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American Morning
Terror Connection?
Aired December 12, 2002 - 07:03 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's dig a bit deeper now into that report suggesting that Iraq may have supplied a deadly nerve agent to a terror group with possible ties to al Qaeda. That story first appeared in today's "Washington Post."
We want to get reaction now. Two locations, in Baghdad, Nic Robertson is along with us today, and at the White House, our senior White House correspondent John King watching that story as well.
John -- good morning to you. Let's start there at the White House.
A bit of caution on this story there? What's happening?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A bit of caution, Bill, but still some alarming facts.
White House officials are saying they will have no public comment right now, and they say there is no hard evidence that Iraq has transferred anything or that al Qaeda has obtained any chemical weapons.
But two senior administration officials do confirm to CNN that U.S. intelligence agencies have received what they consider to be a report at least worth pursuing, some information that perhaps Iraq passed on the nerve agent, VX, a deadly nerve agent, to Islamic fundamentalists associated with al Qaeda in recent weeks. U.S. officials say this information is not corroborated. They have no confirmation that this happened, but that a report of such a transaction has come to the attention of U.S. intelligence agencies and is being aggressively pursued.
Some people here at the White House believe "The Washington Post" account about this is too conclusive-sounding this morning, is the way one official put it. But we are told by senior administration officials that U.S. intelligence agencies are trying to see if this information is legitimate. Again, quite frightening if it is that Iraq would have transferred the VX agent to Islamic fundamentalists associated with al Qaeda.
This has been a long-running debate within the intelligence community whether Saddam Hussein has any affiliation with al Qaeda. Some say no; others say perhaps yes.
White House officials say this information is being pursued, but they stress that it is not viewed as credible or specific enough as to any threat against the United States to consider raising the threat level, the terrorism threat level here at home -- Bill.
HEMMER: John, when did this come to the front here? At what point did they get knowledge on this?
KING: Exactly when is a bit unclear to us. I know you have Bart Gellman, the "Post" reporter, in the program. We are told by these sources that this has come into the possession of U.S. intelligence agencies within the past couple of weeks, and that the transaction allegedly took place within the past two months.
Again, the allegation is, the tip is, the report is that Iraq turned over a VX agent to Islamic fundamentalists sometime, perhaps this fall, October or November, we are being told. That is the "Post" report that officials are confirming. They say, again, this is not corroborated, but they are desperately, of course, trying to pursue any more information that would help them determine whether this is true or false.
HEMMER: John, thanks -- John King at the White House.
Straight away to Baghdad right now to Nic Robertson.
I don't know if there is any reaction just yet, Nic, but perhaps also you can enlighten us on the possibility of ties with al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, and why in the past so many people have not run to judgment in this area, but they've been rather reserved. Hello -- good afternoon to you.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.
Well, certainly, the view from Baghdad is that they have no weapons of mass destruction, and that goes along for VX nerve agent.
Now, according to the U.N., when they concluded their work here in 1998, there was still outstanding at one point seven tons of the deadly nerve agent, plus large quantities of precursor chemicals that are capable of going into the production of VX.
Now, just at the weekend here, President Saddam Hussein's top scientific advisor, General Amer al-Saadi, was asked about some of these outstanding issues, and specifically on the issue of VX nerve agent, and he said, Iraq does not have it. They've given all of their information to the U.N. in the past. They've told them what they've done in their chemical weapons program. They've told them how they dealt with all of the issues of what they did with their chemicals, of what they did with their experiments, and they believe, they say, they have laid all of that to rest.
So, as far as the Iraqis are concerned, the officials here, they don't have any to hand over. Certainly as well the view from Baghdad is that they've never liked the al Qaeda organization. They've never liked them, because in Baghdad, they are a fairly -- it is a fairly secular country, not given to the type of extreme tendencies that al Qaeda is within the realms of Islam. They have very much not associated themselves with that organization -- Bill. HEMMER: Nic, thank you -- Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Again, John King back at the White House.
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 December 12, 2002 - 07:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's dig a bit deeper now into that report suggesting that Iraq may have supplied a deadly nerve agent to a terror group with possible ties to al Qaeda. That story first appeared in today's "Washington Post."
We want to get reaction now. Two locations, in Baghdad, Nic Robertson is along with us today, and at the White House, our senior White House correspondent John King watching that story as well.
John -- good morning to you. Let's start there at the White House.
A bit of caution on this story there? What's happening?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A bit of caution, Bill, but still some alarming facts.
White House officials are saying they will have no public comment right now, and they say there is no hard evidence that Iraq has transferred anything or that al Qaeda has obtained any chemical weapons.
But two senior administration officials do confirm to CNN that U.S. intelligence agencies have received what they consider to be a report at least worth pursuing, some information that perhaps Iraq passed on the nerve agent, VX, a deadly nerve agent, to Islamic fundamentalists associated with al Qaeda in recent weeks. U.S. officials say this information is not corroborated. They have no confirmation that this happened, but that a report of such a transaction has come to the attention of U.S. intelligence agencies and is being aggressively pursued.
Some people here at the White House believe "The Washington Post" account about this is too conclusive-sounding this morning, is the way one official put it. But we are told by senior administration officials that U.S. intelligence agencies are trying to see if this information is legitimate. Again, quite frightening if it is that Iraq would have transferred the VX agent to Islamic fundamentalists associated with al Qaeda.
This has been a long-running debate within the intelligence community whether Saddam Hussein has any affiliation with al Qaeda. Some say no; others say perhaps yes.
White House officials say this information is being pursued, but they stress that it is not viewed as credible or specific enough as to any threat against the United States to consider raising the threat level, the terrorism threat level here at home -- Bill.
HEMMER: John, when did this come to the front here? At what point did they get knowledge on this?
KING: Exactly when is a bit unclear to us. I know you have Bart Gellman, the "Post" reporter, in the program. We are told by these sources that this has come into the possession of U.S. intelligence agencies within the past couple of weeks, and that the transaction allegedly took place within the past two months.
Again, the allegation is, the tip is, the report is that Iraq turned over a VX agent to Islamic fundamentalists sometime, perhaps this fall, October or November, we are being told. That is the "Post" report that officials are confirming. They say, again, this is not corroborated, but they are desperately, of course, trying to pursue any more information that would help them determine whether this is true or false.
HEMMER: John, thanks -- John King at the White House.
Straight away to Baghdad right now to Nic Robertson.
I don't know if there is any reaction just yet, Nic, but perhaps also you can enlighten us on the possibility of ties with al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, and why in the past so many people have not run to judgment in this area, but they've been rather reserved. Hello -- good afternoon to you.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.
Well, certainly, the view from Baghdad is that they have no weapons of mass destruction, and that goes along for VX nerve agent.
Now, according to the U.N., when they concluded their work here in 1998, there was still outstanding at one point seven tons of the deadly nerve agent, plus large quantities of precursor chemicals that are capable of going into the production of VX.
Now, just at the weekend here, President Saddam Hussein's top scientific advisor, General Amer al-Saadi, was asked about some of these outstanding issues, and specifically on the issue of VX nerve agent, and he said, Iraq does not have it. They've given all of their information to the U.N. in the past. They've told them what they've done in their chemical weapons program. They've told them how they dealt with all of the issues of what they did with their chemicals, of what they did with their experiments, and they believe, they say, they have laid all of that to rest.
So, as far as the Iraqis are concerned, the officials here, they don't have any to hand over. Certainly as well the view from Baghdad is that they've never liked the al Qaeda organization. They've never liked them, because in Baghdad, they are a fairly -- it is a fairly secular country, not given to the type of extreme tendencies that al Qaeda is within the realms of Islam. They have very much not associated themselves with that organization -- Bill. HEMMER: Nic, thank you -- Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Again, John King back at the White House.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
