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American Morning
Tape Calls on Muslims in Pakistan to Overthrow President
Aired September 29, 2003 - 08:07 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: There's an audiotape also from, said to be from the al Qaeda deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, airing on several Arab networks over the weekend and again today. That tape calls on Muslims in Pakistan to overthrow its president, Pervez Musharraf, for helping the U.S. in Afghanistan.
CNN not able to independently confirm the authenticity of that tape, but our terrorism analyst Peter Bergen is live in D.C. to talk about this with us.
Nice to see you, Peter.
Good morning to you.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: We're not going to play the tape, but we are going to share some words to our viewers. This is part of what the tape says, anyway, urging Muslims in Pakistan to unite and cooperate to uproot this traitor and to install a faithful leadership in Pakistan that would defend Islam and Muslims.
How significant is it now that these words are so strong against the Pakistani leader? BERGEN: Well, the Pakistani leader, Pervez Musharraf, has been the subject of an assassination attempt, at least one assassination attempt since 9/11 by groups that are either al Qaeda itself or affiliates of al Qaeda. So they are hardly fans of Pervez Musharraf.
The reason the tape may have come out now is perhaps that heat is being really turned up on al Qaeda in Pakistan. It is the generally held view that Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are in the tribal areas on the Afghan-Pakistan border. There are more operations going on in those areas and it's possible that al Qaeda and Ayman al-Zawahiri is really feeling the heat and that's why they're going after Musharraf at this point.
They have done it once before in the past, shortly after 9/11, when Musharraf, who we're seeing here, decided -- said that Pakistan would be very actively involved in the war on terrorism. If you remember, after 9/11, that was something that Pakistan had to decide and they decided to side with the United States.
HEMMER: Peter, is there any significance, do you think, to the reports out there that Pakistan may send troops to Iraq, as well? Do you think that's a completely separate issue or can the two be linked? BERGEN: Well, I think they're related. I think in the tape -- in fact, Ayman al-Zawahiri specifically refers to that. Obviously, for a Muslim nation like Pakistan to send troops to Iraq would be a fairly momentous step. It's the subject of some debate in Pakistan right now. It's been the subject of debate for several months now, whether Pakistan should, indeed, do that.
HEMMER: Yes. If you go back to September 10, the day before the second year mark of 9/11, we saw this audio -- or this videotape, rather, being released. When it was shot we do not know. Was there anything more in this audiotape that gave us insight as to anything that was on that tape two weeks ago? BERGEN: Well, I think, you know, that if we keep -- we're hearing a lot more audiotapes from Ayman al-Zawahiri than we are hearing from bin Laden in the last year. And the ones we're hearing from bin Laden are rather generic. They refer to the conflict in Iraq, but that could happen any time in the last year. The ones from Ayman al-Zawahiri are much more time specific. The Ayman al-Zawahiri tape that just came out refers to Ariel Sharon visiting India, which was this month. It also refers to this ongoing debate in Pakistan about whether to send troops to Iraq.
So while we're hearing rather time specific tapes from Ayman al- Zawahiri, the tapes we're hearing from bin Laden are not very time specific, which may indicate that either he's just not making tapes or he's very ill, he's so out of it that he can't do these things. It's not really clear. But it is interesting that what we're hearing from Ayman al-Zawahiri is very time specific and very recent and what we're hearing from bin Laden is rather generic and could have been made any time in the last year.
HEMMER: Thank you, Peter.
Peter Bergen in D.C.
BERGEN: Thank you.
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 September 29, 2003 - 08:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There's an audiotape also from, said to be from the al Qaeda deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, airing on several Arab networks over the weekend and again today. That tape calls on Muslims in Pakistan to overthrow its president, Pervez Musharraf, for helping the U.S. in Afghanistan.
CNN not able to independently confirm the authenticity of that tape, but our terrorism analyst Peter Bergen is live in D.C. to talk about this with us.
Nice to see you, Peter.
Good morning to you.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: We're not going to play the tape, but we are going to share some words to our viewers. This is part of what the tape says, anyway, urging Muslims in Pakistan to unite and cooperate to uproot this traitor and to install a faithful leadership in Pakistan that would defend Islam and Muslims.
How significant is it now that these words are so strong against the Pakistani leader? BERGEN: Well, the Pakistani leader, Pervez Musharraf, has been the subject of an assassination attempt, at least one assassination attempt since 9/11 by groups that are either al Qaeda itself or affiliates of al Qaeda. So they are hardly fans of Pervez Musharraf.
The reason the tape may have come out now is perhaps that heat is being really turned up on al Qaeda in Pakistan. It is the generally held view that Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are in the tribal areas on the Afghan-Pakistan border. There are more operations going on in those areas and it's possible that al Qaeda and Ayman al-Zawahiri is really feeling the heat and that's why they're going after Musharraf at this point.
They have done it once before in the past, shortly after 9/11, when Musharraf, who we're seeing here, decided -- said that Pakistan would be very actively involved in the war on terrorism. If you remember, after 9/11, that was something that Pakistan had to decide and they decided to side with the United States.
HEMMER: Peter, is there any significance, do you think, to the reports out there that Pakistan may send troops to Iraq, as well? Do you think that's a completely separate issue or can the two be linked? BERGEN: Well, I think they're related. I think in the tape -- in fact, Ayman al-Zawahiri specifically refers to that. Obviously, for a Muslim nation like Pakistan to send troops to Iraq would be a fairly momentous step. It's the subject of some debate in Pakistan right now. It's been the subject of debate for several months now, whether Pakistan should, indeed, do that.
HEMMER: Yes. If you go back to September 10, the day before the second year mark of 9/11, we saw this audio -- or this videotape, rather, being released. When it was shot we do not know. Was there anything more in this audiotape that gave us insight as to anything that was on that tape two weeks ago? BERGEN: Well, I think, you know, that if we keep -- we're hearing a lot more audiotapes from Ayman al-Zawahiri than we are hearing from bin Laden in the last year. And the ones we're hearing from bin Laden are rather generic. They refer to the conflict in Iraq, but that could happen any time in the last year. The ones from Ayman al-Zawahiri are much more time specific. The Ayman al-Zawahiri tape that just came out refers to Ariel Sharon visiting India, which was this month. It also refers to this ongoing debate in Pakistan about whether to send troops to Iraq.
So while we're hearing rather time specific tapes from Ayman al- Zawahiri, the tapes we're hearing from bin Laden are not very time specific, which may indicate that either he's just not making tapes or he's very ill, he's so out of it that he can't do these things. It's not really clear. But it is interesting that what we're hearing from Ayman al-Zawahiri is very time specific and very recent and what we're hearing from bin Laden is rather generic and could have been made any time in the last year.
HEMMER: Thank you, Peter.
Peter Bergen in D.C.
BERGEN: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
