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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Conflicting Reports About Pearl's Fate Emerge; Interview With Saudi Prince Turki Al Faisal; U.S. Military Investigates Commando Raid
Aired February 01, 2002 - 19:00 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.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Tonight on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: THE WAR ROOM. A day of confusion and fear, the fate of kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl. A raid gone wrong; the U.S. military investigates a special forces attack on a suspected terrorist compound.
We will go live to the White House for reaction to Al-Jazeera's Osama bin Laden interview, first aired on our program last night. And we will hear from someone who met Osama bin Laden a number of times, dating back to an earlier war in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRINCE TURKI AL FAISAL, FORMER DIRECTOR OF SAUDI INTELLIGENCE: He came to say hello and he had other projects in mind which I turned down at the time, because they were the so extraordinary and unacceptable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: I'll speak with Prince Turki al Faisal, the former director of Saudi intelligence, as we go into THE WAR ROOM.
Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting tonight from Washington. President Bush today promised to do everything possible to save kidnapped "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl, who disappeared more than a week ago in Karachi Pakistan. But tonight there are conflicting reports about Pearl's fate. CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Karachi and he has the latest developments.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, two very conflicting reports regarding the fate of "Wall Street Journal" reporter, Daniel Pearl. One in the form of a telephone call according to the Karachi police, to the U.S. embassy in Islamabad. In it the caller demanded $2 million and the immediate release of former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salim Zaeef within 36 hours in exchange for the release of the kidnapped reporter, the second in the form of an e-mail from antiamericanimperialism@hotmail.com, the e-mail claims that Mr. Pearl has been executed and goes on to say, we are thirsty for the blood of other Americans.
Pakistani police are currently searching the more than 200 graveyards to verify this report. But wolf, I must stress that neither report at this point can be confirmed. Back to you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you Ben Wedeman. And at this point U.S. officials say they have no definitive word on the condition or status of Daniel Pearl.
For more on what the U.S. knows about the situation, I'm joined now by live by our State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel. And what are U.S. officials, Andrea, telling you about this latest e-mail?
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I spoke to a senior State Department official a few moments ago who told me even now, hours after that e-mail was first received by western news organizations, they still believe it is too early to tell whether or not it is in fact authentic. Whether in fact it is from the same individual or individuals who sent out three previous e-mails claiming to not only have Danny Pearl in custody, but also putting the timeline, the time limit on his life. As Ben just pointed out the latest e-mail claims that the kidnappers have killed Daniel Pearl, as of this hour officials say they do not want to speculate.
They do not want to go out on a limb right now and say whether or not they think in fact he is dead or alive, and there were a number of reasons for that, Wolf. Not the least of which is that each and everyone of these e-mails thus far has been different. There have been different senders, there have been different recipients, the language of the e-mails are different, and so it's very difficult to pinpoint and authenticate whether in fact this is the real thing -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And, Andrea, what are you hearing about that call the U.S. received in Pakistan saying that the kidnappers want $2 million in ransom for the release of Danny Pearl?
KOPPEL: Officials are telling me right now, that they are not really putting much weight on that phone call, there are a variety of reasons for that, not the least of which the call came into a U.S. embassy in Pakistan. And the caller was cut off before he was able to finish the threat that they were putting out there. And so right now, most of the energy of this investigation is going into the e-mail.
BLITZER: Andrea Koppel at the State Department, thank you very much. And the Bush administration has been viewing this matter with great concern. Let's go live to our White House correspondent Kelly Wallace. What are you hearing over there, Kelly?
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, here the same thing. U.S. officials still trying to confirm the reports that we have been seeing today. And in fact, President Bush was asked about the case of Daniel Pearl, earlier this morning, this though before these reports surfaced about one allegation that Daniel Pearl had been killed.
Mr. Bush during a meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan expressing his concern, but saying that he spoke with FBI Director Robert Mueller about the matter this morning, and that the U.S. is working closely with Pakistan to try to get him out safely. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are working with the Pakistani government to chase down any leads possible, for example, we are trying to follow the trail of the e-mails that have been sent with the sole purpose of saving this man or finding him and rescuing him. We are in touch with the "Wall Street Journal," and obviously we are deeply concerned, as is the Pakistani government and we will don't do everything we can to rescue him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And, Wolf, President Bush is spending the weekend at the presidential retreat at Camp David, of course his advisers will keep him up to date with the latest developments in this case -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And, Kelly, what's the reaction at the White House to the Al-Jazeera interview with Osama bin Laden that we aired on this program exactly 24 hours ago?
WALLACE: Well, Wolf, U.S. officials say that tape, that interview really confirms what the president and his top advisers have been saying all along have been saying about Osama bin Laden. In fact Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary, giving a quote to CNN earlier today, saying quote -- "Everybody knows how evil bin Laden is. Other tapes have shown him take credit for the attacks and show that he had advanced knowledge of the attack. This tape showed the importance of completing the mission and protecting freedom. A mission that is bigger than Osama bin Laden."
And, Wolf, as you know, President Bush didn't even mention Osama bin Laden's name in his State of the Union address earlier this week, the president did use his name today, saying he doesn't care how long it takes. He is confident the U.S. will eventually find Osama bin Laden and Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. And then the president had continued tough talk, tough talk for countries that engage in terrorism and tough talk for any country such as Iran, Iraq and North Korea that this administration accuses of fostering and developing weapons of mass destruction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: Make no mistake about it. If you threaten us with weapons of mass destruction, if you threaten our allies and friends with weapons of mass destruction we will do whatever it takes to protect our people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And, Wolf, aides say that the president continues to say that military action is not imminent. But he says that the administration will do everything it can to protect the U.S. and its allies from weapons of mass destruction -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Kelly Wallace at the White House, thank you very much. Daniel Pearl's story is one of the compelling stories of this war on terrorism. Earlier today I had a fascinating conversation with someone who knows a great deal about what goes on behind the scenes in that part of the world. Prince Turki al Faisal is the former director of Saudi Arabia's intelligence service, he spent more than 20 years in that post. And was surprisingly candid with me about his past dealings with both Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar. Prince Turki joined me from New York.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Your highness, thank you so much for joining us, welcome to the United States. I want to get right to the issue of Osama bin Laden. You probably know more about this individual than almost anyone around. Do you believe he and his al Qaeda network still have a capability to commit major terrorist acts against your kingdom, against the United States or against others?
AL FAISAL: Any dedicated individual, Mr. Blitzer, has the capability of committing such acts, if he is willing to sacrifice his life as some of these people are, and if he has any basic knowledge of explosives and timers and things like that. So whether it is from al Qaeda or from any terrorist group, the world, I think, must keep a wary eye on who these people are and try to trace them, and prevent them from committing these acts.
BLITZER: Do you believe that they still have the capability to communicate, to get orders out to individual cells that may still be in existence to undertake these kinds of terrorist operations?
AL FAISAL: I believe bin Laden now is on the run if he's not dead, and a person on the run mainly thinks about his own life, and probably is not communicating with his operatives. But perhaps there are others who are bin Laden's supporters who may or may not be in Afghanistan, who are taking over now, and issuing the orders.
BLITZER: President Musharraf of Pakistan, as you know, has suggested that bin Laden may -- maybe dead from kidney disease. Does your intelligence have any confirmation of that?
AL FAISAL: Well, I'm out of the intelligence business now for a few months and I have not received any briefing from our intelligence on this subject, so I would not be able to confirm or deny President Musharraf's claims.
BLITZER: But based on what you knew when you were in the intelligence service of your kingdom, and you were for many, many years do you know that he does have -- Osama bin Laden -- assuming he's still alive, that he does have a kidney problem?
AL FAISAL: When I was in the intelligence service, we regularly made estimates of these things and the last estimate that I saw was that he was in good health.
BLITZER: Have you ever met personally Osama bin Laden? AL FAISAL: I met bin Laden five times during the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan. This is from the time, mid-'80s to the 1990. And most of those times were in embassy receptions or in such functions that were held in Islamabad or Peshawar in Pakistan when I was there. And, you know, at the time, he was a volunteer that helped the mujahideen against the Soviets with money and with equipment and so on. So the meetings with him generally took place in social events.
BLITZER: And the meetings ended after the Soviets were forced to leave Afghanistan?
AL FAISAL: The last time I met him was perhaps early 1990. It was after the Soviets withdrew and he was back in the kingdom. And he came to say hello and he had other projects in mind, which I turned down at the time because they were so extraordinary and unacceptable.
BLITZER: If you read the book by Ahmed Rashid, the Pakistani journalist, on the Taliban, he suggested in there that you were very involved in the early days of the Taliban in helping them develop their power in Afghanistan. Is that right?
AL FAISAL: Well, you know, the Taliban came as a surprise to everybody, not least us in the kingdom. And in the early days, nobody paid him much attention, including the kingdom. But as their power grew, of course, we had to talk to them as we were talking to all Afghans during that time. But helping them, we stopped help to all Afghans when the Soviets withdrew because they started fighting each other and we told all Afghan parties, including the Taliban, that we would not give them one cent if they continued fighting and that was the policy of the kingdom from the day that the Soviets withdrew until I left my job.
BLITZER: Did you ever personally meet with Mullah Mohammed Omar, the former leader of the Taliban?
AL FAISAL: I met with him twice, in June, 1998 to at -- of course, at the orders of King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah, to ask him to deliver Osama bin Laden to the kingdom in order for us to try him. And at the time he seemed amenable and he told me that, let us discuss the modalities and let us form a joint committee that will look into this subject.
In September of that year, 1998, not having heard from them direct response on the subject, I went back to Kandahar and met with Mullah Omar. And at that meeting, he was a completely different man. He refused to consider any way of delivering Osama bin Laden. He was praising bin Laden as a savior and as a righteous man and so on. And he was very abusive to the kingdom, et cetera. So I cut the meeting short and left.
BLITZER: What do you think happened between those two meetings?
AL FAISAL: Well, the U.S. embassy bombings took place in August of that year, if you remember in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. And there was evidence at the time that bin Laden was behind those bombings. And the U.S. naturally asked the Taliban to deliver him. I think they refused and then there were those strikes ordered by President Clinton at the time. And it was just after that when I went back again to reiterate to Mullah Omar that there is now evidence that bin Laden is doing these acts and that's how he met me.
BLITZER: And there was a lot of speculation, as you know, that bin Laden was at that point and later controlling the Taliban rather than vice-versa.
AL FAISAL: Well, I don't know this matter of control. All I can tell you is that their vibes coincided very well, and they had mutual empathy and sympathy for each other.
BLITZER: Let's talk a little bit about U.S./Saudi relations. As you well know, there have been a lot reports in American news media about a strain in the relationship. Only the other day, I interviewed the White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, on my Sunday program, "LATE EDITION."
I want you to listen to this exchange that we had.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: You can't confirm the Saudis have asked the United States to reduce the footprint.
ANDREW CARD, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: They've been asking for a long time and we've been working with them for a long time, not just during this administration but during prior administrations to reduce the footprint, so-called footprint, within Saudi Arabia. I think it's been a long-term interest of both countries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: He wouldn't elaborate when I asked him what does that mean, reduce the U.S. footprint in Saudi Arabia? Has your government, your kingdom, asked the United States to reduce the number of U.S. military personnel there?
AL FAISAL: When I was director of intelligence, that never happened. I never heard of anything like that. If anything happened after that, I wouldn't know about it.
But when you talk about footprint of America, you have to consider that the two countries have had close and friendly relations for more than 50 years and there are footprints on both sides. Many Saudis have come to this country and left their footprint in the United States. They came as students, as people who seek medical attention, as merchants, as businessmen, as industrialists, et cetera. And we've had American interests in the kingdom since the establishment of the kingdom. So these footprints are there for everybody to see. And the relationship has gone through sour times before, but it always came back to its strength. Why? Because we always talk to each other frankly, as the Crown Prince mentioned in his interview with the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post" the other day. And that principle of talking frankly has always held the relationship together.
BLITZER: Your Highness, you probably know what President Bush said in his State of the Union Address this week when he included Iraq among what he described as an axis of evil, including Iran and North Korea. If the U.S. were to launch military strikes against Saddam Hussein's regime, would the Saudis allow those strikes to be launched from Saudi space?
AL FAISAL: One has to distinguish between Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi people. And the U.S., if it is going to launch anything against Iraq, it must make sure that it is targeted at Saddam Hussein. When I was director of intelligence, and for many years, from 1991 onwards, we were always proposing covert action programs against Saddam Hussein and presenting ideas on that. And we continue to talk to the United States during my stay at the intelligence service for those years. But there was never really any definitive action taken by the United States in response to our specific proposals.
And I think that's the way to go at it. Change in Iraq must come from within Iraq. It cannot come from without. And for the United States to strike against Iraq, I think will be counterproductive.
BLITZER: So at this point, you don't see Saddam Hussein's regime as a direct threat to Saudi Arabia?
AL FAISAL: Indeed, Saddam's regime is a direct threat to the whole area, not just Saudi Arabia. And what I'm saying if you want to topple him, topple him in a way that will take him out of the picture and not make the Iraqi people suffer.
BLITZER: Your Highness, it was kind of you to join us. Thank you so much. Good luck on your stay here in the United States.
AL FAISAL: Thank you, Mr. Blitzer. And I hope to see you in the kingdom when you come there.
BLITZER: Thank you very much.
AL FAISAL: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And when we come back, the commander of the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan opens an investigation. Did a U.S. special forces raid go wrong? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. The United States military has opened a high level investigation into what U.S. forces may have done during a raid on a suspected terrorist compound in Afghanistan. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Pentagon is slowly revealing just how concerned it is that its commandos made a deadly mistake when Special Forces raided a compound in Afghanistan more than a week ago. For the first time, officials acknowledge that a high level investigation of the raid is under way.
General Tommy Franks, head of Central Command, the man running the war is asking: Did this all go the way we intended? A senior military official says Franks ordered the investigation in part based on after-action reports from the commando team that conducted the mission. Franks has personally told Afghan leader Hamid Karzai that he wants to find out what happened.
On January 24, U.S. commandos staged a pre-dawn raid north of Kandahar against what they believed was an al Qaeda hide-out. Instead, they found what they then thought were Taliban troops. Fifteen were killed, 27 captured. AC-130 gunships were called in, destroying the compound and a huge ammunition stockpile. Locals soon claimed that U.S. forces had killed some Karzai supporters. They said the U.S. was misled into launching an attack by rival warlords.
On Monday, the Pentagon denied it made a mistake.
REAR. ADM. JOHN STUFFLEBEEM, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: This had the clear indications of being a legitimate military target, based on the indicators that we had been observing over time.
STARR: By Wednesday, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff was telling the news media that the Pentagon was indeed looking into the matter.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: I don't think it was any sense on our fault -- on or part that we had done something wrong. It was that when there are allegations, you have to go run them into ground, so that's what we are doing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Wolf, the 27 people captured in Afghanistan are still undergoing interrogation, but more than a week after the raid the Pentagon is admitting it doesn't know what really happened -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you very much.
And when we come back, we will have the latest on the investigation into the Bush administration's dealings with Enron. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Topping tonight's news alert: Israeli missiles fired in Gaza. According to Palestinian security officials, Israeli helicopters fired missiles on the headquarters of the Palestinian naval force. There are no reports of casualties. An Israeli army spokesman says there was an operation in the area carried out by Israeli forces, but gave no details.
Secretary of State Colin Powell told the World Economic Forum in New York that the fight against terrorism will continue. He said it's important to combat poverty, which he called "the root cause of the problem." He also said military and legal means will continue to be used in the fight for a long time to come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: And what we have to go as we go forward is not to lose sight of the fact that we are at just the beginning of a campaign against terrorism. From our perspective, it was focused initially on Afghanistan, al Qaeda, the Taliban. That work has not yet been done. But as President Bush has repeatedly said, it will not stop there. We must go after terrorism wherever it threatens free men and women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: And on the case of Enron, CNN confirms that the U.S. Justice Department has asked the White House to retain all documents related to Enron since January, 1999. That covers a period of two years before George W. Bush took office. The energy giant's collapse brought about the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. A number of employees lost their retirement savings as the company stock dropped in value.
That's all the time we have tonight. Please join me again Monday twice at both 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Eastern. And this Sunday on "LATE EDITION," among my guests: The U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Sunday, noon Eastern, on CNN.
Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "CROSSFIRE" begins right now.
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