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American Morning

Now There is Question Whether U.S. and Afghan Allies on Ground Have Same Objectives

Aired December 13, 2001 - 07:29   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: On the ground and in the air, moving in on the al Qaeda stronghold of Tora Bora, the latest action comes after two failed efforts by the Eastern Alliance to get al Qaeda to surrender.

Well, now there is a question about whether the U.S. and its Afghan allies on the ground have the same objectives.

From his perspective, we turn once again to former Chief U.N. Weapons Inspector Richard Butler, who is with the Council on Foreign Relations and our ambassador in residence. Good morning.

RICHARD BUTLER, FORMER U.N. CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: It is quite clear, is it not, that the goals of the Afghan allies are strikingly different than U.S. goals at this point?

BUTLER: I think so. There are a lot of questions to be answered. These proposals were made for surrender and twice it's not clear whether they were turned down by all of the Taliban or al Qaeda group there. There seems to be factions operating there. But what is clear is that they weren't met twice.

Now, one of the questions that has been raised is what was the U.S. attitude towards that? There are U.S. special forces there and the U.S. has resumed heavy bombing. It raises the question of whether the U.S., in fact, wants those people to come out or simply wants to destroy them in place, and it's not clear.

ZAHN: Well, wouldn't you think there would be some incentive to want to interrogate them or not?

BUTLER: Well, we talked about that yesterday and I certainly feel that very strongly. I think it makes sense. We have potentially a mine of information on that hillside in those al Qaeda members and we need that information. I think we should prefer to try to get them out, interrogate them, find out who they are, what countries they came from, where there are other training camps, other cells and so on.

If they're all destroyed, that asset will be destroyed.

ZAHN: Let's move on to a man who is already in custody. He was officially charged yesterday in the United States, Zacarias Moussaoui.

BUTLER: Right.

ZAHN: A citizen of French Moroccan descent.

BUTLER: Right.

ZAHN: He apparently was an intended hijacker. Now the French are saying we respect, you know, your ability to try this guy, but you can't execute the death penalty in this case. What do you make of their criticism?

BUTLER: Paula, there are differences of view between European nations and the United States on the issue of the death penalty. I want to put that aside for one moment and make this point very, very clear. This man is under trial, investigation and trial here on American soil because of the crimes that he was preparing to commit against Americans. He should be tried under American law.

I find it stunning that the French should in any way seek to interfere in that. Put the shoe on the other foot. Imagine what the hysterics the French would go in for if we were to try to interfere in something involving their legal process.

I mean I just, I don't think we should accept it for a moment. And by the way, Moussaoui was in French custody a few years ago on suspicion of being connected with Algerian terrorism and so on. I think we need to know this -- who interrogated him in France? What did they find out? Was it relevant to us and what he was going to do when he came here and learned to fly an aircraft? And did that...

ZAHN: Is it your understanding they ever shared any of that information with the United States?

BUTLER: Good question. That was to be my last question. What did they know, was it relevant to us, and above all, did they volunteer it? Did they share it with us? I think these are very serious questions, much more important than the preposterousness of France saying to us that a man who was going to commit crimes on our soil here shouldn't be tried with the full effects of American law, the rules of evidence, sentencing and, you know, whatever American law provides.

ZAHN: Well, you work with the Council on Foreign Relations. Maybe you can dredge up some information on that today.

BUTLER: OK.

ZAHN: A little homework assignment. Before we let you go, a quick reaction to the Israelis saying that Yasser Arafat is irrelevant, we are not going to deal with him anymore.

BUTLER: This is a very serious moment. It raises questions about where Israel is going to go next as far as defining and securing its own state is concerned. But also, Paula, who do they think will follow? It's all very well to say we won't deal with Arafat anymore and I can understand them taking that position given what's happened.

But you've got to think about tomorrow. Do they have any idea who would replace him or who they would, in fact, deal with? There are some serious questions to be answered there.

ZAHN: We have the oucncil general of Israel, Alon Pinkas, on in our eight o'clock hour. We'll try to ask him some of those questions.

See you tomorrow morning, Richard.

BUTLER: See you.

ZAHN: Thanks.

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