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American Morning
Interview with Reuel Gerecht
Aired July 23, 2002 - 08:17 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: It is no secret that al Qaeda is still very much alive around the world. Last week's arrest of four alleged al Qaeda operatives in Spain is just one example of the group's continued activity. And Europe's new anti-terror chief told "USA Today" that al Qaeda is aggressively recruiting new members in almost every European country.
From Brussels with more on this, Reuel Gerecht, a former CIA officer and now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Good to have you with us. Welcome, sir.
REUEL GERECHT, FORMER CIA OFFICER: Good morning.
ZAHN: How easy is it to recruit al Qaeda members now in Europe?
GERECHT: Well, I'm not sure that it's -- I suspect it's really not easy. It's, it is difficult. I should say there is a large, extensive network of militant and fundamentalist groups in Europe and we know that al Qaeda goes after these networks as a means to try to locate individuals who would be willing to engage in terrorism.
Again, it's probably not easy for them to find folks, but they certainly have a rather large pool of people to hunt for.
ZAHN: In your judgment, which country now has the biggest problem with this recruitment going on?
GERECHT: Well, it's hard to say. I would probably pinpoint France as being the most interesting country because, you know, even though al Qaeda is a very ecumenical organization, trying to recruit people throughout the Muslim world, it remains an overwhelming Arab institution and France, by far and away, has the largest Arab population in Europe.
Also, it has a very well established circuit of fundamentalist and militant institutions. It experienced fairly severe terrorism in the mid-1990s from Algerian and Islamic extremists. And also in the Muslim community in France there is a general feeling that integration isn't working and amongst the young Muslim males, Arabs, we're now into the second generation of young men who have largely lived on the dole, who -- or have engaged in black market activities or crime.
ZAHN: In your judgment, are the French doing enough to stop this?
GERECHT: Well, the French have certainly been probably the most aggressive in Europe. I mean France per capita has more policemen than any other Western country. They have, I think, certainly more aggressively than other European countries, tried to dampen down the problem, tried to get into these various groups. But it's very, very difficult because the Muslim community and France, as elsewhere in Europe, is fairly closed and it's very difficult to get people inside of it.
ZAHN: This "USA Today" article makes some interesting points about Central Europe, saying some of the governments are so corrupt that it facilitates these al Qaeda members being recruited. Do you agree with that?
GERECHT: Well, obviously if you have a corrupt government and you can buy protection that certainly helps. I don't think that's necessary. I mean al Qaeda has demonstrated that it can operate in Western Europe, where the governments, by and large, are not corrupt. So I don't think that's probably -- I don't think that's probably much of a magnet for al Qaeda. I suspect that like other militant organizations, they will go where there are established communities and they feel most comfortable.
ZAHN: Americans are trying to assess their risks all the time and there's been a great deal of concern about al Qaeda operatives operating in Central Asia and the Middle East. How concerned should they be about these operatives in Europe?
GERECHT: I think they should probably be quite concerned. I mean you can see, if you look at al Qaeda over 10 years -- and September 11 was sort of a natural evolution of their operational strategy -- they have been wanting to base their operations in the West, to actually wage them from Western lands. And we can certainly say that after September 11 that it's going to be much more difficult for Muslim young men to travel from the Middle East or Central Asia to the United States. It's simply very, very much more difficult to get visas.
If you can find men who carry Western passports, and there is still, for example, a visa waiver program between the United States and Europe where if you have a Western, a European passport, you don't have to get a visa to go to the United States, it's obviously very appealing to an organization like al Qaeda to have young men who can travel more freely.
ZAHN: Reuel Gerecht, we really appreciate your insights and your patience with that feedback you're getting in your ear, that you gave us a tremendous amount of information this morning. We very much appreciate your talking with us.
GERECHT: My pleasure.
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