorist and to put him out of business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: But the president quickly added that there will be more violence in Iraq. There will be tough days ahead. He was clearly trying to send the signal that he realizes he will need more patience from the American people to continue the mission in Iraq. That patience could be running thin in an election year. But this also could give the president a bit more breathing room.

Carol.

LIN: All right, thanks very much, Ed.

Now just in case you're joining us on this big news, just about an hour ago, the U.S. military wrapped up its briefing on the air strike that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. So let's review that through the eyes of a career military man. Retired Brigadier General David Grange is a CNN military analyst and he joins us now from Chicago.

David, good to have you on this big day.

Give us an idea of how the intelligence gathering came down. We heard from Barbara Starr from the Pentagon that the intelligence gathering started as much as six weeks ago.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, I'm sure it started even much before that. But in this particular site, maybe six weeks ago. You know, it's the main -- what they call battlefield operating system in counter terrorist operations. And so intelligence was the key. They had actable (ph) intelligence that they thought was A-1, 100 percent ready for a strike and they picked that type of strike to ensure that there was no ex-filtration (ph) of the target, Zarqawi getting away and they destroyed it. And then went in immediately to verify.

LIN: Give us an idea of what may have actually happened on the ground. I mean when we talk about a 500 pound bomb, I mean as many as four buildings were completely leveled and just rubble left as we're looking at the ground shots right now, David. How is it that they were able to find enough of Zarqawi's remains to positively identify him? We did see a head shot of his body.

GRANGE: You know, in combat, it's amazing after a B-52 strikes, you know bombs hitting areas, just pummeling a site, a target area, that really you may have, you know, bodies that are unidentifiable, but sometimes bodies are hardly injured at all. You might have a concussion death or something like this. So it just depends on what part of the building the bomb hit, where he was located. Was there a basement? We don't know that. And so even though a 500-pound bomb hits a specific area doesn't mean it's going to totally pulverize everything in the site.

LIN: Give us an idea of what Baquba is like. And I know it's a hotbed of the insurgency, but how did the U.S. forces and Iraqi forces target in on this area. How would they operate around this kind of an area?

GRANGE: Well, first of all, it's a combination of a built-up area of urban terrain, as well as some farmlands. A mixture of different types of the ground and man made and natural. And so in this case I think it's a little bit more isolated. They secured the whole area 360 degrees to prevent escape of the targets. Then they had two plans, probably. They had a plan to go in by ground and a they had a plan to go in with munitions from an aircraft, which is the plan they decided to execute. But both plans were probably in place. And then if one went wrong, they had the backup. So there was always a plan A and a plan B, depending on what the outcome was desired.

LIN: And the desired outcome here. I mean this is one of the most wanted men, pledged his allegiance to Osama bin Laden, responsible for killing at least two Americans, Nicholas Berg, as we recall that Zarqawi may have even personally beheaded him. How big a deal is this? And how is this likely to affect U.S. force's morale?

GRANGE: Well, as you stated earlier with the Egyptian, a possible Egyptian taking over the helm of Zarqawi, that's going to happen. I mean they have succession planning just like corporations and military organizations do. And they always have someone else that takes -- steps up and takes charge.

But this is a great psychological impact against the enemy. It's a great impact with the population because it was almost like this guy was invincible to the Iraqi people. So even though there will be someone to take his place, this death will have significant impact. And from the morale of the coalition and U.S. troops, oh this is great. I mean this is taking down someone that's been -- they've been pursuing with tremendous amounts of resources for a considerable time.

LIN: And so many close calls. So many close calls. But, finally, they got their man.

David Grange, great to have you. Thank you so much.

GRANGE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Well, Carol, a thousand pounds of explosives killed al-Zarqawi, but it also took many threads of intelligence to help seal his fate.

Here for that back story is CNN national security correspondent David Ensor.

David, among the threads of intelligence, a Zarqawi aide and/or possibly a Sunni leading to tipping of information. All of the above or one in the same person?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: My understanding is it was intelligence from a multitude of different angles that was put together over a period of time, Fredricka. You heard Barbara Starr mentioning earlier that six weeks or more ago U.S. intelligence started to track this Sheik Abdul Rahman, who's a spiritual associate of Zarqawi, obviously hoping that he would eventually be in a position to lead them, without knowing it, to Zarqawi himself. It must have taken nerves of steel for the U.S. military commanders to know 17 different sites connected with al Qaeda in Iraq and not to go after them. And just to watch them closely while waiting to see whether they could wrap up the whole outfit.

The effort now will clearly to be to do that, to wrap up this al Qaeda outfit in Iraq. It won't be the whole of the insurgency, but it's a significant one. It's the foreign fighters who have been responsible, in the view of military officials, for most of the suicide bombings in Iraq and, therefore, most of the carnage.

The effort now will be to track down the rest of these al Qaeda people using the leads from those 17 strikes and whatever they can find in the building there. One question will be whether if these -- there are believed to be several hundred foreign fighters in Iraq. What will they do now? Will they go to ground in Iraq? Will they continue to try to strike targets? Have they got plans already that they will carry through? Or will some of them try to escape out of the country and perhaps become a security nightmare for other countries, either in the region, in Europe, or even here.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And, David, in a time when at least the U.S. intelligence agencies have been accused of really being in turmoil, seeing a revolving door of CIA directors, as well as agency not working well together, this kind of capture and killings as a result of intelligence, might this be a feather in the cap of those intelligence agencies or are they tempering their victory just as the White House is?

ENSOR: Well, I mean, first of all, when you talk to people and say the Central Intelligence Agency, for example, today, they give a lot of credit, if not the lion's share of the credit, to the U.S. military and to U.S. military intelligence for taking the lead on this. Iraq is really their territory. The CIA and the other civilian agencies, the National Security Agency, which does signals intelligence, obviously backs them up as much as it can.

You did hear the briefer this morning talking about both human intelligence. The capture of a Zarqawi associate in Jordan may have played a role, some people say. And also signals intelligence. Communications that were intercepted by the NSA. All of it comes together and then they get the picture they need.

But what's so interesting is how they held back from, clearly, from striking quite a few targets. And one had waited for probably more deaths in order to try to wipe this outfit out all together. And it will be interesting to see whether they succeed in the coming weeks.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, David Ensor, thank you so much, from Washington.

LIN: Fred, we're expecting to hear from the White House shortly. Any moment we're going to get a briefing from the White House. More details of what's going to happen next? How did the president find out about the strike?

But also as David Ensor was talking about, what are going to be the consequences, if any, of Zarqawi's death? Everyone can see that the insurgency is definitely going to be carrying on. And, in fact, we already saw violence in Baghdad today.

Two roadside blasts seemed to underline that continuing threat. Dozens killed and wound just as word of al-Zarqawi's death traveled around the world. Bombings and even more gruesome discoveries are almost common place in Baquba. The volatile area where al-Zarqawi was killed. CNN's John Vause joins us now with a closer look.

John, in taking a look at the violence today, is there any indication that al Zarqawi's death triggered the market bombing?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the market bombing happened about 10:30 a.m. local time, a few hours before the U.S. military and the Iraqi prime minister made that announcement that Zarqawi was, in fact, dead. But it did happen hours after the air strike. So it's unclear whether or not this marketplace bombing in the southern part of Baghdad, which killed 12 people, wounded 28 others, of course by a roadside bomb, was, in fact, related or was a direct result of the air strike which claimed Zarqawi's life.

But we are hearing from everybody, of course, that the insurgency will continue. Just moments ago there's still the sound of gunshots not far from here. So, of course, the violence will continue. The hope is though that the new Iraqi government will be able to seize on this moment, seize on the jubilation which is being felt across many parts of Baghdad and many parts of this county.

There are people dancing in the streets. People giving out candy to, you know, people in the streets. Talking that this is, you know, Zarqawi's just deserts. And maybe this will mean security. That's unlikely. But it's up to this government now to seize on this movement and move ahead now that there is a defense minister and an interior minister. Those were announced today, as well, by the Iraqi prime minister. Two very important announcement. Carol.

LIN: Well, John, very important announcements, but I'm just wondering, have they actually publicly said what the Iraqi forces role was in this bombing raid that resulted in al-Zarqawi's death?

VAUSE: Well, we're being told by the U.S. military and by the Iraqi prime ministers that they were involved. Whether it was the Iraqi police, which were on the scene first before the multi-national forces arrived, after the air strike. And also Iraqi intelligence was involved. There was also tips being given by Iraqi civilians.

The Iraqi prime minister today, Nuri al-Maliki, calling on civilians here to support the security services, saying that the only way this country could ever come together is if ordinary Iraqis do continue to give information about the insurgence, to tell the multi- national forces where the insurgents are hiding. That kind of thing. Unless this country comes together, he said, then the violence will not end.

Carol.

LIN: And, John, because it was Iraqi forces that actually identified the body of al-Zarqawi. They went in and saw the body there.

VAUSE: Yes, that's right. Apparently they've been given photos as well to ensure that they had the right person. But, of course, most Iraqis would be very familiar with the face of Zarqawi. He's, obviously, very well known for the atrocities which he is responsible for across the country.

We have heard from the U.S. military saying they did take fingerprints. They also looked at scars and tattoos. And just to ensure that this is, in fact, Zarqawi, a DNA test is also underway.

Carol.

LIN: So what is your sense then of whether there is an indication of the status of the Iraqi forces and whether they are even more so up to the task of securing their country?

VAUSE: Well, the general feeling is that over the last couple of months the number and the quality of Iraqi forces has certainly improved. They're getting up to close to 300,000 now and that's seen as, obviously, a very positive development. But there are still very big problems, especially within the police force.

When the Iraqi police were first recruited, proper background checks were not carried out. So the Sunnis say that there are Shiite insurgents which have infiltrated the police force, carrying out targeted killings against the Sunni minority here. So there are all these accusations.

We've seen Iraqi commandos, or men dressed as Iraqi commandos, carrying out these kidnappings. The Sunni groups have said that they've seen actually policemen who have been involved in these kind of kidnappings and these bloody attacks on civilians. So there's a lot of problems and a lot of issues for this new interior minister to address. And he won't have any time to really get up to speed on this.

Carol.

LIN: Still a long road ahead. John Vause, stay safe in Baghdad, thank you.

WHITFIELD: Well, the reaction to al-Zarqawi's death has been strong around the world and around Washington. You heard from President Bush earlier today. Senator John McCain of Arizona joins us now with his reaction.

Senator, thanks so much for being with us.

How and when did you learn of Zarqawi's fate?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: When I turned on the television early this morning and I saw it on television and then the phone rang and people started calling me from all over.

WHITFIELD: So you didn't get a head's up that this operation was underway overnight?

MCCAIN: Oh, no. No. And I don't -- frankly, I don't see any reason why I would be.

WHITFIELD: Well, how significant do you believe this death is of the most wanted man in Iraq being held responsible for thousands of deaths and leading the insurgency there?

MCCAIN: I think it's very, very significant. I also think that it's just part -- well, a significant part of the long path we have to travel before we have stability and democracy and freedom in Iraq. But I think it's also important to view Zarqawi's death in the context of not only his threat to Iraq, but to America. As you know, time after time, in his tapes that were released, he said he wasn't just interested in taking control in Iraq, but of destroying America and everything we stand for. So this is also a victory for -- in our war against terror.

WHITFIELD: And how does this directly impact the U.S. military operations there?

MCCAIN: I think one of the things that it does is it improves our ability -- as you know, there's 17 different operations took place after that thanks to the intelligence efforts of the Iraqi people giving us information. And so we're breaking down some of the Iraqi al Qaeda cells. But also I think it also helps us in the image of our military today. As you know, the military has been under assault because of the terrible incident that had taken place recently and it helps us put back into perspective how magnificent 99.9 percent of the men and women in our military are and probably helps their moral as well as ours. WHITFIELD: And in the meantime, we are awaiting a White House briefing momentarily. But while we do wait for that, I do want to ask you, you have to wonder how this killing and the capture of other insurgent leaders might dictate just how much longer U.S. military troops will be in that country. We know that a primary focus for the U.S. military for the past three years has been finding al-Zarqawi. Now everything has changed, has it not?

MCCAIN: I think it's a significant success. But as the president, I think, very appropriately said in his statement, we've got a lot of hurdles. We've still got the training of the Iraqi police and the military. We've got to restore the oil production. We have to have the government function more effectively. There's a lot of things that need to be done. But this is a significant success. For the moment, we should celebrate but recognize we've got a long, tough haul ahead. And at the same time, recognize that Americans can be proud of our military today and the Iraqi people.

WHITFIELD: Is it a turning point for U.S. military operations in any way there? Meaning, does it at least change the focus of some of the operations?

MCCAIN: I think it's very helpful. But I think that there's still al Qaeda people all around Iraq. I think there's still sectarian violence. I think that this government which, thank God, has just named the interior and defense minister, has to start functioning better.

But we have been making progress. We can continue to make progress. But we should understand how tough this challenge is. But to diminish the importance of Zarqawi not only to Iraq, but to America, would not be appropriate.

At the same time, balance it with the knowledge that we have a tough road to hoe ahead. And maybe some of our friends who want to cut and run out of Iraq maybe can feel a little comforted that our mission is showing some success.

WHITFIELD: All right, Senator John McCain, thank you so much for being with us.

We want to listen in to a White House briefing now. Press Secretary Tony Snow.

TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: On events in Iraq. First on the schedule today, the president right now is meeting with governors in the Roosevelt Room. The topic of the discussion, the line-item veto. He will be having a meeting after that with the president of Chili and he will be lunching with the president. There will also be a meeting with the president of Latvia. The president and Mrs. Bush will be heading to Camp David at about 3:00.

Let me give you a readout -- oh, I'm sorry, a couple of other things before we proceed further.

In addition, we are announcing, and I think you've probably already seen the announcement, of a trip to Hungary. The president will -- I'll just read it out. President Bush will visit Budapest, Hungary, for a bilateral program on June 22, 2006, following his participation in the U.S.-European Union Summit in Vienna, Austria. In Budapest, the president will celebrate Hungry's historic sacrifices in the name of freedom by commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, underscore the success of the U.S.-European partnership in securing freedom in the region and highlight the lessons offered from Hungry's successful transition from tyranny to free market democracy. And you can read the rest of the press announcement elsewhere.

Jobless claims are down to 302,000. That's 35,000 down from the previous week. But to put it in context, we have also noted in recent weeks that that number was artificially inflated by a strike in Puerto Rico. So what you have is a set of good, economic numbers.

Let me now begin by, for those of you who haven't (ph) are giving you a sort of a time line of what happened yesterday.

Yesterday at 3:30 or so, right after Dirk Kempthorne was sworn in as the new interior secretary, the president met in the Roosevelt Room with a large group of Democrats and Republicans, members of five different congressional delegations, who traveled recently to Iraq. And the president was getting not only their observations, but recommendations. During the course of that meeting, Ray LaHood, Representative Ray LaHood, offered the helpful suggestion that things would be better if somebody would get Zarqawi. There was a little snickering in the room at the time. Little did we know.

Now National Security Adviser Steve Hadley excused himself from the meeting on a couple of occasions because he was getting a lot of phone traffic from Iraq. As it turns out, at 3:45 p.m. he had a conversation -- that's Eastern Time -- he had a conversation with Ambassador Khalilzad who informed him that there had been a strike in Baquba and they thought they had Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. At 4:20 p.m., another phone call. The president was still in the meeting, by the way, with members of Congress. The national security adviser thought it would not be well served to come in and make an announcement because at that time they were still -- they weren't completely certain that Zarqawi, in fact, was one of the victims in the bombing raid.

At 4:20, the defense secretary also called. Again the president was still in the meeting with members of Congress. At 4:35, at the conclusion with the meeting of members of Congress, the president was in the Oval Office, along with Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Rice, National Security Adviser Hadley and the Chief of Staff Josh Bolten. At that time the national security adviser informed the president of two things.

First, that Prime Minister Maliki had completed his cabinet. And secondly, that there had been a strike in Baquba and they thought that they had gotten al-Zarqawi, to which the president responded, that would be a good thing. According to those in the room, he received the news with pleasure. Or, you know, he was pleased by that. I think with pleasure is probably not the right way to say it. He was pleased by the news.

At 9:10 p.m., Steve Hadley received a phone call from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who informed him that they had, in fact, done some forensic reviews and that the fingerprints, tattoos and scars on the body did, in fact, match those of Abu Musab al- Zarqawi. Ten minutes later, at the conclusion of that conversation, the national security adviser called the president and informed him.

This morning, upon reaching the Oval Office, the president did have a couple of conversations. At about 6:45 a.m., he and Prime Minister Tony Blair had a brief conversation. The president informing the prime minister of what had happened and the prime minister passing on congratulations.

Then at about 7:00 a.m. began a phone call with Prime Minister Maliki. I'm just going to grab my notes and give you a couple of readouts on that. It was about a 25-minute conversation that lasted till about five or six minutes before the president actually commenced speaking in the Rose Garden.

The president congratulated the prime minister on a new cabinet and he said that he had shown strong leadership by making decisions and standing by them. They talked about the chief objectives of the new government in Iraq, which are reconstruction, reconciliation and security. In particular, developing professional, well-trained and disciplined police and military forces.

The president said that you're going to have our upon help. You've got my confidence because you've shown you can lead. He issued an invitation for the prime minister to join on Tuesday by teleconference his cabinet, that is the Iraqi cabinet, with key members of the U.S. cabinet, who, as you know, will be in Camp David. As the president announced in the Rose Garden this morning, there will be a session in Camp David on Monday and Tuesday involving cabinet officials, in some cases some outside experts, as well as joining us by teleconference will be Generals Abizaid and Casey and Ambassador Khalilzad. A two-day working session looking forward in Iraq.

And I think that gets us up-to-date. Questions?

David.

QUESTION: Can I just pick up on that last point? How does the president approach this working session? And, specifically, does he think it's time to meet with the Iraqi leadership for a reassessment on our security posture?

SNOW: Now this meeting has actually been sort of in the planning stages for a while. And it's been time to coincide with the full development of an Iraqi government and cabinet. Now there will be discussions of security. Absolutely. And we've already seen the United States responding to some of the expressed needs of the Maliki government. For instance, taking some forces out of Kuwait and putting them in al Anbar province.

What we're really going to be talking about is how to support this new government. As I've said before, the Maliki government gives the United States a partner in developing peace in Iraq. You now have a defense minister. You now have an interior minister. You now have a security apparatus in place. And that is going to enable not only the president, but also key officials in this administration

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