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American Morning
Is It Voice of Al Qaeda's Number Two?
Aired May 22, 2003 - 08:14 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: Is it the voice of al Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al-Zawahiri? That's the question again today in this released audiotape of yesterday. The call on that tape goes out for Muslims to attack Western targets using the 9/11 hijackers as role models.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Know that you are not alone in this battle, for your brethren, the Mujahedeen, are chasing your enemies. The Mujahedeen in Palestine, Afghanistan, Chechnya, and in the heart of America and the West, are punishing severely these crusaders. And may the next days convey to you, god willing, good news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Now, if the voice on that tape is, indeed, the number two man, how significant is it?
Lawrence Wright is a correspondent for "The New Yorker." He's done extensive research on the man, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
He's our guest this morning live in Austin, Texas.
Good to have you, Lawrence.
Good morning to you.
LAWRENCE WRIGHT, "THE NEW YORKER": Thank you Bill.
HEMMER: What do our viewers need to know about the significance of this man, if it is him, if it's his voice and if he's alive today?
WRIGHT: Ayman al-Zawahiri is an Egyptian doctor who has been the brains of al Qaeda since the beginning. He and his Egyptian cohorts came out of Egyptian prisons in 1984 and found their way to Afghanistan and there they encountered this impressionable young man, wealthy young Saudi named Osama bin Laden. And they surrounded him, made him their spokesman, but they have always, I think, been in control.
Six of the nine members of the leadership council of al Qaeda are Egyptians. And Ayman al-Zawahiri is their leader.
HEMMER: Do you believe this is him?
WRIGHT: I think it is probably him. I don't think there's any reason to doubt that it's him.
HEMMER: Why not? Why no doubt?
WRIGHT: It sounds like him and he's used the same language since 1996. We have no evidence that he's dead, so there's no reason to believe that he's not alive and calling for more Jihad.
HEMMER: This is one of the more critical questions in the past 24 hours, if Osama bin Laden is still alive today, as well, why does he not deliver this message from Al Jazeera we heard yesterday?
WRIGHT: Zawahri has issued messages in the past so it's not completely unusual. On the other hand, we haven't seen either one of these men for a long time, even, they'll even, the tapes that we've gotten from bin Laden have been audiotapes recently. So it could be that he's injured or wounded or dead. We don't know.
HEMMER: Yes. Did you hear a message in there? Did you hear any code words that investigators always listen to when it comes to these messages?
WRIGHT: Well, the thing that struck me right off is the inclusion of Norway and his call for attacks on Gulf Coast countries, you know, the Arab countries and the U.S., U.K., Australia and Norway. He repeated Norway twice. And I, although Norway has been involved in peacekeeping in Afghanistan, it hasn't distinguished itself in the war on terror in any particular fashion. So it really caught my ear. I don't know what it means.
HEMMER: About the extent of Norway's involvement in the days of the war in Afghanistan, they had minesweeping troops dispatched to Kandahar to help clear out the area around the airport. Perhaps that is the connection.
You mentioned these Persian Gulf states, though. If you go down the list here -- Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, who's left that he did not mention and what does that mean for that part of the world?
WRIGHT: Well, he's included all of the Gulf States and Egypt. And his goal is to purge the Arab and the Muslim worlds of Western influence. And, you know, that's, there's no other -- his standard of Islam is a kind of a sixth century primitivist view of the world.
HEMMER: What is your opinion on Al Jazeera playing this tape? If there is a message in there that is essentially dispatching a team of hijackers, a team of terrorists to some part of the world, is there a level of responsibility that has to be paid more attention to on this?
WRIGHT: There are two sides to it. You know, I think that they do bear a responsibility. They've had the tape apparently for more than a week, some time before they gave it to the FBI. So I think in that sense that was irresponsible.
On the other hand, they have a responsibility to report to the public and this is news and so I think that they have the responsibility to let us know what's happening.
HEMMER: It's a good issue, apparently 15 minutes total message edited down to about four minutes that was played yesterday.
Thanks for talking.
Lawrence Wright live in Austin, Texas.
Appreciate your views today.
WRIGHT: A pleasure.
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 May 22, 2003 - 08:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Is it the voice of al Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al-Zawahiri? That's the question again today in this released audiotape of yesterday. The call on that tape goes out for Muslims to attack Western targets using the 9/11 hijackers as role models.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Know that you are not alone in this battle, for your brethren, the Mujahedeen, are chasing your enemies. The Mujahedeen in Palestine, Afghanistan, Chechnya, and in the heart of America and the West, are punishing severely these crusaders. And may the next days convey to you, god willing, good news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Now, if the voice on that tape is, indeed, the number two man, how significant is it?
Lawrence Wright is a correspondent for "The New Yorker." He's done extensive research on the man, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
He's our guest this morning live in Austin, Texas.
Good to have you, Lawrence.
Good morning to you.
LAWRENCE WRIGHT, "THE NEW YORKER": Thank you Bill.
HEMMER: What do our viewers need to know about the significance of this man, if it is him, if it's his voice and if he's alive today?
WRIGHT: Ayman al-Zawahiri is an Egyptian doctor who has been the brains of al Qaeda since the beginning. He and his Egyptian cohorts came out of Egyptian prisons in 1984 and found their way to Afghanistan and there they encountered this impressionable young man, wealthy young Saudi named Osama bin Laden. And they surrounded him, made him their spokesman, but they have always, I think, been in control.
Six of the nine members of the leadership council of al Qaeda are Egyptians. And Ayman al-Zawahiri is their leader.
HEMMER: Do you believe this is him?
WRIGHT: I think it is probably him. I don't think there's any reason to doubt that it's him.
HEMMER: Why not? Why no doubt?
WRIGHT: It sounds like him and he's used the same language since 1996. We have no evidence that he's dead, so there's no reason to believe that he's not alive and calling for more Jihad.
HEMMER: This is one of the more critical questions in the past 24 hours, if Osama bin Laden is still alive today, as well, why does he not deliver this message from Al Jazeera we heard yesterday?
WRIGHT: Zawahri has issued messages in the past so it's not completely unusual. On the other hand, we haven't seen either one of these men for a long time, even, they'll even, the tapes that we've gotten from bin Laden have been audiotapes recently. So it could be that he's injured or wounded or dead. We don't know.
HEMMER: Yes. Did you hear a message in there? Did you hear any code words that investigators always listen to when it comes to these messages?
WRIGHT: Well, the thing that struck me right off is the inclusion of Norway and his call for attacks on Gulf Coast countries, you know, the Arab countries and the U.S., U.K., Australia and Norway. He repeated Norway twice. And I, although Norway has been involved in peacekeeping in Afghanistan, it hasn't distinguished itself in the war on terror in any particular fashion. So it really caught my ear. I don't know what it means.
HEMMER: About the extent of Norway's involvement in the days of the war in Afghanistan, they had minesweeping troops dispatched to Kandahar to help clear out the area around the airport. Perhaps that is the connection.
You mentioned these Persian Gulf states, though. If you go down the list here -- Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, who's left that he did not mention and what does that mean for that part of the world?
WRIGHT: Well, he's included all of the Gulf States and Egypt. And his goal is to purge the Arab and the Muslim worlds of Western influence. And, you know, that's, there's no other -- his standard of Islam is a kind of a sixth century primitivist view of the world.
HEMMER: What is your opinion on Al Jazeera playing this tape? If there is a message in there that is essentially dispatching a team of hijackers, a team of terrorists to some part of the world, is there a level of responsibility that has to be paid more attention to on this?
WRIGHT: There are two sides to it. You know, I think that they do bear a responsibility. They've had the tape apparently for more than a week, some time before they gave it to the FBI. So I think in that sense that was irresponsible.
On the other hand, they have a responsibility to report to the public and this is news and so I think that they have the responsibility to let us know what's happening.
HEMMER: It's a good issue, apparently 15 minutes total message edited down to about four minutes that was played yesterday.
Thanks for talking.
Lawrence Wright live in Austin, Texas.
Appreciate your views today.
WRIGHT: A pleasure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
