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CNN Sunday Morning

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Arrested in Pakistan Yesterday

Aired March 02, 2003 - 08:03   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.


COLLINS: CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen joins us from Washington with his perspective on Mohammed's capture. Good morning to you, Peter. Thank you so much for being here. I know you had a busy day yesterday.
PETER BERGEN, TERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning.

COLLINS: I want to ask you just to kind of put this in perspective for us. We know how high up Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was. Tell us what this means.

BERGEN: Well Khalid Shaikh Mohammed actually planned the 9/11 attacks, so that's pretty high up on the scale. But, not only that. After 9/11, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was involved in attacking a synagogue in Tunisia that killed 14 German tourists. He was also involved in plans to attack western targets all over Southeast Asia.

This guy was the operational leader of al Qaeda. I mean bin Laden may supply the ideology, but Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was a guy who was actually providing the operational tools to do these things. And if he'll talk, he will have many, many, I think, interesting things to say about al Qaeda's future plans. We don't know if he'll talk, but if he does, this man is a guy who actually knows what al Qaeda's planning in the future.

COLLINS: Any way to know exactly how close he is with Osama bin Laden? I Mean, obviously, closer than most. But the question is going to come up immediately; I'm sure you talked about it yesterday, even. Is he going to tell us where Osama is?

BERGEN: He may not know where Osama is. But the fact is that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is a self-described military commander of al Qaeda, and I think that's a pretty accurate description. This is a man whose nephew, Ramzi Yousef, was the mastermind of the World Trade Center attack in '93

So he has been involved in anti-American attacks for over a decade. His capture is the most significant thing to happen against al Qaeda since 9/11.

COLLINS: So obviously this is a huge positive step for the Bush administration and the war on terror. But what will happen to Mohammed now? Will he stay in Pakistan? Will he come to the U.S.? Any word at all or any speculation on that at this point?

BERGEN: Well I've talked to Pakistani officials. He's not in Pakistan, and I don't think he's coming to the U.S. I mean there's a technical word, which is "rendition." He is being rendered to another place.

We don't know where it is. But I think the larger point is essentially that -- I mean Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has been captured, that is correct, but al Qaeda is I think evolving from an organization into an ideology. So we may capture A, B, C, or D; on the other hand, al Qaeda is not going to go out of business simply because we captured Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

COLLINS: So obviously that is not a comforting thought at this point. But what will happen next with this arrest? Any way to look ahead as to a New strategy or something along those lines?

BERGEN: Well, I mean the main point is the war in Iraq. I mean, there was speculation yesterday that somehow the capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed would produce a lot of anti-American attacks. I mean I think that's kind of irrelevant.

The war in Iraq will produce many anti-American and anti-western attacks, maybe not very large scale, but so we need to look forward in the next six weeks, as it were, and see that al Qaeda -- al Qaeda will attempt to produce a major anti-American attack in the context of the war in Iraq. Whether they'll be here or somewhere else, we don't know.

COLLINS: All right. Peter Bergen, we certainly appreciate your insight this morning.

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 March 2, 2003 - 08:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLINS: CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen joins us from Washington with his perspective on Mohammed's capture. Good morning to you, Peter. Thank you so much for being here. I know you had a busy day yesterday.
PETER BERGEN, TERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning.

COLLINS: I want to ask you just to kind of put this in perspective for us. We know how high up Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was. Tell us what this means.

BERGEN: Well Khalid Shaikh Mohammed actually planned the 9/11 attacks, so that's pretty high up on the scale. But, not only that. After 9/11, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was involved in attacking a synagogue in Tunisia that killed 14 German tourists. He was also involved in plans to attack western targets all over Southeast Asia.

This guy was the operational leader of al Qaeda. I mean bin Laden may supply the ideology, but Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was a guy who was actually providing the operational tools to do these things. And if he'll talk, he will have many, many, I think, interesting things to say about al Qaeda's future plans. We don't know if he'll talk, but if he does, this man is a guy who actually knows what al Qaeda's planning in the future.

COLLINS: Any way to know exactly how close he is with Osama bin Laden? I Mean, obviously, closer than most. But the question is going to come up immediately; I'm sure you talked about it yesterday, even. Is he going to tell us where Osama is?

BERGEN: He may not know where Osama is. But the fact is that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is a self-described military commander of al Qaeda, and I think that's a pretty accurate description. This is a man whose nephew, Ramzi Yousef, was the mastermind of the World Trade Center attack in '93

So he has been involved in anti-American attacks for over a decade. His capture is the most significant thing to happen against al Qaeda since 9/11.

COLLINS: So obviously this is a huge positive step for the Bush administration and the war on terror. But what will happen to Mohammed now? Will he stay in Pakistan? Will he come to the U.S.? Any word at all or any speculation on that at this point?

BERGEN: Well I've talked to Pakistani officials. He's not in Pakistan, and I don't think he's coming to the U.S. I mean there's a technical word, which is "rendition." He is being rendered to another place.

We don't know where it is. But I think the larger point is essentially that -- I mean Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has been captured, that is correct, but al Qaeda is I think evolving from an organization into an ideology. So we may capture A, B, C, or D; on the other hand, al Qaeda is not going to go out of business simply because we captured Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

COLLINS: So obviously that is not a comforting thought at this point. But what will happen next with this arrest? Any way to look ahead as to a New strategy or something along those lines?

BERGEN: Well, I mean the main point is the war in Iraq. I mean, there was speculation yesterday that somehow the capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed would produce a lot of anti-American attacks. I mean I think that's kind of irrelevant.

The war in Iraq will produce many anti-American and anti-western attacks, maybe not very large scale, but so we need to look forward in the next six weeks, as it were, and see that al Qaeda -- al Qaeda will attempt to produce a major anti-American attack in the context of the war in Iraq. Whether they'll be here or somewhere else, we don't know.

COLLINS: All right. Peter Bergen, we certainly appreciate your insight this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com