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American Morning
Senior Al Qaeda Leaders May be Under Protection in Iran
Aired October 15, 2003 - 08:09 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Senior al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden's son, may be under the protection of an elite military force in Iran. That's according to the "Washington Post." The Iranian government angrily denies that it's providing aid to al Qaeda.
Douglas Farah reported the story in yesterday's "Post" and he joins us from our Washington bureau this morning.
Good morning.
Nice to have you.
Thanks for joining us.
DOUGLAS FARAH, "WASHINGTON POST": Thank you.
O'BRIEN: You report that the son of Osama bin Laden, Saad bin Laden, is said to be rising in prominence. Give me a sense of the motivation of why this would be happening, do you think?
FARAH: Well, I think a lot of the al Qaeda leadership has been decapitated in the two years since 9/11. I think also due to some leaks and things, the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other senior leaders, badly shook up the senior al Qaeda leadership. And they're looking for someone that they can trust, and certainly Saad bin Laden, being one of the elder sons, probably the second oldest son of Osama bin Laden, is someone who can -- who they can trust and he's been with his father from the early days in Afghanistan to Sudan, back to Saudi Arabia, then back to Afghanistan. He's been groomed for this all his life.
O'BRIEN: He is under a sort of house arrest, however, in Iran. But you say he's still operating. Those two things sound contradictory.
FARAH: Well, the way it's described to us by intelligence officials is -- and Arab intelligence officials, as well -- is that their movements are monitored and somewhat restricted, but I think house arrest would probably be a little too strong. And given the contact between Saad and other al Qaeda leaders in Iran with the people who carried out the bombing in Riyadh, he's clearly not incommunicado.
O'BRIEN: So, and let's talk about the bombing in Riyadh. You say, in fact, that he may have ordered this. What's your proof for that and how likely do you think that is? FARAH: Well, this all comes from intelligence folks who monitor very closely the al Qaeda operations. And they say there was contact and communication between al-Adal, who's the military commander, also based in Iran, Saad, Abdul Ahmed Abdullah, who's also the al Qaeda's chief financial officer. He's also in Iran. And there was communication -- they won't go into detail about what type of communication, but there was communication between the Iran group and this al Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia.
O'BRIEN: Here's what you say that the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. had to say in your article. "The people who we can deal with can't deliver. They can't lead eight ducks across the street. And the guys who can deliver, they're not interested." Basically you're saying the Khatami government couldn't turn these folks in even if they wanted to.
Why do you say that?
FARAH: I think that's the strong consensus in Europe and the United States and the Arab world is that the Jerusalem Force and the Revolutionary Islamic Guard in Iran are not under the control of the Khatami government. They're loyal and obey the more radical clerics, who also exercise, as you know, a great deal of political control. And Khatami, I think, would like to, his government would like to turn these people over. They've actually tried, made overtures asking for international lending agencies to open their spigots in return for turning some of these people over, or at least extraditing them to Saudi Arabia.
But the concern, I think, in the United States and elsewhere is that the people who are making these deals couldn't possibly deliver the people that they are bargaining with.
O'BRIEN: Douglas Farah of the "Washington Post."
Nice to see you.
Thanks for your insight this morning.
FARAH: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: 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 15, 2003 - 08:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Senior al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden's son, may be under the protection of an elite military force in Iran. That's according to the "Washington Post." The Iranian government angrily denies that it's providing aid to al Qaeda.
Douglas Farah reported the story in yesterday's "Post" and he joins us from our Washington bureau this morning.
Good morning.
Nice to have you.
Thanks for joining us.
DOUGLAS FARAH, "WASHINGTON POST": Thank you.
O'BRIEN: You report that the son of Osama bin Laden, Saad bin Laden, is said to be rising in prominence. Give me a sense of the motivation of why this would be happening, do you think?
FARAH: Well, I think a lot of the al Qaeda leadership has been decapitated in the two years since 9/11. I think also due to some leaks and things, the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other senior leaders, badly shook up the senior al Qaeda leadership. And they're looking for someone that they can trust, and certainly Saad bin Laden, being one of the elder sons, probably the second oldest son of Osama bin Laden, is someone who can -- who they can trust and he's been with his father from the early days in Afghanistan to Sudan, back to Saudi Arabia, then back to Afghanistan. He's been groomed for this all his life.
O'BRIEN: He is under a sort of house arrest, however, in Iran. But you say he's still operating. Those two things sound contradictory.
FARAH: Well, the way it's described to us by intelligence officials is -- and Arab intelligence officials, as well -- is that their movements are monitored and somewhat restricted, but I think house arrest would probably be a little too strong. And given the contact between Saad and other al Qaeda leaders in Iran with the people who carried out the bombing in Riyadh, he's clearly not incommunicado.
O'BRIEN: So, and let's talk about the bombing in Riyadh. You say, in fact, that he may have ordered this. What's your proof for that and how likely do you think that is? FARAH: Well, this all comes from intelligence folks who monitor very closely the al Qaeda operations. And they say there was contact and communication between al-Adal, who's the military commander, also based in Iran, Saad, Abdul Ahmed Abdullah, who's also the al Qaeda's chief financial officer. He's also in Iran. And there was communication -- they won't go into detail about what type of communication, but there was communication between the Iran group and this al Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia.
O'BRIEN: Here's what you say that the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. had to say in your article. "The people who we can deal with can't deliver. They can't lead eight ducks across the street. And the guys who can deliver, they're not interested." Basically you're saying the Khatami government couldn't turn these folks in even if they wanted to.
Why do you say that?
FARAH: I think that's the strong consensus in Europe and the United States and the Arab world is that the Jerusalem Force and the Revolutionary Islamic Guard in Iran are not under the control of the Khatami government. They're loyal and obey the more radical clerics, who also exercise, as you know, a great deal of political control. And Khatami, I think, would like to, his government would like to turn these people over. They've actually tried, made overtures asking for international lending agencies to open their spigots in return for turning some of these people over, or at least extraditing them to Saudi Arabia.
But the concern, I think, in the United States and elsewhere is that the people who are making these deals couldn't possibly deliver the people that they are bargaining with.
O'BRIEN: Douglas Farah of the "Washington Post."
Nice to see you.
Thanks for your insight this morning.
FARAH: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: 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
