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American Morning

Pentagon Unsure if Mullah Omar Was in Targeted Kandahar Building

Aired November 28, 2001 - 08:04   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A senior Taliban official is saying that Mullah Mohammed Omar is alive and well. That comment from the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan hours after U.S. planes struck a building in southern Afghanistan, where officials thought they may find the Taliban leader.

Bob Franken has the latest on the Pentagon view of events. Bob, I think we should make it quite clear most of what the Taliban says is patently absurd. And I would guess, in this case, that's what the Pentagon is saying about their thoughts this morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually the Pentagon is saying it doesn't know, but it's an interesting way how the information developed.

First of all, while we were with Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa -- which is the home of the Central Command, which is really operating this war -- he slipped away from public view and went into a top secret room to watch live reconnaissance video of this compound near Kandahar, which was subsequently bombed.

Now, the defense officials here were saying that they had intelligence that Omar was in that compound, along with other Taliban and al Qaeda leadership, but they don't know for a fact if he was. But in any case, the announcement about the bombing run came from Rumsfeld, as he was flying back with reporters from Tampa to Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There has been an attack on -- from the air on a leadership compound southeast of Kandahar, and I suspect they may very well end up showing some pictures of that tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Is there any word if any (UNINTELLIGIBLE) were hit there?

RUMSFELD: It's -- again, we're not physically in the compound, and whoever was there is going to wish they weren't.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FRANKEN: And as you mentioned, Paula, the Taliban spokespeople are saying that Omar was not there. Intelligence officials here are saying they simply don't know. It was too early to know. You have to get back on the ground, they say, and actually try and discover, as close to first-hand as you can, exactly who was killed in these bombings. We may get further information when we see that reconnaissance video that the secretary specified at the briefing, which will be held at 1:30 Eastern Time today here at the Pentagon -- Paula.

ZAHN: And if you don't, what do you suspect? We'll have an answer by this time tomorrow morning?

FRANKEN: Well, if you recall, the last time there had some bombing runs on other leadership compounds near Kandahar and Kabul, and there were some claims and counterclaims about whether senior Taliban leadership had been hit, or al Qaeda leadership had been hit, and we subsequently found that, in fact, the No. 2 or No. 3 man in al Qaeda had been among those killed.

ZAHN: All right. Bob, thanks so much for the update.

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