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American Morning

America Under Attack: Look at FBI and President's List of 22 Most Wanted

Aired October 10, 2001 - 11:20   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Earlier, though, we were talking about the FBI and the president announcing the list of 22 names. The most wanted at the top of the list, as expected, Osama bin Laden. Mike Boettcher with more on this.

What was significant to you while watching and listening to the names and faces?

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the significant thing is the packaging of this. These names are not new, but I would guarantee you 99.9 percent of the country never heard of Imad Mugniyah before, and he had killed more Americans than any other person up until the strikes in New York and Washington.

HEMMER: Why packaging? Why do you use that word?

BOETTCHER: Well, because they're packaging it like the 10-most- wanted list. They are highlighting these people. All of these people had been indicted for everything from Khobar Towers to the embassy bombing to hijacking, but if you have their pictures up there and you have rewards offered, and you highlight this, it -- they believe it will help them, and it's a matter of packaging.

HEMMER: There's also a picture released today, as we look at Osama bin Laden. That is from the FBI. Mohamed Atef (ph) there on the left I believe, and there was another name given today, and a picture given, which was extremely rare, based on the reporting you've done, a man by the name of Mugniyah. Tell us more.

BOETTCHER: Imad Mugniyah, considered the master terrorist in the world. Before Osama bin Laden appeared on the scene, Imad Mugniyah was responsible for the Marine barracks bombing according to Western authorities, the taking of Western hostages in Beirut, the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut in the early '80s, bombings in Argentina. He is accused of many, many things, and the fear of U.S. authorities is if you have a combination of Al Qaeda and Imad Mugniyah, that is a scary thing, and they're looking into the possibility they are linked.

We do know from investigation of Imad Mugniyah that in 1994, according to a government witness, bin Laden and Mugniyah did meet in Khartoum, in Sudan.

HEMMER: Stand by a second, Mike. I want to talk about the big job ahead, which is finding these men we talked about. Don Clark is a former FBI special agent. He joins us live now from Houston.

Sir, good morning to you.

DON CLARK, FMR. FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: Tell us this, Mike was just talking about -- and as we go over here -- Mike was just talking, and the names have been out there for quite a bit of time. Why just now do you put the names and the pictures out there, knowing they have been such a threat in the past?

CLARK: They've always been on these lists. And there's this list that's always been there. But what happens now is that is unprecedented. This is an impact statement. And when you get the star-studded cast we just witnessed making this announcement, this puts the emphasis on it. It clearly tells the FBI that this is your number-one priority now, and it also asks other nations to help as well, to ask them to make a very high-priority, and that we the United States government, through our law enforcement and State Department efforts, are going to put the effort into it that's necessary and the resources to bring these people to justice.

HEMMER: You know, Don, I think most Americans , when they see these mugshots, for lack of better word at this time, they think of the post offices and they think of the pictures posted there.

Give us a true sense, though, of what these images really can do ultimately in bringing -- to apprehending some of these?

CLARK: Well, you are modeling it behind a program that's been extremely successful, and it's been successful because people see photographs. They remember different things, and this will happen worldwide, and it has happened to some degree overseas.

I think, however that one of the key factors in this is going to be the role that the State Department plays. Because clearly, most of these people, if not all, will probably be in some parts of the world other than here, so they will play a very key role, and to have those photographs displayed around the world is going to bring some attention.

HEMMER: Don, also at this time, to our viewers, if you see the screen go in two different locations, we're letting you see at times part of Al-Jazeera, the Arab-based network out of the Middle East, out of Qatar actually. You'll continue to see the nightscope there over the skies of Kabul.

As we continue our discussion, Don, tell us how they put this list together. Why 22? And give us a better reference for whether or not there are more after this list?

CLARK: Well, I suspect that there more after the list. If you look at the composition of the 10-most-wanted list, there's a group of people that will list and really review information, and really how heinous the crimes were and how dangerous these people are. And I'm sure that that list kind of mirrors that, and they are prioritized in that manner.

Now it does not necessarily mean that number one is any worse than number 22. But clearly, all of these people have done -- committed very heinous crimes, and they all deserve the same amount of attention and in terms of getting them apprehended.

HEMMER: And quickly, Don, I know you know the FBI quite well. The 9/11 task force specifically set up to deal with terrorist threats, and the warnings, and the tips and the evidence. How will it work inside the FBI?

CLARK: Well, obviously, the composition of the FBI, with all of its divisions around the country, but also with the legal attaches who house with the State Department overseas, and so information will be coming into that, and that information will be disseminated out to the appropriate parties, and I think those legal attaches that are established overseas with the State Department will be very crucial in the apprehension of those, as it has been with the four or the five that has already been apprehended.

HEMMER: And so now we sit, and watch and wait and see if it works.

CLARK: I think it will.

HEMMER: Don Clark, thank you, live in Houston. Good to talk with you, sir. Many thanks to you.

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