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American Morning

Terrorist in Custody

Aired April 16, 2003 - 09:03   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.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: CENTCOM says Commander General Tommy Franks has arrived.
Rula Amin is back in the Iraqi capital. She joins us now with more.

Good morning, Rula.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

As you said, General Tommy Franks, he's the commander in chief who led the U.S. forces to overthrow the Iraqi regime. He is in Baghdad now. He's not here at Palestine Hotel, but he is in Baghdad, we are told, by U.S. sources. He's here to have a close-up look at what is this like with the Baghdad and troops and meet with commanders that now the war is effectively over.

In terms of other news, we do know that the Marines are still patrolling the streets of Baghdad, trying to make sure there is law and order here. They are getting the help of the Iraqis, former Iraqi policemen. We're told about 300 local Iraqi policemen now are on the streets, trying to maintain some kind of security on the streets of Baghdad -- Paula.

ZAHN: Rula, tell us a little bit about the reaction to the capture of Abu Abbas, the Palestinian who is considered the mastermind behind the hijacking of the Achille Lauro many years ago.

AMIN: Well, Paula, Abu Abbas was accused and convicted in Italy of planning the hijacking of that Italian cruise ship and the killing of the U.S. passenger, who was disabled, and then after he was killed, he was thrown off the ship into the sea.

Now, Abbas had been living here in Baghdad for years. He was arrested by U.S. special forces late Monday evening. We don't know where he is now. We do know that Italy, the justice minister there, says Italy wants him extradited. The Palestinian Authority, however, is demanding that the U.S. releases him, because they say his capture actually violates an agreement they made with Israel and the United States, that any Palestinian official who had been involved in any violent or any kind of attack before the accord, Oslo Peace Accord, was signed, should not be pursued for it.

And we got a completely different reaction from the Israelis, as you would expect, who welcome the move. They consider Abu Abbas a terrorist, and they were happy to hear that he was captured. We do know that Abu Abbas, before we left Iraq, we asked if he was going to flee Iraq, and he said he was not, he felt safe here -- Paula.

ZAHN: Rula Amin, thank you very much. It might be interesting to note that we just talked with the family members of Leon Klinghoffer, and they said they would like for him, Abu Abbas, to be brought here to serve out his sentence.

ZAHN: What do the people in Israel think of all of that? Let's go straight to Kelly Wallace in Jerusalem.

Good morning, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, Israeli officials are hailing the arrest of Abu Abbas for the hijacking of the Achille Lauro, and also as you said, for the killing of Leon Klinghoffer, an American Jew. One official who's spoken with Prime Minister Sharon's office, saying that Abu Abbas evaded justice for 18 years. This official saying that justice has finally been brought to him.

But a different reaction, as you and Rula were noting, from the Palestinians. Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erakat said he had been in touch, has been in touch, with the American authorities earlier on this day, appealing for the release of Abbas, saying that his arrest violates that 1995 agreement signed between the Israelis and the Palestinians, cosigned by then-President Clinton, which then said that any Palestinian could not be arrested for any violent act committed before the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords.

Now the Palestinians are also saying that Abu Abbas visited the Palestinian territories repeatedly in -- since 1996, including a visit to the Gaza Strip, and that the U.S. and the Israelis did nothing about that.

Well, to that, a spokesman for Prime Minister Sharon's office, Rannan Gissin, saying that Abu Abbas had many chances to mend his ways, but that he never did. But he did not renounce terrorism, and that he never supported the Mideast peace plan -- Paula.

ZAHN: Kelly, what about the very specific charges, as in a number of American newspapers today, suggesting that Abu Abbas helped as a conduit for funding terrorism by Palestinians?

WALLACE: Well, there's a great concern. Israeli officials believe that he has been supporting terrorist activities against Israelis, and there have been charges that some of that funding has been coming from Abu Abbas and from others inside Iraq. There has been, as many have noted, funding coming from Saddam Hussein's government to Palestinians who -- families of Palestinian suicide bombers. So this is a point Israeli officials say. They say that Abu Abbas is not someone who has renounced terrorism against Israelis, that he has supported it over these years, and that's why they say this 1995 agreement does not apply here -- Paula. ZAHN: Kelly Wallace, thank you for the update.

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 April 16, 2003 - 09:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: CENTCOM says Commander General Tommy Franks has arrived.
Rula Amin is back in the Iraqi capital. She joins us now with more.

Good morning, Rula.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

As you said, General Tommy Franks, he's the commander in chief who led the U.S. forces to overthrow the Iraqi regime. He is in Baghdad now. He's not here at Palestine Hotel, but he is in Baghdad, we are told, by U.S. sources. He's here to have a close-up look at what is this like with the Baghdad and troops and meet with commanders that now the war is effectively over.

In terms of other news, we do know that the Marines are still patrolling the streets of Baghdad, trying to make sure there is law and order here. They are getting the help of the Iraqis, former Iraqi policemen. We're told about 300 local Iraqi policemen now are on the streets, trying to maintain some kind of security on the streets of Baghdad -- Paula.

ZAHN: Rula, tell us a little bit about the reaction to the capture of Abu Abbas, the Palestinian who is considered the mastermind behind the hijacking of the Achille Lauro many years ago.

AMIN: Well, Paula, Abu Abbas was accused and convicted in Italy of planning the hijacking of that Italian cruise ship and the killing of the U.S. passenger, who was disabled, and then after he was killed, he was thrown off the ship into the sea.

Now, Abbas had been living here in Baghdad for years. He was arrested by U.S. special forces late Monday evening. We don't know where he is now. We do know that Italy, the justice minister there, says Italy wants him extradited. The Palestinian Authority, however, is demanding that the U.S. releases him, because they say his capture actually violates an agreement they made with Israel and the United States, that any Palestinian official who had been involved in any violent or any kind of attack before the accord, Oslo Peace Accord, was signed, should not be pursued for it.

And we got a completely different reaction from the Israelis, as you would expect, who welcome the move. They consider Abu Abbas a terrorist, and they were happy to hear that he was captured. We do know that Abu Abbas, before we left Iraq, we asked if he was going to flee Iraq, and he said he was not, he felt safe here -- Paula.

ZAHN: Rula Amin, thank you very much. It might be interesting to note that we just talked with the family members of Leon Klinghoffer, and they said they would like for him, Abu Abbas, to be brought here to serve out his sentence.

ZAHN: What do the people in Israel think of all of that? Let's go straight to Kelly Wallace in Jerusalem.

Good morning, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, Israeli officials are hailing the arrest of Abu Abbas for the hijacking of the Achille Lauro, and also as you said, for the killing of Leon Klinghoffer, an American Jew. One official who's spoken with Prime Minister Sharon's office, saying that Abu Abbas evaded justice for 18 years. This official saying that justice has finally been brought to him.

But a different reaction, as you and Rula were noting, from the Palestinians. Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erakat said he had been in touch, has been in touch, with the American authorities earlier on this day, appealing for the release of Abbas, saying that his arrest violates that 1995 agreement signed between the Israelis and the Palestinians, cosigned by then-President Clinton, which then said that any Palestinian could not be arrested for any violent act committed before the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords.

Now the Palestinians are also saying that Abu Abbas visited the Palestinian territories repeatedly in -- since 1996, including a visit to the Gaza Strip, and that the U.S. and the Israelis did nothing about that.

Well, to that, a spokesman for Prime Minister Sharon's office, Rannan Gissin, saying that Abu Abbas had many chances to mend his ways, but that he never did. But he did not renounce terrorism, and that he never supported the Mideast peace plan -- Paula.

ZAHN: Kelly, what about the very specific charges, as in a number of American newspapers today, suggesting that Abu Abbas helped as a conduit for funding terrorism by Palestinians?

WALLACE: Well, there's a great concern. Israeli officials believe that he has been supporting terrorist activities against Israelis, and there have been charges that some of that funding has been coming from Abu Abbas and from others inside Iraq. There has been, as many have noted, funding coming from Saddam Hussein's government to Palestinians who -- families of Palestinian suicide bombers. So this is a point Israeli officials say. They say that Abu Abbas is not someone who has renounced terrorism against Israelis, that he has supported it over these years, and that's why they say this 1995 agreement does not apply here -- Paula. ZAHN: Kelly Wallace, thank you for the update.

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