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American Morning

Terror on Tape: Roots of Hatred

Aired August 20, 2002 - 07:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now another in CNN's exclusive weeklong looking literally inside Al Qaeda, thanks to videotapes obtained in Afghanistan by CNN correspondent Nic Robertson. If you have been following our reports, you know that Nic, through his contacts in Afghanistan, was able to bring back 64 tapes from what was apparently part of an Al Qaeda library.
Yesterday, we showed you what appears to be Al Qaeda members testing potential chemical weapons on dogs. Today, Nic brings you what was in many ways Osama bin Laden's and Al Qaeda's coming out party, when they declared war on America. But until now, you've never seen video of this event, perhaps because the tape reveals so much about Al Qaeda security and just who was associating with bin Laden.

Nic Robertson reports today on how that group protects him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The first to appear from Osama bin Laden's armored jeep as guns fire a welcoming salute, Aman Al Zawahri, bin Laden's right hand man, and inspirational ally. Exiting from the other side of the vehicle, bin Laden leads the way, accompanied by his military adviser, Mohammed Atef. Atef is now dead, killed last November in coalition bombing.

But this day, the 26th of May, 1998, was Osama bin Laden's biggest day ever in public. And these pictures, from eastern Afghanistan, part of an exclusive library of Al Qaeda tapes CNN has obtained, have never been seen before.

Bin Laden is about to declare war on America.

OSAMA BIN LADEN (through translator): By God's grace, we have formed with other Islamic groups and Islamic nations in the world, a front called the Islamic Front, to do jihad against the crusaders and Jews.

ROBERTSON: Of all the Al Qaeda tapes CNN obtained, this stands out, a record of the event the terrorist leaders saw as history in the making for Al Qaeda.

(on camera): And do we know where this compound is?

PETER BERGEN, JOURNALIST: It's near Khwost (ph). It's a place called Zwarakil (ph).

ROBERTSON (voice-over): A day journalist Peter Bergen, who'd interviewed bin Laden for CNN the previous year, believes is incredibly significant.

BERGEN: Bin Laden is calling really in this very public way, with the military commander, the guy who probably planned September 11th, and his number two, the guy who really is almost the brains of the operation Aman Al Zawahri. They are going public. They are saying we are having this war against the United States.

ROBERTSON: A select group of Pakistani journalists, and one Chinese writer were invited to watch Al Qaeda launch its jihad on the Western world, which, while noted at the time, never got wide exposure, because no independent videotaping was allowed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you be taking any practical steps to materialize this jihad?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Ismail Khan was one of the journalists there that day.

ISMAIL KHAN, PAKISTANI JOURNALIST: We were given a few instructions, you know, on how to photograph, you know, and only take picture of Osama and the two leaders were going to sit close to him, nobody else.

ROBERTSON: Could security be the reason we have never seen the video before? That is a question we put to Rohan Gunaratna, author of "Inside Al Qaeda."

ROHAN GUNARATNA, AUTHOR, "INSIDE AL QAEDA": Making that tape public would compromise the security of Al Qaeda and of Osama bin Laden. They did not release that tape.

ROBERTSON: Perhaps bin Laden didn't want his enemies to know he always carried a weapon, or that even inside the building, attentive bodyguards exuded professionalism, worthy of presidential security, or maybe because there were others in the room that day they didn't want identified.

BERGEN: I recognize this bodyguard here from when we interviewed bin Laden in '97.

ROBERTSON: But neither Bergen nor the journalist at this press conference was allowed to take his picture. Another identity protected, bin Laden's interpreter who shows up on other tapes recovered by CNN as a military trainer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: While there were some who wanted to hide, there were others bin Laden wanted to highlight, like the two sons of Sheikh Abdul Rahman, the spiritual leader of those convicted of blowing up the World Trade Center in 1993.

Sheikh Rahman himself in a U.S. prison planning other attacks on New York.

BERGEN: The significance of having Sheikh Rahman's sons at the press conference can't be underestimated. First of all, Sheikh Rahman's sons make it clear they have been fighting alongside bin Laden for many, many years, up to a decade. They also distribute at this press conference what they came to be the will of their father, Sheikh Rahman, calling for attacks on Americans, and the purported will states, you know, attack them on the sea, attack them on the land, attack them everywhere, attack their economy, and it's a very kind of a strong statement.

ROBERTSON: Sheikh Rahman's involvement, says Bergen, key for Bin Laden, who uses his spiritual guidance as a religious fig leaf, from behind which he broadens his terror group's appeal to radicals. With hindsight, the important moments are easy to pick out.

For example, when Osama bin Laden hints at an attack on U.S. targets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSAMA BIN LADEN (through translator): And by God's grace, the men react to this call and they are going on this path. And they are doing a good job. By God's will, their actions are going to have a successful result in killing Americans and getting rid of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Within 11 weeks, Al Qaeda attacked U.S. embassies, in Kenya and Tanzania, and perhaps almost as chilling, because it didn't happen.

Aman Al Zawahri appears to justify an attack on the U.S. embassy in Cairo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMAN AL ZAWAHRI: And the CIA station in Cairo is the biggest station for the CIA outside America. There are more than 20,000 Americans in Egypt working with the CIA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: A journalist asks bin Laden why he thinks he has the resources to take on the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSAMA BIN LADEN (through translator): In Islam, there is a natural dignity to be respected, and whoever depends on God, God will give him victory. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: For Bin Laden, the day seems to have been a success. He looks relaxed, even slightly elated, as he poses for photographs with journalists and entertains them over tea and candy.

As the journalists prepare to leave, bin Laden looks somewhat less at ease. Notice how he flinches when a rocket-propelled grenade is launched nearby. As he inspects, the security laid on for his meeting, fighters are keen to show off their prowess.

Where these men are now remains a secret.

BERGEN: We know some bodyguards have showed up and the United States has captured some of bin Laden's bodyguards. Which ones exactly, what it means, I don't know.

ROBERTSON: If bin Laden is still alive, then likely his security detail will now be left visible. These pictures, however, an insight into just how seriously he takes self-preservation, an image never before seen, as he sets off to waste terror against the West.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And Nic Robertson joins us from Atlanta this morning.

Nic, I guess the one thing comes to mind as you watch your report today is the question of why U.S. intelligence agencies weren't more aware of the threat that Osama bin Laden posed way back in 1998?

ROBERTSON: Well, that was a stage where he was only beginning to announce his intentions, or at least put his plans into a new phase. That really is a question that perhaps intelligence agencies can best answer themselves. But he was, at this point, very much putting himself right out front.

Although again, this was almost a secret event. It was a press conference, but it wasn't a press conference in the sense of the way we would have a press conference here. It was a select handful of people who were invited to attend, and there was no video. So it was only to state clearly what he was doing. He didn't go public with it in a big way.

So again, secrecy was at the core of what he was doing, and that is probably one of the reasons why intelligence agencies had little information on what he was doing.

ZAHN: It strikes me when you refer to that news conference, wasn't there really more of a ceremony gathering for him, to allow him to spew really harsh anti-U.S. rhetoric?

ROBERTSON: It can be viewed absolutely in those terms. It was, in some ways, his moment, his big day, in his own eyes, of his own importance, his sense of history, the reason why he had it recorded. We know this recording was never intended to go public. It shows things he didn't ever want shown. So why did he record it? Because of his own sense and purpose, because of his belief in his own importance in what he was doing.

ZAHN: Nic Robertson, we're going to leave it there. We're going to have you back in our next hour. We have got a lot more to ask you about at 8:00. And as the morning goes on and the week goes on, we will have new Al Qaeda video in Nic Robertson's exclusive series "TERROR ON TAPE."

Tomorrow, "Explosive Force," a step-by-step video lesson on how to make TNT from scratch.

On Thursday, "In Training." You are going to see Al Qaeda fighters training for urban hostage taking and assassinations.

And then on Friday, "Face of Evil," what these new scenes of Osama bin Laden tell us about the most wanted terrorist.

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