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CNN Live Sunday
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Arrested
Aired March 02, 2003 - 18:00 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: There's rejoicing in Washington over the capture of an al Qaeda leader suspected of being the brains behind the 9/11 attacks. Officials say Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is being interrogated after his arrest yesterday in Pakistan. More now from CNN national security correspondent, David Ensor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Khalid Shaikh Mohammed looks the worse for wear in the photo, said to show him after his arrest by Pakistani authorities, but before he was handed over to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. U.S. officials say they do not use torture, as legally defined, but that -- quote -- "all appropriate pressure will be put on al Qaeda's operations chief to tell what he knows about future plots to attack Americans or others." Intelligence committee leaders are thrilled by the catch.
SEN. PORTER GOSS (R), FLORIDA: This is taking out (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as an operative for the German (UNINTELLIGIBLE). This is just extremely important and it is going to lead to other very successful activities very shortly, I'm sure.
ENSOR: The chairman of Senate intelligence said catching Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Pakistan Saturday is even more useful in terms of stopping future attacks than catching al Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, would be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Osama is more of a figurehead and that doesn't mean that we're not really going after him, but we're taking out the operations command just as fast as we can.
ENSOR: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has been taken, U.S. officials say, to an unnamed third country, not Pakistan and not the U.S., for interrogation. The same approach taken with other top al Qaeda prisoners like Ramzi Binalshibh, caught after a shootout in Karachi and before him, Abu Zubaydah. U.S. officials say all the senior prisoners are cooperating to one degree or another, providing useful information to their interrogators.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Can the American public sleep -- rest a little better right now Senator Rockefeller with the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed?
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: No, because he's only one of hundreds -- or tens of thousands of al Qaeda who've been trained over the years in Afghanistan, in the Madrasah schools. They're in six of the seven continents and 60 to 70 countries, including our own.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: All true, but U.S. officials now say al Qaeda will have to worry about which plots Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has exposed. Other al Qaeda leaders from bin Laden on down will have to worry about what he knew that could lead to them. This is, as one U.S. intelligence official put it to me, a huge win in the war on terror -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now, David, I understand during the raid, it's possible that intelligence authorities were also able to apprehend a list of possible al Qaeda cells in the U.S. Any credence to that?
ENSOR: There is such a report. Officials I've spoken to are not willing to comment on it at all. It's a very sensitive matter, obviously. Clearly, if there was such a list, that would be great news. Still, if you've got the man, you've got what he knows, what he remembers, and they will be getting it out of him one way or another. They really have to interrogate this man intensively now.
WHITFIELD: And certainly, it is a matter of whether they can get that out of him. All right, thanks very much, David, 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 March 2, 2003 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: There's rejoicing in Washington over the capture of an al Qaeda leader suspected of being the brains behind the 9/11 attacks. Officials say Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is being interrogated after his arrest yesterday in Pakistan. More now from CNN national security correspondent, David Ensor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Khalid Shaikh Mohammed looks the worse for wear in the photo, said to show him after his arrest by Pakistani authorities, but before he was handed over to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. U.S. officials say they do not use torture, as legally defined, but that -- quote -- "all appropriate pressure will be put on al Qaeda's operations chief to tell what he knows about future plots to attack Americans or others." Intelligence committee leaders are thrilled by the catch.
SEN. PORTER GOSS (R), FLORIDA: This is taking out (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as an operative for the German (UNINTELLIGIBLE). This is just extremely important and it is going to lead to other very successful activities very shortly, I'm sure.
ENSOR: The chairman of Senate intelligence said catching Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Pakistan Saturday is even more useful in terms of stopping future attacks than catching al Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, would be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Osama is more of a figurehead and that doesn't mean that we're not really going after him, but we're taking out the operations command just as fast as we can.
ENSOR: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has been taken, U.S. officials say, to an unnamed third country, not Pakistan and not the U.S., for interrogation. The same approach taken with other top al Qaeda prisoners like Ramzi Binalshibh, caught after a shootout in Karachi and before him, Abu Zubaydah. U.S. officials say all the senior prisoners are cooperating to one degree or another, providing useful information to their interrogators.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Can the American public sleep -- rest a little better right now Senator Rockefeller with the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed?
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: No, because he's only one of hundreds -- or tens of thousands of al Qaeda who've been trained over the years in Afghanistan, in the Madrasah schools. They're in six of the seven continents and 60 to 70 countries, including our own.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: All true, but U.S. officials now say al Qaeda will have to worry about which plots Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has exposed. Other al Qaeda leaders from bin Laden on down will have to worry about what he knew that could lead to them. This is, as one U.S. intelligence official put it to me, a huge win in the war on terror -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now, David, I understand during the raid, it's possible that intelligence authorities were also able to apprehend a list of possible al Qaeda cells in the U.S. Any credence to that?
ENSOR: There is such a report. Officials I've spoken to are not willing to comment on it at all. It's a very sensitive matter, obviously. Clearly, if there was such a list, that would be great news. Still, if you've got the man, you've got what he knows, what he remembers, and they will be getting it out of him one way or another. They really have to interrogate this man intensively now.
WHITFIELD: And certainly, it is a matter of whether they can get that out of him. All right, thanks very much, David, 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
