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American Morning

Bin Laden Said to be Voice on Tape

Aired October 07, 2002 - 08:02   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: An audiotape surfaces that is said to be the voice of Osama bin Laden warning of more terrorist attacks. The two minute tape in Arabic was first aired yesterday on the Al-Jazeera television network, which is based in Qatar.
Our Martin Savidge is in the Al-Jazeera news room. He joins us now by video phone -- Martin, has anyone inside the news room confirmed where this tape came from and how old it is?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula.

No, they have not had perfect identification that it is, say, the voice of Osama bin Laden. But the experts here and those that are familiar with previous messages believe at Al-Jazeera that this is, in fact, his voice. It is his words.

Let me tell you a bit about where we are. As you mentioned, we're inside Al-Jazeera, the satellite channel. This is a 24 hour Arabic news station, very much like CNN. However, we can't begin to tell you the influence, impact that it has in the Arab world. It is a major powerhouse. You can see it does look a lot like CNN itself.

But we were with the Al-Jazeera people last night when we were told that this tape had come in. A number of very interesting things about this tape. First of all, how short it is. And second, specifically the audience to which he appears to be sending the message.

Now, joining me right now is Octavia Nasser. She is an Arab affairs expert, also a CNN correspondent. And we have both been talking about this tape.

First of all, Octavia, how do we know is this Saddam Hussein or not?

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't know if it is Osama bin Laden or not. There is no way to confirm this independently. What we do know is that Al-Jazeera is reporting it to be the Osama bin Laden. They have reason to believe it is Osama bin Laden. They're looking at the voice. They're looking at the message. They're looking at the style. And they say nothing about this tape doesn't indicate that it is not the leader of the al Qaeda network.

SAVIDGE: And the difference that Octavia can pick up on -- obviously she's heard it in the Arabic, and that does make a significant difference despite the translation coming from Osama bin Laden -- some of the message in there appears to be targeted to a specific audience. And this is something we haven't seen before. Who does it appear this person is talking to?

NASR: Well, it's very obvious that this is addressed to the American people. As a matter of fact, he starts the speech, if you want to call it a speech, the presentation saying this is a message to the American people. This is very interesting, it's short, only two minutes in length. And when we compare it with the old Osama bin Laden tapes that used to be anywhere between 30 minutes to 45 minutes, sometimes an hour long, those tapes were addressed to a Muslim audience.

This is specifically to the American people. He is inviting them to two things...

SAVIDGE: It's a personal kind of message.

NASR: It is. And he's telling them he's disappointed by their acceptance of the policies that the U.S. administration has been taking in the Middle East. But anyway, this is an interesting tape in any case.

SAVIDGE: Paula, we don't know when this tape was done. There's no indication of a clear date, no clear event. Does it prove that Osama bin Laden is alive today? We don't know. However, the experts here at Al-Jazeera believe it shows that he survived the war in Afghanistan -- Paula.

ZAHN: But, Martin, it's interesting to note that just hours before this tape was aired, the leader of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, said that he believed that Osama bin Laden might be dead. Are they making anything, any significance to the timing of that pronouncement?

SAVIDGE: Well, Al-Jazeera also had the comments coming from Hamid Karzai. So obviously this tape does not necessarily prove that he's alive at the moment. But the words he uses in talking about perhaps dividing up the Arab world, at least here, they're thinking if they are talking about the buildup to Iraq, thereby it was fairly recent when this message was recorded.

ZAHN: Octavia and Martin Savidge, thanks so much for that update. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 7, 2002 - 08:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: An audiotape surfaces that is said to be the voice of Osama bin Laden warning of more terrorist attacks. The two minute tape in Arabic was first aired yesterday on the Al-Jazeera television network, which is based in Qatar.
Our Martin Savidge is in the Al-Jazeera news room. He joins us now by video phone -- Martin, has anyone inside the news room confirmed where this tape came from and how old it is?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula.

No, they have not had perfect identification that it is, say, the voice of Osama bin Laden. But the experts here and those that are familiar with previous messages believe at Al-Jazeera that this is, in fact, his voice. It is his words.

Let me tell you a bit about where we are. As you mentioned, we're inside Al-Jazeera, the satellite channel. This is a 24 hour Arabic news station, very much like CNN. However, we can't begin to tell you the influence, impact that it has in the Arab world. It is a major powerhouse. You can see it does look a lot like CNN itself.

But we were with the Al-Jazeera people last night when we were told that this tape had come in. A number of very interesting things about this tape. First of all, how short it is. And second, specifically the audience to which he appears to be sending the message.

Now, joining me right now is Octavia Nasser. She is an Arab affairs expert, also a CNN correspondent. And we have both been talking about this tape.

First of all, Octavia, how do we know is this Saddam Hussein or not?

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't know if it is Osama bin Laden or not. There is no way to confirm this independently. What we do know is that Al-Jazeera is reporting it to be the Osama bin Laden. They have reason to believe it is Osama bin Laden. They're looking at the voice. They're looking at the message. They're looking at the style. And they say nothing about this tape doesn't indicate that it is not the leader of the al Qaeda network.

SAVIDGE: And the difference that Octavia can pick up on -- obviously she's heard it in the Arabic, and that does make a significant difference despite the translation coming from Osama bin Laden -- some of the message in there appears to be targeted to a specific audience. And this is something we haven't seen before. Who does it appear this person is talking to?

NASR: Well, it's very obvious that this is addressed to the American people. As a matter of fact, he starts the speech, if you want to call it a speech, the presentation saying this is a message to the American people. This is very interesting, it's short, only two minutes in length. And when we compare it with the old Osama bin Laden tapes that used to be anywhere between 30 minutes to 45 minutes, sometimes an hour long, those tapes were addressed to a Muslim audience.

This is specifically to the American people. He is inviting them to two things...

SAVIDGE: It's a personal kind of message.

NASR: It is. And he's telling them he's disappointed by their acceptance of the policies that the U.S. administration has been taking in the Middle East. But anyway, this is an interesting tape in any case.

SAVIDGE: Paula, we don't know when this tape was done. There's no indication of a clear date, no clear event. Does it prove that Osama bin Laden is alive today? We don't know. However, the experts here at Al-Jazeera believe it shows that he survived the war in Afghanistan -- Paula.

ZAHN: But, Martin, it's interesting to note that just hours before this tape was aired, the leader of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, said that he believed that Osama bin Laden might be dead. Are they making anything, any significance to the timing of that pronouncement?

SAVIDGE: Well, Al-Jazeera also had the comments coming from Hamid Karzai. So obviously this tape does not necessarily prove that he's alive at the moment. But the words he uses in talking about perhaps dividing up the Arab world, at least here, they're thinking if they are talking about the buildup to Iraq, thereby it was fairly recent when this message was recorded.

ZAHN: Octavia and Martin Savidge, thanks so much for that update. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com