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American Morning

Interview with Senator Richard Shelby, Brian Jenkins

Aired April 19, 2002 - 07:40   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: Now, back to the war on terror and the latest bin Laden tapes. The al Qaeda leader has been getting plenty of face time on TV this week, as different portions of an al Qaeda documentary were aired by Al-Jazeera and the Middle East Broadcasting Corporation.

The anti-American rhetorical from bin Laden and others remains the same, but does it offer any new information?

Joining us now from Washington, Alabama Senator Richard Shelby -- welcome back -- and from Los Angeles this morning, on a very early Friday morning indeed, terrorism expert, Brian Jenkins -- good to see you as well, Brian.

BRIAN JENKINS, TERRORISM EXPERT: Good morning.

ZAHN: Senator, yesterday those two networks chose to air a portion of the tape that haven't been aired before, and we will not air the sound, but I'd like to put up on the screen something that Osama bin Laden said on this latest retrieved portion of the tape.

"America will not even dream of security if we do not see it as a tangible reality in Palestine, the land of the two holy shrines, Saudi Arabia and all Muslim land. We heralded to you a few weeks ago that your brethren have come out carrying their heads on their hand, aspiring to die in God's way. So I pray, God, to give them victory and make them hit their targets."

What's with the sudden interest in the Palestinians on Osama bin Laden's part?

SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: I believe that he has taken advantage of the situation that has been happening on the ground on the West Bank. He sees this as a rallying point for the part of the Muslim community that he is talking to, and it's just expediency. But he sees this as part of his overall struggle.

ZAHN: And on this latest tape, he also seems to be keenly interested in the economic impact of the attacks of September 11. Let's listen to a small part of that tape now. Here it comes, Senator.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OSAMA BIN LADEN (through translator): The whole damage by the least accounts is about $3 trillion by God's will. All these explosions had been blessed. We pray that may God accept those martyrs who are killed in those hits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: I know you have told us it's not quite clear what the intelligence values of these newly-released excerpts are, but just based on what you heard about this economic motivation, what does that tell us?

SHELBY: It tells us that they know that they did a lot of damage on September 11, economic and otherwise, and the figures that they are throwing out, I've heard them elsewhere. I don't know if they are exactly right, but they did damage our economy. And they hurt us, and they are telling in this tape to their supporters the success that they have had and hoping for more.

I think that's the basic message. This tape was made for a lot of the supporters to show the success of the terrorist groups.

ZAHN: Brian, do you think this tape was a rallying call for sleeper cells out there?

JENKINS: I think that is what it is...

SHELBY: I'm not sure.

ZAHN: Oh, sorry, Senator.

JENKINS: I'm sorry.

ZAHN: Oh, Brian, jump in here, and then we'll go back to the senator.

SHELBY: I'm not -- go ahead.

JENKINS: I think the senator is absolutely correct that these tapes represent Osama bin Laden attempting to take advantage of the events in the Middle East to seek new constituencies to support his cause. But there is a continuing effort on the part of the al Qaeda leadership to adapt to the new circumstances that they confront, and to communicate to their followers throughout the world that the leadership survives.

These tapes are coming out not by accident, but with a purpose. And that is to show that the leadership is still there, that it is still able to communicate with its followers, and that it still wants to inspire them to carry out further actions by pointing out to them the success that their struggle has achieved thus far.

ZAHN: And in what position, Brian, do you think they are to carry out further attacks?

JENKINS: Well, certainly their operational environment is much more difficult than it was before. They have lost the support of government when we eliminated the Taliban. Most importantly, they lost the easy access to these training camps, which not only provided training to the members, but were a part of their process of indoctrinating followers that they could then deploy throughout the world. That no longer exists.

What we may see evolving here in response to these new circumstances is an al Qaeda that is an even looser network, even more dependent on local initiative than it was before, but still lethal.

ZAHN: Which is extremely frightening to Americans out there. Final words, Senator Shelby, on this constant state of alert that Americans seemingly have had to get used to.

SHELBY: Well, I think we all know that the events of September 11 changed a lot of things. There are a lot of sleeper cells in this country. I don't think we have panicked, but I do believe it's important for us to stay alert, and we are doing that.

ZAHN: Senator Richard Shelby, thank you again for your time this morning.

SHELBY: Thank you.

ZAHN: Brian Jenkins, thanks for that early wake-up call for us this morning -- delighted to have both of you with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

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