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CNN Sunday Morning

Are al Qaeda Terrorists Linked to Chechen Rebels?

Aired June 23, 2002 - 07:43   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And on another note, there's a growing belief that al Qaeda terrorists and a dirty bomb may be linked to Chechen rebels. For more on that, we turn to CNN security analyst, Kelly McCann back kind of doing double duty for us this morning.

Kelly, good to see you again.

KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about the links between this dirty bomber that we talked about a couple of weeks ago, and Chechen rebels. How solid is it? How concerned should we be about it?

MCCANN: We should be concerned in a manner that -- hostile areas are a proving ground or a testing ground. And there's a lot of information that could be gained by participating in or viewing those hostilities. The U.S. has programs like that, as do our allies.

So the fact that the dirty bomber may have been collocated with al Qaeda, who were or had experience in Chechnya, looking at targeting nuclear facilities, is significant. Is it as significant as being in collocated with some Pakistani nuclear engineers? Maybe not as much, but certainly still significant.

O'BRIEN: I guess when you ask the question why Chechnya, and why there's a link there, I'm sort of reminded of what the famous bank robber, Willie Sutton, said when he was asked why'd he rob banks. He said that's where the money is.

MCCANN: That's right.

O'BRIEN: That's where the nukes are, right?

MCCANN: Uncontrolled nukes, many would believe. In other words, the accountability is not nearly as controlled as it is here in the U.S. So absolutely, that's where the direct access to all kinds of weapons, including anti-air, et cetera.

O'BRIEN: How easy is it, though? How much control is there in the former Soviet Union over these nuclear stockpiles?

MCCANN: Well, there is control, but remember when the former Soviet Union broke apart, some of that control was lost, obviously, and we're talking about nuclear weapons that, to put it in a frame of reference, can be as small as a man-packable device. And if you think in those terms of pieces of a conventional weapon, it gets a little bit more scary.

So are there rebel -- you know, Soviet people who might sell them on the black market? Are there mafiosos who might do that? Sure, I imagine there are. I think the last count I heard, Miles, were that there were like 44, for instance, briefcase nuclear weapons unaccounted for.

O'BRIEN: Boy, I hate to leave it at that. That's a sobering note. Kelly McCann, unfortunately, we have to leave it at that. And we'll come back and talk some more about briefcase bombs another time. Thanks for being with us, as always.

MCCANN: OK, Miles.

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