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American Morning

Interview with Marianne Pearl

Aired February 26, 2002 - 07:05   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: We're going to turn our attention now to Marianne Pearl this morning. Up front this morning, seven months pregnant and defiantly hopeful, Mariane Pearl waited for word of her husband's well being until a graphic videotape delivered news she could not comprehend. U.S. authorities last week obtained the video recording the gruesome murder of her husband, reporter Daniel Pearl.

And today Mariane Pearl sat down with CNN's Chris Burns for an exclusive interview taped earlier this morning. CNN and Ms. Pearl established ground rules that confined the interview to the message she wanted to give the world and how she plans to go on from here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mariane, thank you for joining us.

You came to Pakistan in peace. You came here seeking the truth with your husband. You leave Pakistan as a widow after your husband was brutally murdered. What message would you have to the people of Pakistan?

MARIANE PEARL, WIFE OF DANIEL PEARL: Well, first of all, I would tell them that my feelings and my affection for this country have not changed because of what happened here. On the contrary, people, the people have shown tremendous support to me. They have shared my sorrow. I know they feel bad, ashamed, sad about what happened.

Also, the people who have been actually around me during all this ordeal in this terrible time have, so the investigators, basically, have been people of heart and of a tremendous professionalism with very, very limited resources, very limited resources, they have shown an unlimited amount of courage, of commitment, individual commitment, as well, to try and find Danny.

That has meant a lot to me and I know that the people like Danny's family and Danny's friends have not shared that and it's even harder, in a way, for them because having been surrounded by such human quality, regardless of whether they are Pakistani or some other nationality, but just human, you know, they were shocked as much as I was. Maybe not as much, but I mean they really shared my suffering and it meant a lot.

So I really want to tell them that and thank them for that, all of them, all of these investigators as well as the anonymous people that have shown their support. And now I also want to tell them to find the people who have killed Danny.

BURNS: And how much hope to you have that they will?

PEARL: Well, honestly, that depends, I think, a lot on how the world responds to it. I was mentioning the lack of resources, as it happens Karachi is at the front line of a battle that it's leading and it's fighting on behalf of the rest of the world because this is, this happens to be at the front line for a lot of reasons. There are immediate political and historical reasons. Yes, Pakistan have supported the Taliban before. Yes, there's been the war in Afghanistan, all this before now. You know, Pakistan is also the natural, like second front, right? So that's a reality.

There's also deeper reasons that we all know but more vaguely, right? Lack of education, it's a major one, absolutely major one, lack of resources, lack of hope, lack of scope for the people. I don't think that any more we can consider that that's the problem of Pakistan alone. It's not anymore. Danny was killed and only this month, 10 other people were killed by terrorists, and they were all Pakistani. So they're suffering as much as we are, right?

BURNS: So you see that the death of your husband as being a symptom of wider problems, deeper problems in the country?

PEARL: No, no. I see it as being like an alarm for everybody. It means that if people in the world do not realize that they're not immune against this anymore, then nothing will, we will never fight this war. This is a vast international dangerous network of people. So if we consider it as being the problem in Pakistan, I mean this is completely wrong.

So I think now it is high time that people in the world -- I'm talking about the United States. I'm also talking about Europe and other parts of the world. Governments should take even more responsibility in fighting against terrorism, but also people. At community level, at individual level, ask themselves questions like what do I know about my country's foreign policy? Is my country fighting terrorism? Am I making efforts to promote dialogue? Am I, you know, am I committed?

BURNS: Which is what you've been asking throughout. You've been asking for more dialogue.

PEARL: Exactly.

BURNS: You've addressed the Pakistanis who have been supportive of you. How do you address the Pakistanis who have sympathies for militant groups as those who killed your husband?

PEARL: I really, you know, don't, I mean if you talk in terms of Pakistan itself, it's a very minor group. It's a very small group. It is not a group, I mean like, you know, I want to emphasize that so much. It is not a group of only extremist Pakistani. It is a vast and international network of terrorists, you know? Wherever there's misery, they'll find people. And there's misery, you know, in a lot of parts of the world.

BURNS: There's compassion across the world for the ordeal you went through, for the pain, for the grief. There is also, there are also people who have sympathies for militant groups and that is, as you've talked about, how there is support in some ways for some of these groups around the world, groups that take advantage of situations, of poverty and so forth.

How do you address both groups of people, those who empathize with you and sympathize with you and those who sympathize with those militants around the world?

PEARL: Well, I'll tell you what, Danny, he's, now we're going to have like, you know, memorial services all over the world for him. There are going to be, you know, cosmopolitan and they're going to celebrate someone, as you say, who seeks the truth, you know, who had courage.

This in itself says a lot, you know? The goal of terrorism is to input terror in people. If we, I know, and that's like a personal thing I'll share with you, but it's personal conviction, you know, and that's why I'm sitting here with you, is I know Danny has not been defeated by the people who killed him. His spirit, his faith, his conviction have not been defeated, you know? And I'm extremely proud of him, you know?

The only thing, I'm not going to, I don't even want to address the people who support, you know, I mean whatever, you know? What I'm saying is that if people do not let terror, you know, get in their heart and they react, you know, and they realize the real nature of the terrorism, then they'll be defeated. I don't have a political message for them, you know?

The message I have is for the people. It's like just, do like Danny. Just don't be defeated by them.

BURNS: And try to address the underlying problems that bring about these kinds of groups?

PEARL: Exactly. Ask yourself the question.

BURNS: Parleyan vousez francais (ph). You're French. Your husband was from California. You're seven months pregnant now. Where do you go from here? What will you do?

PEARL: Well, you know, the first thing, hold this memorial. I will carry on this message because I think Danny and I are very much alive. We have the same kind of conviction. As I say, we are not defeated and so I will, you know, make sure that his pain and my pain will help, you know, change the world in that sense, you know, at our level.

BURNS: Concretely what do you mean? Where will you do that? How will you do that?

PEARL: I think, you know, again, you know, the key words is dialogue, you know? So I can share my experience. I can, you know, I do like what I'm, you know, inviting other people to do. What am I doing? What do I know? How can I help, you know? So I do that in my own life.

And, of course, I will also, as you say, I'm seven months pregnant and I will give life, give birth to Danny's son and just go on.

BURNS: And what will you tell your son about what happened to your husband?

PEARL: Well, that depends on, you know, how people -- no, that depends on how people react to that, you know? If I can tell to my son, you know, yes, he was brutally and cowardly murdered but the ultimate objective of these people never reached its goal thanks to him, you know, and what he pass on to me and what he passed on to other people and hopefully other people to other people, then he's a hero.

BURNS: Thank you, Mariane.

PEARL: Thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Wow. Let's go now to Chris Burns, who joins us again from Karachi, Pakistan.

Chris, watching that, I guess you just get a sense of just how principled and how strong Mariane is. Was there anything she wouldn't talk about with you?

BURNS: She was very, very strong, very impressive and very moved even just listening to it again that she had so much focus and so much energy and dedication to the ideals that she and her husband have and had.

There was one question, however, there were, there was one question that she could not answer, she felt it was not the right time to answer, is whether or not she had seen that videotape that was released showing Daniel Pearl brutally murdered. That was not the right time for it. As a journalist I felt it was a question to ask and it was fully within her right not to answer that -- Paula.

ZAHN: Were you able to address the issue of what her expectation is over the possibility of Pakistan handing over her husband's murderers to the United States?

BURNS: That is something that we didn't touch on. That is something that obviously remains to be determined. It still seems to be a theory that authorities would, talking to authorities here, sources close to the investigation, it does appear that they do want the wheels of justice here to roll first before there's any kind of extradition that would be undertaken -- Paula.

ZAHN: And then there seems to be some clear political reasons why Pakistan will not want to extradite these suspects.

BURNS: Obviously. There is a very, very important message that if they did send away these suspects, it would show that Pakistan is acting under pressure. Again, this sort of image of perhaps a puppet under the Americans that everybody wants to avoid showing that. So that's a consideration. It does appear that both sides are very sensitive to that -- Paula.

ZAHN: Chris Burns, thanks for the update. And you did a remarkable job of interviewing Mariane Pearl. I know that those were very difficult circumstances for both of you.

BURNS: Indeed.

ZAHN: Thank you for bringing that to us this morning.

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