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American Morning

Locating Bin Laden, al Qaeda Tough Battle

Aired February 05, 2002 - 09:18   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: Where is Osama bin Laden? Here now with more on the missing al Qaeda leader and most notable leader, Osama bin Laden himself, we're joined by military analyst Gen. Wesley Clark, who is man on the move this morning. He joins from Colorado Springs.

Welcome back.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), MILITARY ANALYST: Thanks, Paula.

ZAHN: I don't know whether you were able to hear much of Sheila MacVicar's piece from about five minutes ago, but she suggested the Pentagon is taking seriously the reports that perhaps Osama bin Laden has made it into Iran, or even al Qaeda members as well. If that is the case, can the United States expect any cooperation from Iranian officials?

CLARK: I think that's a very open question. I think that there have been tensions that underlie what the president said in the State of the Union address. On the other hand, there has been some cooperation. So I think we're at the knife edge here. I think we've got to go back to the Iranians quietly, through diplomatic sources. We've got to get that help. If we don't get the help, then we know where they really stand.

ZAHN: In addition to that, you have a London "Times" on Friday reporting, and in these reports citing intelligence officials, concluding that al Qaeda is trying to move its operations from Afghanistan into Lebanon, a charge that the prime minister vehemently denies. What do you make of that report?

CLARK: I think there's some chance that this is a report that could be partially accurate. I'm not sure that that's the only place that al Qaeda will be looking to move. They'll be looking to move several different places now and have multiple bases, not just a single base. Lebanon has been a source of terrorist activity for 20 years. It's been heavily infiltrated by Hezbollah, it's had a lot of Iranian influence. It's under very strong control by the Syrians, and there is a lot of reason to put credibility in a report like that.

ZAHN: So despite what you have described as the success of the campaign in Afghanistan so far, are you saying, then, that you are deeply concerned about a potential reconstituted al Qaeda leadership. CLARK: Paula, I think we all have to be very concerned about al Qaeda. As we know, we've eliminated maybe six of the top 20 people. There are tens of thousands of the soldiers, so-called, that are out there unaccounted for. And they still harbor hostile intent toward the United States. So we have to be very careful that we stay focused on al Qaeda and not get distracted. It's much easier to apply our power against other states, like Iran, or Iraq. But al Qaeda, they're the people that attacked the United States, and that's our first priority -- got to be -- to take that network down.

ZAHN: I know you are just back from the security conference in Munich, where Sen. John McCain made some very harsh comments to the European public there about their lukewarm reception to the president's axis of evil speech. How would you have interpreted the reception there? Does Europe have a feeling that the United States will go this alone?

I think Europe is increasingly recognizing that the United States is very determined to take action against Saddam Hussein. They want to have a say in this action. And they haven't made up their mind exactly how they feel about it. I think they're waiting to the United States to come to them with stronger evidence, to work them diplomatically, and I think the United States has some opportunities to do that by involving them through deeper consultations in NATO.

But we are at a watershed here. It was much easier to take more unilateral U.S. action in distant far-off Afghanistan than in Iraq. We are going to want to involve our European allies, if we can. If not, of course, we'll have to do it alone.

ZAHN: So do you think we've seen the fallout from the speech, or is there more to come?

CLARK: I think it's a question now of how we move ahead. I read it as a two to three month preparation and decision-making process going on in Washington. There will be consultations with European capitols, there will be work behind the scenes in NATO, at the United Nations, and elsewhere, and I think it's too early for the administration to have decided precisely what the next steps are.

I think the real risk is that we could be distracted by focusing on Saddam Hussein when the real threat is al Qaeda. It's a much more difficult threat for us to get our hands on, but that's the threat we are really faced with. That's the immediate problem.

ZAHN: Gen. Wesley Clark. As always, good to see you. Thank you for joining us, as you are almost home from the security conference in Munich.

CLARK: Thanks.

ZAHN: Take care.

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