Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Justice Department Releases Tapes, Makes World Wide Appeal

Aired January 18, 2002 - 08:05   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: Up front this morning, disturbing tapes left behind by fleeing al Qaeda in Afghanistan indicate there may be five suicide terrorists at-large plotting another attack. The Justice Department released the tapes and is taking the war on terrorism directly to the people, making a worldwide appeal to be on the lookout for the suspects.

Here is CNN's National Correspondent Susan Candiotti. She joins us from our Washington bureau this morning with the very latest -- good morning, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Five tapes, five men, apparently bent on suicide. The Justice Department circulating videos of those men believed linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. The goal? To try to prevent terrorist attacks.

Officials won't say when the videos were found. The tapes were recovered from the rubble of an al Qaeda safe house in Kabul, Afghanistan, where Mohammed Atef was living. He was a top lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, killed during a bombing raid last November. Officials say the videos, including one of a man who appears to put his lips to his rifle, are evidence future attacks may be planned. Officials won't release the sound on the tapes, because, they say, they are still being analyzed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We believe that these could be, and likely appear to be, sort of martyrdom messages from suicide terrorists. And whether or not the attack would be imminent or not is something we can't determine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Justice officials say because of technical problems, two of the videos of the five men can't be shown, but freeze fames are usable. One of the men shown is identified as Ramzi Bin-al Shibh, who failed at least three times to enter the U.S. before the September 11 attacks. Authorities suspect he was supposed to be part of the hijackings. The FBI is urging viewers worldwide to look for the five men, and authorities say they don't think the excerpts they have released show any coded messages. And they admit they don't know whether the men are dead or alive or even, Paula, where they are. ZAHN: But in the meantime, are they offering any financial incentives to get people to come forward and give officials any information about these men?

CANDIOTTI: Paula, not planning on any reward at this time. Authorities say, instead, they're relying on goodwill as a sufficient motivation to try to get people to come forward.

ZAHN: Now, the public so far has not heard any sound off these tapes, so when they were made public yesterday, that sound was taken off. At what point do you think we will ever hear what any of these men had to say in these testimonials?

CANDIOTTI: Paula, that's a good question and one we're trying to get the answer for. Authorities say that they are still analyzing the tapes, won't say how long they plan on taking to do that. And even when they are done, they will not commit as to whether they will ever release the sound on tape. Of course, I think a lot of people would like to hear what they are saying.

ZAHN: I know you and I both would. The timing of it is interesting, Susan, isn't it, the fact that they would make even the story public before the complete analysis was done?

CANDIOTTI: Sure, and it's also curious as to exactly how long they have had these tapes in hand. You know, not only U.S. forces, but journalists have been finding a lot of very interesting material in some of these safe houses, material left behind by suspected al Qaeda terrorists. And so it's unclear -- they won't even tell us how long they have had these tapes.

ZAHN: Well, you're usually pretty good at digging out that information. We'll be counting on your eyes and ears in the days to come, as we learn more about these tapes -- thanks, Susan.

CANDIOTTI: Sure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.