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American Morning

Some Special Forces Want to Move on From Afghanistan

Aired September 03, 2002 - 08:05   ET

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

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As we just reported, the "New York Times" is reporting that commanders of some of the elite Special Forces units in Afghanistan want to quit hunting for Osama bin Laden. The "Times" says the troops feel they could be better used to go after other targets.
And Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr this week is looking at what the Pentagon has been doing since September 11 in her series "Pentagon Goes To War."

Good morning. Glad to have you with us in person for a change.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Paula.

Good morning.

Well, you know, despite what these Special Forces units may be telling the "New York Times," senior Pentagon officials told us this morning earlier that they just don't know if bin Laden is dead or alive. But until they see evidence, they say they will keep looking, they will keep looking for bin Laden.

But finding him has proven to be a much tougher thing than anybody thought just a year ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): Just six days after the 9/11 attacks, the president is unequivocal about Osama bin Laden.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want justice and there's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said "Wanted: Dead or Alive."

STARR: But over the last year, that vow was unfulfilled. No one in the Bush administration knows what has happened to the world's most wanted man.

BUSH: Osama bin Laden, he may be alive. If he is, we'll get him. If he's not alive, we got him.

STARR: There are compelling reasons for the experts to argue either way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not real sure of the answer is he alive or dead? I personally think he's probably not with us anymore. STARR: Dale Watson, the FBI's counter-terrorism chief, believes one reason bin Laden is dead is that his former bodyguards are now in custody and they would not have been captured away from their boss unless he was already dead.

Another potential piece of evidence bin Laden is dead, there has been no verified sighting, videotape or audio recording of him in nine months. But some intelligence analysts say bin Laden might simply be lying low, that if he was dead, intercepts would have picked up chatter from his many followers.

So why no videotapes taunting the U.S.?

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: One might be he's not physically able because he's injured in some way. Another might be because he's afraid if he does it, he'll get caught.

STARR: Intelligence experts are now combing the Internet, believing some recent e-mail messages may contain markers, code words used specifically by bin Laden, a possible indication he remains alive. If he is alive, how does he keep getting away and where is he?

This videotape made in Kandahar late last year shows bin Laden had already moved from his long time hideouts near the border with Pakistan. Rumors have continued that by December he was in the mountains of Tora Bora, but then escaped again.

What is clear, finding bin Laden may not bring much comfort, as the al Qaeda is rumored to be planning more attacks.

RUMSFELD: We do not know if he's dead or alive. We do know that he is having a great deal of difficulty functioning. He may be dead, he may be seriously wounded, he may be in Afghanistan, he may be somewhere else. But wherever he is, if he is, you can be certain he is having one dickens of a time operating his apparatus.

Now, is he critical? Well, he's important, but there are plenty of people who have, six, eight, 10, 12 people, probably, who could take over the al Qaeda.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: But you know the cold hard facts is a year ago when the Pentagon first went to war, finding bin Laden was topic number one. And so far they just haven't had any luck and it appears to be a more confused situation than ever before. Is he dead or alive?

ZAHN: Well, help us cut through this. So on one hand you've got this report this morning that you've got folks from the joint special operations command saying they want to be free to target other people and they don't necessarily think he's alive. And then you said the administration officials came out and told you on the phone this morning that simply is not true.

STARR: Well, the administration position, Don Rumsfeld's position is there's no evidence to the contrary and until he sees the body, so to speak, he assumes bin Laden's alive and they will keep looking for him. They cannot rule out that he's alive.

It's very important to understand who these Special Forces units are. These are some of the most elite covert units operating between Afghanistan and Pakistan. These are the guys who operate in a very deep black world. They believe it's not a good use of their time right now to be looking for bin Laden. There's a lot of other things they want to go do and they know sooner or later they may be called to go into Iraq.

And there's not a lot of these Special Forces units out there. So they want to get ready to start doing other things. They think it's a waste of their time to keep looking.

The Pentagon, at the very highest levels, says we're going to keep looking, we don't know if he's dead or alive, we have to rule it out one way or the other.

ZAHN: A waste of time is one issue. The other issue is they want some successes, right?

STARR: Well, they do. I mean clearly, even though Rumsfeld says this war is not about one man, they do want to catch bin Laden.

ZAHN: You'll be back because you like us so much, again, tomorrow. What is part three?

STARR: Well, tomorrow we're going to take a bit of a turn. We're going to start looking at some of the events that have really compelled and driven the Pentagon over the last year. We're going to have a very special look inside the national military command center at the Pentagon.

ZAHN: We look forward to it.

STARR: Thank you.

ZAHN: It's really nice to see you in person. Usually we see you in that very medicinal room that you often report from during the news conferences.

STARR: That's where we hang out.

ZAHN: She has feet, knees. She -- we never see her from anything but the waist down.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. She is a full woman.

ZAHN: She is.

Great to see you.

HEMMER: Good to see you, Barbara.

STARR: Thank you.

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