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American Morning

Videotapes Featuring Osama bin Laden, Hijacker Surface

Aired April 16, 2002 - 07:20   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: Another chilling Osama bin Laden videotape has surfaced. This one features a top bin Laden aide, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, celebrating the 9/11 attacks on America as a great victory. It was shown on the Arabic language Al-Jazeera network.

There was also another tape that features an apparent farewell message from one of the September 11 hijackers. And although that video has never been seen before, the U.S. believes the clips are months old and offer no proof that bin Laden is still alive.

Our "Big Question" at this hour: does the new terror tape hold new clues?

Joining us from Washington, Samer Shehata with Georgetown University Center for Contemporary Studies. And, there he is, Peter Bergen, CNN terrorism analyst -- welcome, gentlemen. Glad to have both of you with us this morning.

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning.

SAMER SHEHATA, PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Good morning.

ZAHN: Peter, what is the significance of these newly released tapes?

BERGEN: One of the things that leaped out at me about that tape, Paula, is that the hijacker mentions intelligence agencies on the tape. And one of the puzzles has always been, where was Flight 93 going?

It's quite possible that the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia was a target. Al Qaeda affiliates talked to Filipino police as early as 1995, talking about a plan to fly a plane into CIA headquarters. So I think it raises the distinct possibility that CIA was, in fact, one of the targets of the four planes.

ZAHN: Professor Shehata, is that your view as well?

SHEHATA: Well, I think Peter is right, that in the first segment, with Ahmed Al Haznawi, there is the mention of intelligence agencies as well, and we hadn't heard that before. I think the kind of -- the most important thing about this tape is, unlike the tape the State Department released in December this tape is clear. The audio is clear, the pictures are clear, and there's really no doubt that Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden al-Qud (ph) are taking credit for, are responsible for the 9/11 events.

ZAHN: Tell us more, professor, about the significance of what Ayman Al-Zawahiri says on this tape.

SHEHATA: Well, we saw only a short segment. I believe that a larger segment of the tape is going to be shown on Thursday on Al- Jazeera. His segment basically, you know, takes pleasure in the fact that the operation was a success. And then he says, of course -- quite kind of modestly -- that the success lies not in their own abilities and so forth, but because of God and because of, you know, God's magnificence and so on.

ZAHN: All right. As you were talking, we were actually looking at the tape of the hijacker making his will public. Let's go back and listen, all of us together, about exactly what this hijacker is praying for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's time to kill the Americans on their own soil, among their own sons, and next to their soldiers and intelligence agencies. The U.S. is nothing but a propaganda machine. It is full of lies and false pretense. It seeks to magnify its status in the eyes of the world so it can dictate its will.

The truth is what you have seen. We killed them outside their country. Praise is to God. And today we killed them on their own soil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Peter, for those of us who have never seen this tape before, it's shocking to hear this in such chilling detail. What was your reaction when you saw this tape for the first time?

BERGEN: Well I think one thing, you know obviously that the World Trade Center is superimposed behind the hijacker. And this fits the pattern of -- I mean one thing that struck me is this tape was very unlikely to be made in Afghanistan. It's not like you have production facilities where you can superimpose electronic images in Afghanistan.

I think the tape was most likely made in Pakistan. And it fits previous tapes, when after the USS Cole explosion the tape was released where al Qaeda actually imposed pictures of an explosion on the USS Cole, again demonstrating that there must be some sort of media organization that works with al Qaeda, probably based in Pakistan, that is the source of this tape.

ZAHN: Professor Shehata, in closing this morning, I wanted to read a little bit of what the secretary of defense yesterday had to say about these tapes. He essentially said, "It is a patchwork of clips from previous periods, along with some dialogue and commentary from more recent periods," specifically referring to the tape with Osama bin Laden's key lieutenant there. And then he said, "I have not seen anything about his activities or any videotapes of him that are reasonably certain to have been in this year."

Do you think Osama bin Laden is still alive?

SHEHATA: Well, that's the $64,000 or really $25 million question. And he's right, that there's no indication in this tape that he's alive. And it is true, also, especially in the first tape, the suicide bomber, that it's clearly clipped.

There are two segments of it, and there are probably more that have been put together. But there's nothing to indicate in the section where Ayman Al-Zawahiri is speaking that Osama bin Laden is still alive. It's clear, however, that it did take place -- that the recording of the tape did take place after 9/11 sometime.

ZAHN: And it also is clear that -- wasn't there a reference to the Arab League meetings in March? So one would assume that this was done maybe a couple of months before that?

SHEHATA: Well it's not clear, actually, who made the reference to the Arab League meeting. In the segments that I've heard, it wasn't Ayman Al-Zawahiri and so on. It might have been a superimposed voice, as it were over that picture. And then if that was the case, we don't know whether the actual filming, the taping of this segment, did take place close enough to the Arab League meeting or not.

ZAHN: All right, gentlemen. We appreciate both of your insights. Samer Shehata, of Georgetown University, and Peter Bergen, one of our own, our CNN terrorism analyst, thank you for your time this morning.

BERGEN: Thank you.

SHEHATA: Thank you.

ZAHN: All right.

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