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American Morning

Hunt for Osama bin Laden

Aired January 29, 2004 - 07:34   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: Back to this story in Afghanistan. What are the chances now that a new military offensive will actually capture Osama bin Laden?
Sebastian Junger, contributing editor for "Vanity Fair," has spent a lot of time in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

SEBASTIAN JUNGER, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "VANITY FAIR": Thank you.

HEMMER: The obvious question here is: Why now? Why not a year ago? Why not six months ago for this military operation?

JUNGER: Well, I assume they've been working on it the whole time. The question is: Why the announcement now?

HEMMER: Why public, is what you are saying?

JUNGER: Right. My guess is that there's a political component to the timing of the announcement. President Musharraf of Pakistan is having a lot of problems right now. He's being criticized for the country's nuclear program. He was almost assassinated twice. And the U.S. needs his cooperation in the tribal territories to pursue bin Laden, and it's possible that the announcement is a way of pressuring Musharraf, sort of scaring him into cooperating with the U.S.

HEMMER: Last week in Davos he said that it's not a possibility at all U.S. troops operating from his own territory, Pakistani soil. It's a very sensitive issue -- his words last week. And it is sensitive for him. How does he dance around this?

JUNGER: Well, one way possibly is to announce publicly that there's no way that he will allow an operation in Pakistan of American forces, and then privately reach some kind of accommodation with the tribes in the tribal territories. He does have some cooperation with them. Some of them have promised to hunt down bin Laden for him, precisely because that would avoid a difficult situation with the U.S.

HEMMER: Are you suggesting he says one thing publicly and acts otherwise?

JUNGER: It's conceivable. I think there are many layers to the statements of all politicians, and this might be one of those examples.

HEMMER: We are told with the tribal leaders in Afghanistan and western Pakistan, this is some really tough territory on the ground. You can see from the video tape of the U.S. military working its way through for various operations in that part of the world. It has been said, though, that word gets out easily. You cannot trust the tribal leaders and those who work under them. How difficult does that make an operation like this for the U.S. military?

JUNGER: Personally, I think it will be quite complicated. I mean, it took five years for federal authorities to find Eric Rudolph (ph) in the Carolinas, eight months to find Hussein in very completely different situations.

The tribal territories are semi-autonomous. They're self- policing, self-ruling. There's a reason Pakistan did not want to deal with the tribal territories, and they are heavily armed with a strict sense of loyalty to their tribes. I think it's possible maybe to do sort of a small raid based on very good intelligence, but a massive invasion Iraq-style into that area I think would be politically unbelievably complicated.

HEMMER: Quickly here. Mike Boettcher reporting yesterday for us down at the CNN Center, getting word that recently Osama bin Laden may have been in the areas of Gardez and Khowst, all of these old towns and provinces in Afghanistan. Do you believe that to be the case possibly?

JUNGER: All I know is what I read in the paper as well. I think it's absolutely possible that he can move through Afghan society with ease.

HEMMER: Sebastian Junger, thanks for talking with us.

JUNGER: 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 January 29, 2004 - 07:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to this story in Afghanistan. What are the chances now that a new military offensive will actually capture Osama bin Laden?
Sebastian Junger, contributing editor for "Vanity Fair," has spent a lot of time in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

SEBASTIAN JUNGER, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "VANITY FAIR": Thank you.

HEMMER: The obvious question here is: Why now? Why not a year ago? Why not six months ago for this military operation?

JUNGER: Well, I assume they've been working on it the whole time. The question is: Why the announcement now?

HEMMER: Why public, is what you are saying?

JUNGER: Right. My guess is that there's a political component to the timing of the announcement. President Musharraf of Pakistan is having a lot of problems right now. He's being criticized for the country's nuclear program. He was almost assassinated twice. And the U.S. needs his cooperation in the tribal territories to pursue bin Laden, and it's possible that the announcement is a way of pressuring Musharraf, sort of scaring him into cooperating with the U.S.

HEMMER: Last week in Davos he said that it's not a possibility at all U.S. troops operating from his own territory, Pakistani soil. It's a very sensitive issue -- his words last week. And it is sensitive for him. How does he dance around this?

JUNGER: Well, one way possibly is to announce publicly that there's no way that he will allow an operation in Pakistan of American forces, and then privately reach some kind of accommodation with the tribes in the tribal territories. He does have some cooperation with them. Some of them have promised to hunt down bin Laden for him, precisely because that would avoid a difficult situation with the U.S.

HEMMER: Are you suggesting he says one thing publicly and acts otherwise?

JUNGER: It's conceivable. I think there are many layers to the statements of all politicians, and this might be one of those examples.

HEMMER: We are told with the tribal leaders in Afghanistan and western Pakistan, this is some really tough territory on the ground. You can see from the video tape of the U.S. military working its way through for various operations in that part of the world. It has been said, though, that word gets out easily. You cannot trust the tribal leaders and those who work under them. How difficult does that make an operation like this for the U.S. military?

JUNGER: Personally, I think it will be quite complicated. I mean, it took five years for federal authorities to find Eric Rudolph (ph) in the Carolinas, eight months to find Hussein in very completely different situations.

The tribal territories are semi-autonomous. They're self- policing, self-ruling. There's a reason Pakistan did not want to deal with the tribal territories, and they are heavily armed with a strict sense of loyalty to their tribes. I think it's possible maybe to do sort of a small raid based on very good intelligence, but a massive invasion Iraq-style into that area I think would be politically unbelievably complicated.

HEMMER: Quickly here. Mike Boettcher reporting yesterday for us down at the CNN Center, getting word that recently Osama bin Laden may have been in the areas of Gardez and Khowst, all of these old towns and provinces in Afghanistan. Do you believe that to be the case possibly?

JUNGER: All I know is what I read in the paper as well. I think it's absolutely possible that he can move through Afghan society with ease.

HEMMER: Sebastian Junger, thanks for talking with us.

JUNGER: 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.