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American Morning
Bin Laden Half Brother Speaks Out
Aired March 19, 2002 - 08:22 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Every Tuesday, CNN national security correspondent David Ensor joins us with an intelligence brief. This morning he joins us from Washington with an exclusive CNN interview with one of Osama bin Laden's half brothers.
David, he's got an awful lot of siblings. Which brother did you speak with?
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this brother has the mother in common. This interview was conducted in Jedda, Saudi Arabia by CNN's Rula Amin. And it really provides a fascinating first television look into this very private family, particularly insights, of course, into the mother's side of Osama bin Laden's family.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR (voice-over): Osama bin Laden's wealthy family, a powerful Saudi dynasty, officially cut him off and disinherited him years ago. But the ties of blood are not so easily severed. Sheikh Ahmad Mohammed, son of the same mother, grew up admiring his big brother Osama.
AHMAD MOHAMMED, OSAMA BIN LADEN'S BROTHER:
He is my brother. I know him. I lived with him for years. I know how much he fears God.
ENSOR: Sheikh Ahmad told CNN's Rula Amin the family has its own information that Osama bin Laden is still alive, or was as of three weeks ago. He says he does not believe Osama could be behind the attacks of September 11.
MOHAMMED: I can't say. The way I know him, no way. He wouldn't.
ENSOR: Of course, the way Sheikh Ahmed and his mother see Osama bin Laden is in stark contrast to the way most of the world does.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: There's overwhelming evidence to show that bin Laden was behind the September 11 attacks. If his family chooses not to believe that, that's just how families operate.
ENSOR: Ahmad Mohammed and his mother last saw Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan at the wedding in January of 2001 of one of Osama's sons.
MOHAMMED: He loved his family and friends' gatherings. He especially adores his mother. First comes God and then his mother.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: And that mother, Hamida al-Attas, according to her son, spends all of her time now watching the television, reading the newspapers, trying to get any kind of information about her son, Osama bin Laden. Is he safe? Is he still alive? And as reported in that segment just a moment earlier, the son says as of three weeks ago, they had information that he was -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And, David, the bin Laden name will forever be associated with terror. Is that why, in part, the family is denouncing him or at least coming out publicly and talking about him?
ENSOR: Well, interestingly, the family, back in 1994 the family and the bin Laden company, which is a multi-billion dollar company, denounced bin Laden because he had criticized, he had attacked the Saudi royal family, with which the family is closely allied. They have not spoken publicly since September 11 and this is the first time that a member of Osama bin Laden's family has spoken on television.
But this is a member of the mother's family. This man's last name is not bin Laden and it could well be that members of the bin Laden family will not be too pleased to see this interview has occurred. It may increase pressure on the bin Laden family and company to speak out against the terrorists in their midst.
WHITFIELD: I wonder if this will encourage any of the blood relatives to, indeed, speak. How do we go about finding out when and if they will decide to go public?
ENSOR: Well, this is an intensely private family in a very closed society, Saudi society. Their normal instinct has been to remain quiet. But the pressures on them are extraordinary. This is a large company with holdings around the world. Members of the family have been moved out of the United States, in some cases, for their own safety. The bin Laden name has certainly suffered in the process of the terrorists of September 11 and it may well be that the company and the family may decide they need to say something more soon -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much.
David Ensor from Washington this morning.
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