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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Michael Battle
Aired September 15, 2002 - 07:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get some more details on those terror arrests in upstate New York and for that we turn to CNN national correspondent Bob Franken, who is in Buffalo with the latest.
Good morning, Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles, and we're talking to a variety of government sources who are familiar or involved in the investigation, and they're telling us that before the September 11 attacks last year, after the defendants had allegedly returned from al Qaeda training in Afghanistan, members of the Muslim community in Lackawanna, a suburb of Buffalo notify the FBI that some of them, at least, had been at this training, at that time. Before the September 11 attacks, the FBI began its investigation with the terrorism task force here.
But it began in earnest after the attack, officials say, with great sadness that there was no indication that the September 11 attacks were going to occur. The investigations continued until this year at September 11, at about the time the Orange Alert was imposed in the United States, partly because of what was happening here, we're told by sources. There was chatter. There was very highly sophisticated eavesdropping wiretapping and the like, we're told by sources. The chatter became more menacing.
There was concern that something was going to happen, not because, as "The New York Times" has been reporting that somebody was waiting for orders from al Qaeda, but this cell, which could have been semiautonomous operating on its own, gave some indications, according to analysts of the chatter, that there might be something going on. That's why the move was made now. The arrests, of course, have resulted in a charge against five so far of providing material support and material support for terrorist organizations, which is a violation of U.S. law.
Now, defense attorneys can be anticipated to mount the same defense that was mounted by John Walker Lindh. It was one that was never adjudicated, but that really is a violation of the constitutional freedom of association. That will be hashed in the court. The material support, by the way, was their very presence of the camp. That would be the allegation. Sources also tell us that other arrests are possible. It is an investigation that is continuing.
Up until now, it has been a covert investigation. Everybody says that now the investigation is public, it takes on a new element, a new dimension. As for the main sources of information, we're told that they are the so-called un-indicted co-conspirators. They're informants who are not in the United States. They don't want to specify the country, Miles, because of political sensibilities -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Bob, is it possible these unindicted co-conspirators are in Guantanamo, for example, being interviewed?
FRANKEN: Probably not Guantanamo. In fact, certainly not Guantanamo, but in countries and again, it would only be speculation to say which ones, that really don't want the world to know and the Muslim world to know that they are providing help. So that is the type of thing that we're talking about here. It is an investigation, which goes from there to Lackawanna, New York, a suburb of Buffalo, which has about a five-percent Muslim population. A population, officials repeatedly said, that to a great degree was cooperating with federal officials in their investigation.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Bob Franken, thank you very much, appreciate it. Government sources say the arrest came after members of he Muslim community in Lackawanna raised suspicions about the men. Also information from those un-indicted co-conspirators that Bob was just telling you about led to all of this, while the FBI acknowledges it's not entirely sure just what the men may have been up to. Prosecutors charge they traveled to Afghanistan for -- to that training camp just to recite all the facts that Bob Franken just told you.
For more on this, we turn now to the U.S. attorney for western New York, Michael Battle. Mr. Battle, good to have you with us.
MICHAEL BATTLE, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR WESTERN NEW YORK: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Tell us a little bit about the original tip, if you could. How did authorities become suspicious of these five?
BATTLE: Well we would like all Americans to be vigilant in being cooperative in providing information to law enforcement and suffice it to say that the Muslim community here in Lackawanna, New York was very cooperative in that regard.
O'BRIEN: Can you give us some idea of what made them suspicious?
BATTLE: Well it was information that came to us from a number of sources, which I would not like to disclose at this time.
O'BRIEN: Well I'm not asking for the sources. I'm just -- give me a sense of what they saw -- comings, goings, phone calls.
BATTLE: Yes ...
O'BRIEN: What kinds of things happened?
BATTLE: I'm sorry, the people in that community were very aware of certain individuals connected to the five people that we have under arrest, engaging in sophisticated activity, traveling and things of that nature.
O'BRIEN: Lots of travel. Was there displays of money? Was there something unusual about their behavior?
BATTLE: Nothing unusual, but there was some travel and other intelligence that I cannot comment on at this time.
O'BRIEN: OK. Tell us about the John Walker Lindh link to this. Was there information provided by him that ultimately helped authorities in this arrest?
BATTLE: At this particular time, the only link that we're aware of is the fact that it appears from all indications that these five and John Walker Lindh were together at some point in the al-Farook camp over in Afghanistan.
O'BRIEN: So that's merely a coincidence, and we cannot infer that Mr. Lindh was involved in any sort of additional information provided to authorities.
BATTLE: That's correct.
O'BRIEN: Give us the timeframe on this once again, just so we're real clear. This investigation began before 9/11, correct?
BATTLE: That's correct.
O'BRIEN: All right ...
BATTLE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
O'BRIEN: About how far before 9/11?
BATTLE: Several months in the late spring, early summer of 2001.
O'BRIEN: Can you give us a sense of authorities as they went through this continuing to watch this cell? Were there any number of junctures where there might have been decisions -- at what point did they decide it was appropriate to make an arrest and were there other occasions when they felt like they were close to making an arrest?
BATTLE: It seemed from all indications that the activity of these five individuals began to move in a number of different directions. The evidence pointed us more importantly to a particular time, which was this past few days to make the arrest rather than something particular happening.
O'BRIEN: So the chatter ...
BATTLE: We felt it was important ...
O'BRIEN: ... the chatter indicated more a date on the calendar than the location, perhaps, or a target?
BATTLE: That's correct.
O'BRIEN: Can you give us any sense of this chatter? Can you lay any more flesh on the bones here, if possible?
BATTLE: I can't comment on that at this time. Suffice it to say, there was chatter and other activity.
O'BRIEN: OK, so you can't tell us anything about the plot, but is it safe to say there was a target involving U.S. interest?
BATTLE: I can't comment on that at this time.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, the fact that this is a cell, which is semiautonomous, at least talking conceptually here, what does that mean for an al Qaeda cell? Are they completely on their own, able to make their own orders, their own targeting decision, their own timing decisions, or do they await orders from somewhere else?
BATTLE: We're not aware that they were awaiting any orders. What we do know is that they trained in a camp and that that camp was run by al Qaeda trainers, and that they were trained in certain military operations. What it was that they may have been waiting to or waiting for, we can't comment on at this particular time.
O'BRIEN: All right and just by virtue of the fact that they were at this camp, that in and of itself is a violation of U.S. law?
BATTLE: We're very clear, and we feel very good that the activity that they were involved in falls very well within the confines of the statute and the behavior that that statute provides.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Battle, to put this into perspective for us, small time players or was this a big coo for authorities?
BATTLE: Well this is very big because, as you know, there are at least two other similar investigations, one in Detroit and one in Seattle, which has recently been concluded, that shows similar type activity. One of the things that makes this five or crew (ph) somewhat unique is that they all are American born citizens. That tells us a little bit more about what's going on in our country.
O'BRIEN: So al Qaeda might very well be directly recruiting Americans?
BATTLE: It's quite possible. We have to think of everything at this particular time.
O'BRIEN: All right, is there reason to believe that these cells in Seattle, Detroit, and in Lackawanna are linked?
BATTLE: As far as we know they're connected in that they engaged in similar activity, but our investigation of whether there are any other links continues at this time.
O'BRIEN: Michael Battle is the U.S. attorney for western New York, obviously having to be quite a circumspect here. We appreciate you giving us whatever information you can Mr. Battle. Have a good morning.
BATTLE: Thank you. Good morning to you.
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