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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

U.S. Troops Take Enemy Fire in Kandahar; Suspected al Qaeda Member Blows Himself Up; Musharraf Hopeful About Pearl's Chances

Aired February 13, 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.

Night fight. U.S. troops take fire at Kandahar Airport, and fire right back.

Cornered in Yemen, a suspected al Qaeda terrorist refuses to be taken alive.

Pakistani police say a key kidnapping suspect is a "hard nut to crack," but Pakistan's president is hopeful about American journalist Daniel Pearl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTAN: I am reasonably sure he is alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: President Bush warns Iraq he means business.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Saddam Hussein needs to understand, I am serious about defending our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We'll go live to Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan and the White House.

And a hot debate: Should the U.S. attack Iraq? I'll ask former Congressman Stephen Solarz and former Pentagon official Lawrence Korb, as we go into THE WAR ROOM.

Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting tonight from Washington.

If you were among those who thought the war in Afghanistan was over, it's time to think again. Today, U.S. troops at the Kandahar Airport came under hostile fire. A firefight was short, but a reminder of the dangers U.S. troops still face. Let's go live to CNN's Martin Savidge. He's on the scene in Kandahar -- Marty.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Wolf. You are right, it is a stark reminder that this air basis here is still potentially very much in harm's way.

It all began around an hour and a half after sunset last night, about 7:30 p.m. local time. When we were gathered here in this courtyard in the interior of the airport, we started to hear what we were either muffled explosions or thuds, and also it sounded like weapons fire. Then someone said there was, in fact, firing taking place in front of the building by the western perimeter. We ran to the perimeter -- or ran to the front of the building.

As we looked out, you could see red tracer fire that was leaving the base in the direction heading west over the runway toward the perimeter itself. You could also hear the distinctive sound of M-16 gunfire, rifle fire, as well as what sounded like machine gunfire.

Then, after that, there was a C-17 that was out on the runway there, attempting to take off. It did, in fact, go. It turned off all of its lights and went in pitch darkness, with the exception of the runway lights. It roared into the air. Then the illumination flares filled the air, casting that eerie kind of golden glow, but it became very silent after that particular point.

Still, soldiers very much on edge. You could see them running about out by the tarmac. You can see them down in their fighting holes, hunched in a fighting position. And you also saw about 25 to 30 soldiers jumping into the backs of Humvees, those Humvees then tearing off in the direction of the front-line.

Shortly thereafter that, the Apache helicopters were up in the air, part of the quick reaction force. They are very lethal, they have very good night vision. You could hear and see them sweeping over the western perimeter where the gunfire erupted from.

The area where the fighting occurred was very similar to the area where the fighting on January 10 occurred. There again, it was a brief firefight, but it was the U.S. Marines that were returning the fire. Last night, it was members of the 101st Airborne. No U.S. forces were injured. There were reports that seven people were detained. They were bought in for questioning, but then released, when it was determined they had nothing to do with the assault.

Still no word on who attacked or exactly why -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Martin Savidge on the scene in Kandahar. You take care of yourself over there as well. Thank you very much.

Meanwhile, in Yemen, a suspected al Qaeda terrorist blew himself up as police tried to arrest him in the capital city of San'a. CNN's Brent Sadler joins us now live from Yemen with details -- Brent.

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Wolf. Well, Yemeni security sources here are claiming a victory in their attempt to eradicate remnants of the al Qaeda terror network still active and operating in this country.

Let me run you through the sequence of events which took place here, in the capital of San'a, just a few hours ago. The Yemeni security forces were rounding in on a Sameer Ahmed Mohammed Al-Hada, a 25-year-old Yemeni, and he was hiding out in a poor neighborhood of this Yemeni capital.

Security forces began to encircle the house, and came under gunfire. The themselves returned fire, and in the confusion during these darkness hours, the wanted man escaped, but shortly afterward he was caught up with, after he commandeered a taxi. Security forces saw him get out of the vehicle and pull a grenade, as if he was going to throw a small bomb at them. Instead, the grenade blew up and killed the wanted man.

He does, according to security sources here, have important al Qaeda connections. The dead man, one of his two sisters was married, it said here, to one of the September 11 Pentagon suicide hijackers, Khalid Almihdhar, a Saudi-born Yemeni. The dead man's other sister, it said here, is married to one of the 17 names which appears on the FBI worldwide terrorist alert that was issued only on Tuesday. Yemeni police sources here say that the dead man had gone to Afghanistan in 1999, and had attended one of Osama bin Laden's training camps there. Also wanted in connection, this man, for the bombing of the USS Cole some 16 months ago -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Brent Sadler in Yemen, thank you very much for that report.

And the war against terror was on the agenda here in Washington at the White House today, as President Bush met with Pakistan's visiting President Pervez Musharraf. Much of the discussion was about kidnapped American journalist Daniel Pearl, and the Pakistani leader voiced optimism about his fate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUSHARRAF: Well, let me say, we are as close as possible to getting him released. But I would like to emphasize here that I have taken certain steps in Pakistan to crush extremism, religious intolerance in the society, and therefore I expected a certain degree of fallout of these steps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: For the latest on the Daniel Pearl kidnapping case, let's go live to Karachi, Pakistan. That's where CNN's Ben Wedeman is standing by -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, the Pakistani police have now had well over 24 hours to interrogate the man whom until very recently they were describing as the ringleader, the mastermind behind the kidnapping of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl. Now, the police say they have been intensely grilling Sheikh Omar Saeed who they arrested in Lahore on Tuesday.

Since the moment he was arrested, they say that he has yet to offer anything concrete that could lead to the release of the American journalist. You may recall that shortly after his detention, Saeed told the police that Mr. Pearl is alive and is in Karachi. Now the police are backtracking somewhat; they're downplaying the earlier optimism about an imminent release of Mr. Pearl, and they're also downplaying Saeed's role in the kidnapping itself. One senior official in Karachi claiming that Saeed, completely contrary to what we have been hearing directly from investigators for quite some time, is just one of several prime suspects in the case.

Also, an official at the U.S. State Department tells CNN that Saeed is not the quote/unquote "level one" person in the kidnapping. This somewhat in line what we have been hearing here in Karachi, that others may be involved, others in fact that might be connected with Pakistani Intelligence Services.

Also, there were more raids in Karachi overnight, but nothing seems to have come out of those -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Ben Wedeman in Karachi, thank you very much.

And for more on this story, please join Tom Mintier at the top of the hour for his special report, "LIVE FROM PAKISTAN."

Meanwhile, President Bush today had more tough words for Iraq, as his administration takes an increasingly tougher line toward the regime in Baghdad. Let's get that story from CNN State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Seizing the moment, President Bush again warned Saddam Hussein Iraq's weapons program is unacceptable.

BUSH: Make no mistake about, if we need to we will take necessary action to defend the American people. And I think that statement was clear enough for Iraq to hear me.

KOPPEL: Beginning with the president's State of the Union address last month, when he called Iraq a member of an "axis of evil," President Bush and others in his administration have been ramping up the rhetoric.

GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: Let me be clear, Saddam remains a threat.

KOPPEL: Even Secretary of State Powell, known for his more cautious approach, has adopted this tougher talk.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: You don't find peace by sticking your head in the sand and ignoring evil where it exists.

KOPPEL: But what's not clear is how and even whether the Bush administration is ready to turn that rhetoric into action.

POWELL: It's long been for several years now a policy of the United States government that regime change would be in the best interest of the region, in the best interest of the Iraqi people, and we are looking at a variety of options that would bring that about.

KOPPEL: Officials say those options range from diplomacy, modifying existing U.N. sanctions on Iraq, to forcing a showdown over weapons inspections, to carrying out covert act to overthrow Saddam Hussein, to supporting the Iraqi opposition, to committing U.S. military troops.

Each choice, even the most benign, modifying U.N. sanctions, comes with costs and risks, like the potential loss of international support for continuing to contain Iraq. So far, President Bush has not received any recommendations, and his aides say he has made no decision.

A key consideration will be the reaction of Iraq's neighbors, many of which Vice President Cheney plans to visit next month.

(on camera): U.S. allies in the region and elsewhere are nervous, unclear about U.S. objectives in Iraq and unsure the U.S. knows who would replace President Hussein even if he goes. For now, their only option, like everyone else, is to wait until President Bush decides.

Andrea Koppel, CNN, at the State Department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: So, should the United States make Iraq the next target in the war on terrorism? Joining me here in the CNN WAR ROOM: former Congressman Stephen Solarz, he spent nearly two decades on Capitol Hill as a Democrat from New York; and from New York, Lawrence Korb, he is the vice president of the Council on Foreign Relations, he's a former assistant defense secretary.

And remember, you can e-mail your WAR ROOM questions. Just go to my Web page, cnn.com/wolf. That's where you can also read my daily online column.

Congressman Solarz, tell us, first of all, why should the United States attack Iraq right now?

STEPHEN SOLARZ, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: I think that Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, Wolf, poses an unacceptable threat not only to the United States, but to our friends elsewhere around the world. Unlike al Qaeda, which was trying to get weapons of mass destruction but which presumably wasn't able to obtain them, we know that Iraq does have weapons of mass destruction. It is chemical and biological weapons and it is trying to get nuclear weapons as well.

And I think it's fairly clear after September 11 that Saddam Hussein has the capacity, using terrorist cutouts, to introduce these demonic devices into the United States under circumstances where literally tens of thousands and perhaps even hundreds of thousands of Americans could lose their lives, but where it would be very difficult to know that Saddam was behind it. Therefore, I think that we should get him before he gets us.

BLITZER: All right. Larry Korb, what is wrong with Congressman Solarz' thinking?

LAWRENCE KORB, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Well, first of all, there is no evidence for that. Saddam was a terrible person before September 11. He is a terrible person now. He was a terrible person in the 1980s went we helped him in the war against Iran.

If you start talking going after him now, the diplomatic, the financial and the military costs are going to be quite high. And as Andrea Koppel mentioned in the lead-up to this, what comes next? We have antagonized Iran with this axis of evil speech. There's no reason why they wouldn't take advantage of us getting rid of Saddam by getting the Shias in the south to split off to go with them.

The Kurds have said they'll only support us -- the Kurds in the north said they will only support us if you guarantee an independent Kurdish state which will keep the Turks from supporting us in the war. And the Saudis have also talked to us about actually cutting down our military presence. So you can say we ought on do it, but logistically, it's very difficult to get from here to there, particularly in the short term.

BLITZER: Steve Solarz?

SOLARZ: Well, I totally disagree with that. I think it's a fundamentally misreading of the reality in Iraq. First of all, the Shias, who constitute 50 percent of the population of Iraq, are Arabs. They don't want a separate state. Then want a unified Iraq in which they are the majority.

As for the Kurds, they know very well that for a variety of strategic reasons, an independent Kurdistan is not in the cards. What they want is a federal Iraq in which they are part of a unified Iraq, but free from the repression of Saddam Hussein. I don't think there is any doubt we have the capacity to bring down Saddam and his Bathist regime if we take the decision to do so. We succeeded in Afghanistan. We succeeded a decade ago in the Gulf War, and once Saddam is gone, hopefully, we will be able to facilitate the emergence of a legitimate government in Baghdad which has the support of the Iraqi people.

Finally, let me just say...

BLITZER: Let me just bring in Larry Korb for a second because I want him to weigh in on what his former colleague in the Reagan administration, Ken Adelman, wrote in the "Washington Post" today in making the cast to attack Iraq now.

Among other things, Adelman wrote this. He said, "I believe demolishing Hussein's military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk. Let me give simple, responsible reasons. One: It was a cakewalk last time. Two: They have become much weaker. Three: We've become much stronger. And four: Now we're playing for keeps."

What do you say about that, Larry?

KORB: Well, the fact of matter is I think Ken is wrong. The people who retreated the last time, the military people, were the reserves and the conscripts. It wasn't the Republican guards. They had some very fierce fights with them. And the Republican guards know that if Saddam goes, they go. So they are going to fight very hard.

I think Ken is underestimating, you know, how difficult it would be. And even if he is correct, if we start this, we have to be prepared to go the whole way and you are talking 50 to 100,000 Americans that you are going to need, possibly on the ground, and that means you are going to have to get support from the people in the region.

And I disagree with Steve about the Kurds. It was a wonderful story in the "Wall Street Journal" yesterday in which the Kurds said no way would they support us unless they get an independent Kurdistan because things, ironically enough, are going very well for them right now.

SOLARZ: Once we make it absolutely clear that we are determined to use American military power, not with pinprick strikes against Iraq, but in a determined effort to bring the regime down, I have no doubt that we will have the support of the two countries whose cooperation would be essential for this endeavor. The first is Kuwait and the other is Turkey.

BLITZER: How concerned are you, Steve Solarz, as you pointed out earlier, you say the Iraqis have weapons of mass destruction, whether chemical, biological, long range, missiles, how concerned are you they would use those weapons if the U.S. launched a strike?

SOLARZ: I think it's a possibility we have to be prepared for. But to the extent they might use them against us now, it's also possible they will use them against us subsequently under circumstances where they have many more and possibly nuclear weapons as well.

BLITZER: All right. Larry Korb, Stephen Solarz had the first word. You can have the last. Go ahead.

KORB: Well, basically, I think this is sort of whistling in the dark because you don't know that will happen. I mean, and even if the United States can succeed at a militarily acceptable price, who is going to run the place and who is going to pick up the bills?

If we go in there without the support of a lot of other countries, there is going to have to be somebody in there that is going to take over the peacekeeping because this administration shows no inclination that would be willing to do that and Saddam's main goal is to stay in power. So we can deter him right now as we have literally for the past 15 years.

BLITZER: All right. Larry Korb and Steve Solarz, thanks for that debate. I have a feeling we are going to be doing this debate for some time in the days and weeks, perhaps months ahead. Thank you very much.

Now remember, I want to hear from you. Please go to my Web page, cnn.com/wolf. Click on the designation for comments to me and to my producers.

And when we come back, in the courtroom, a Taliban American enters his plea. Outside, a family drama. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. The young American man accused of fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan has pleaded not guilty to all ten charges against him. John Walker Lindh was in federal court today in Alexandria, Virginia for his arraignment. Joining me now, CNN's Deborah Feyerick who was there.

You were covering the story, what happened?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Actually Wolf, this story turned into a story of two American families, two sons on opposite sides on the war on terror. Accused Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh was in court today, and also in court was the family of slain CIA agent Michael Spann. He was murdered inside of a prison inside Mazar- e Sharif, Afghanistan.

It is the same prison where he had been questioning John Walker Lindh just hours before. Prosecutors have not said John Walker Lindh was involved in that, however the two families there in court today together, and it was really quite dramatic. John Walker Lindh pleading not guilty and Shannon Spann telling me she wanted to come to court because she said Mike was about taking responsibility and she said it would be very interesting to see whether in fact John Walker Lindh took responsibility for what he had done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANNON SPANN, MIKE SPANN'S WIFE: He has certainly spent the last few years of his life with the belief that his extreme form of Islam sort of gives him the right and responsibility to wage jihad against the west and specifically against Americans. But, it appears that at the end of the day, really, he doesn't believe that, because, this morning he has chosen to trust in the prosperity and the protection of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Something very interesting happened outside the courtroom immediately after the arraignment. The Spann family was standing by the elevator and Frank Lindh, John's father came up to Johnny Spann saying my son had nothing to do with it, I'm sure you understand. He also said, I'm sorry about your son. And the Spann family really taken aback, trying to get away from Frank Lindh as fast as they could. A court official trying to intervene putting herself between the two families and then ushering the Spann family into that elevator, letting no one else come in -- Wolf.

BLITZER: An emotional moment. Deborah Feyerick, thank you very much for the report.

Coming up: Authorities say a teddy bear may -- may -- be a Valentine's threat, indeed a teddy bear that looks like this one. That and other top stories when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. An unusual FBI terrorist warning tops this hour's news alert. The agency says someone might try to use teddy bears to hide explosives and carry them onto airplanes as bombs on Valentine's day tomorrow. They say a man in California bought nine Valentine teddy bears and 14 canisters of propane at a Wal-Mart last month. Three hundred and fifty law enforcement agencies in the south west and around Salt Lake City have been alerted to be on the lookout.

The world of country music has lost a legend. A spokeswoman for singer Waylon Jennings said he died today at his Arizona home. One of country music's original outlaws, Jennings had 16 No. 1 singles in a career that lasted five decades. He had suffered from health related problems due to diabetes. Waylon Jennings was 64 years old.

That's all the time we have tonight. Please join me again tomorrow twice at both 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. CROSSFIRE begins right now.

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