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American Morning
Reactions to Bin Laden Tape in Dearborn, Michigan
Aired December 14, 2001 - 08:07 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: We move onto more reaction to the Osama bin Laden tape, including Muslim-American reaction. The Bush administration says the tape was made on or near November 9, and it was later translated from Arabic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OSAMA BIN LADEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) we calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy, who would be killed based on the position of the tower. We calculated that the floors that would be hit would be three or four floors. I was the most optimistic of them all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Well, in Michigan, a leader of the American-Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee says the tape is convincing to him.
And CNN's Jeff Flock is standing by live in Dearborn with more Muslim-American reaction this morning -- good morning, Jeff.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula -- actually on the campus of Wayne State University this morning. You know, metro Detroit is home to about 350,000 Arab-Americans. That makes it the largest concentration of Arabs outside the Middle East. And I've got some people this morning who have some concerns about backlash in the community as a result of the tape.
Abhed Hammoud, next to me here -- you may know him, he ran for the mayor of Dearborn just a short time ago -- Muneer Fareed is a professor -- associate professor of Middle Eastern studies here at Wayne State, and Jack Kay, a professor of communications and an expert on the coverage of terrorism this morning.
Mr. Hammoud, first to you. Are you concerned about the impact -- your community is already under siege in some sense, isn't it?
ABHED HAMMOUD, ASST. PROSECUTOR, WAYNE CO.: Obviously bin Laden is not just a terrorist and a killer, but the man is a sick mind on a mission to make the whole world hate Arabs and Muslims, and this tape proves it.
FLOCK: And you've got people, though -- I mean, the U.S. attorney now is interrogating members of the Arab-American community here.
HAMMOUD: Interviewing them.
FLOCK: Do you feel -- sorry, my word -- do you feel as though you are under siege right now in some sense?
HAMMOUD: I personally don't feel that directly under siege, but there's no question things like this tape and the statements that bin Laden make on the tape obviously make everybody question the religion and question the foundation of that religion, because he keeps interjecting the religion in everything he says. So people equate Islam with killing, and that's his mission. That's what he has been doing.
FLOCK: That -- and, Mr. Fareed, maybe one of the things that was scary on the tape to Americans watching it, this notion that it was playing well across the Arab world. That was what was portrayed on the tape at least. Do you think that, one, that that's legitimate? And, two, is it true?
MUNEER FAREED, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY: No, I don't that we can use his statements to make that kind of an evaluation, because for one, we don't even know who the sheikh is, and we don't know what the word "sheikh" actually designates. It could designate just a tribal leader or a political leader or a religious leader.
FLOCK: How is it playing here though? I mean, if you had to poll the members of the Arab-American community here in metro Detroit, what percentage would support Osama bin Laden? Is it miniscule?
FAREED: Miniscule is the word I think. Many would distance themselves from him and would be outraged by the connections that he has been making, and I think without success between Islam and violence and terrorism.
FLOCK: Professor Kay, did the U.S. government do the right thing in terms of releasing this tape? Or is this going to cause more trouble in the Arab-American community? What is your sense?
JACK KAY, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY: Well, I think that there was no question that the government had to release it, given all of the announcements and all of the hype that was going on over it. I don't think it's going to create any backlash among the community. I think those people who believe in Osama bin Laden are still going to continue to believe. I think those who are opposed to him are going to be even more fervent against him.
FLOCK: But, Mr. Hammoud, it's fair to say that the community is not happy with U.S. foreign policy with regard to the Middle East? That's fair to say, correct?
HAMMOUD: But this has nothing to do with the bin Laden tape. What bin Laden is trying to do, he's trying to jump on a cause, but all he has done is hurt the cause.
FLOCK: Is it fair to say, then, where you part company with the bin Ladens of the world, in some sense you agree on the foreign policy issues, but what to do that that? Is that where you part company?
HAMMOUD: I wouldn't even close to the bin Ladens of the world, there's no question. And bin Laden and the people around him, there are probably 10 or 15 of them over there, they have not done anything that's significant towards what they claim -- the cause that they claim to be fighting for. What they're doing, they are killers and they're terrorists. That's all they are doing.
In fact, if you look at what happened in the Arab world and the Muslim world since bin Laden came into the picture is people -- the cause went backwards a lot. A lot of Arabs have been killed, a lot of Muslims have been killed. So he hasn't help in any way, shape or manner.
FLOCK: Mr. Hammoud, I appreciate it -- gentlemen, thank you. I very much appreciate the time and this perspective, Paula, on this very large Arab-American community, 350,000 strong here in metro Detroit -- back to you.
ZAHN: All right, Jeff, thanks so much.
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