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CNN LIVE TODAY
Kidnapping Suspect In Custody; Musharraf Meets With Bush
Aired February 12, 2002 - 13:01 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Police today arrested their prime suspect in the kidnapping of the "Wall Street Journal" correspondent Daniel Pearl. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh captured hundreds of miles from Karachi, where Pearl disappeared on his way to what he thought was a big interview. But Sheikh Omar reportedly telling police that Pearl is still in Karachi.
Our Ben Wedeman is still there, too. Here's Ben.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pakistani police have arrested a key suspect in the kidnapping of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl. The police arrested British born and educated Sheikh Omar Saeed Tuesday afternoon in the northeastern Pakistani city of Lahore.
Pakistani authorities described Saeed as the ringleader of the group holding the American journalist. The 27-year-old Islamic militant has been the focus of an intense nationwide manhunt. According to senior police sources, in the course of a preliminary interrogation, Saeed told them that Daniel Pearl is alive and is in Karachi. The same sources said that with Saeed in custody and apparently cooperating, the release of Daniel Pearl may not be far off.
Sheikh Omar Saeed is not new to kidnapping. He was arrested in 1994 in India for involvement in the abduction of British and American tourists. Five years later, he was released as part of deal to end the hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight diverted to Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Intelligence sources believe that Sheikh Omar Saeed has close ties with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and wired funds to two of the hijackers involved in the September 11th attacks on the United States.
While hopes for Pearl's release have been raised before, only to be dashed, the police here are increasingly confident that the ordeal of the American journalist may be about to come to an end.
I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Karachi.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HEMMER: All right, Ben, thank you, from Pakistan.
Back here in Washington now, David Ensor now tracking this and talking with officials as well -- David, good afternoon to you. What more have U.S. officials learned about the case of Daniel Pearl?
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well Bill, let me put it to you this way. I think we can report knowledgeable sources saying that it is true that the Pakistani police have this key suspect, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh in custody.
This is, obviously, a major break in the case of the Daniel Pearl abduction, leading to some hope on this side of the Atlantic, as well as on the other side, that possibly Danny Pearl could be free soon. It comes at a very opportune time from the point of view of what's going on here in Washington.
General Musharraf, the Pakistani leader, arrives here today, scheduled to be meeting with the president and others tomorrow. It would obviously be very, very good news that he would like to be able to bring to the U.S. administration if he's able to report that not only has the ringleader who organized the kidnapping been arrested, but that the kidnapee has been freed. So, that is obviously the development that U.S. as well as Pakistani officials are now hoping to see next -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, David, we'll keep fingers crossed there. Want to go to a different topic right now. We heard Ari Fleischer talk about this terror alert. In his words, it was a "be on the lookout" alert across the country. What more do we know right now, when the FBI comes out at nighttime and says basically, look out, February 12th, we think, could be a target date.
ENSOR: Right. U.S. officials tell us that it was initially information from one of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba that led to the announcement that we heard the attorney general making not too long ago, reiterating what had been announced last night by the FBI. Here's how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: This alert is not specific to any particular locality. I want to encourage all law enforcement officials and, frankly, all Americans everywhere to be on the highest state of alert in regard to these individuals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENSOR: Now, the alert was originally prompted by a statement by one of the detainees in Guantanamo, but what he said, Bill, was that he had heard from another prisoner with whom he was being held in Afghanistan earlier, that this other prisoner had heard of a plot to attack the United States or U.S. interest on this day, on February 12th.
So U.S. officials having heard that yesterday, quickly went to the original man, the original prisoner and interrogated him again. He offered them about a half dozen names of people that he said were involved in this, including the ringleader, he said, Fawaz Yahya al- Rabeei, who the FBI has put out as a Yemeni who is suspected, you see his picture there on the top left, suspected of being the ringleader of this alleged plot. He gave out this person -- this prisoner in Afghanistan gave out some other names, and some of these people you see on the screen now are among those he identified.
But, then, using other intelligence information, the U.S. was able to expand the list to include others who are known associates of al-Rabeei or others on the first list. So, this is a sort of larger list of people that the U.S. suspects might be involved in this alleged plot to attack the U.S. on February 12th or thereafter. That's basically the sum total of what we know on that. And, obviously, there's a good deal of concern about this potential attack -- Bill.
HEMMER: And David, just to underscore here, these were several sources of information that led to their alert here, this wasn't just one guy talking. I think that is a critical point when we talk about these alerts and putting people on high alert.
ENSOR: Well, it is one guy talking in terms of "there's going to be an attack on February 12th, but as to who might be involved and how and why and where, there are multiple sources. That's right, Bill.
HEMMER: David, thank you. Want to get to White House quickly. Kelly Wallace is tracking this and a whole lot more as well. Again, we should hear from the president, his speech on drugs in about 25 minutes' time. First to Kelly for a preview of what is happening at the White House. A lot moving at that briefing last hour -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A lot, Bill, and just picking up what you and David were discussing, you heard Ari Fleischer getting a number of questions from reporters about this alert.
Number one, is it basically to heighten the state of alert that the country is facing now, because some agencies across the country say they're already on the highest state of alert possible. Ari Fleischer again reiterating this is what you call the "bolo" (ph) alert, be on the lookout alert.
And he said it doesn't change that the country remains on this heightened state of alert, and he also said he doesn't believe the alert increases anxiety at all. He says it is really a very good move to get any specific information, a photograph, or photographs out to law enforcement agencies around the country, and also to the public and, again, to keep people on their toes.
We do know, of course, that the president was advised about this move that the FBI was going to take, and approved of it. Again, the message here, it is a precautionary move, but again, for law enforcement agencies and the American people to be on the lookout -- Bill. HEMMER: Kelly, let's talk about another topic. The Pakistani general will be at the White House tomorrow. What can we anticipate from this? Certainly the U.S. wants to keep him on board, and there is no indication that he would not be on board, but Perves Musharraf is going to want some things as well. How does this shake down?
WALLACE: Exactly. This is a very important meeting. As you said, Pakistan has been a key ally for the U.S. in its war against terrorism. This will be the second face-to-face meeting between President Bush and President Musharraf. Bill, you will recall, back in the fall, the White House announcing a big package, I think almost $1 billion of economic assistance going to Pakistan, again, in part thanking it for support in this campaign.
We understand they will discuss more economic aid, education, we also expect them to discuss the war on terror and, of course, the case of that missing journalist, Daniel Pearl. Ari Fleischer didn't really have too much to say about this, he said he could not confirm reports coming out of the region today. Said the U.S. still calls for an unconditional and immediate release of Daniel Pearl, and, obviously, this will be a subject the two men will discuss tomorrow -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Kelly, quickly here. There was a tit-for-tat between Pakistan and India over the weekend regarding Daniel Pearl. Was there any credence given to those reports, or really, we could call them rumors at this point, back in Pakistan, by U.S. officials?
WALLACE: I don't know, actually. Not aware if there was, or if there was any sort of credence given to those reports. Again, the administration certainly saying that Pakistan has been very, very cooperative, that the Pakistani authorities have been very, very helpful in this case. They are giving it their utmost attention, but obviously the U.S. continues to call for more and more assistance on this, and the two leaders to discuss it tomorrow -- Bill.
HEMMER: And Kelly, we said it was a busy day at the White House. Going to hear from the president. He is going to put sort of a tie-in between terrorism and the war on drugs in the country. What is the subject and the theme, and how he will do that later?
WALLACE: Exactly. The president will get his report from his Office of Drug Control Policy, and viewers might recall during the Super Bowl there were some ads by the administration's Drug Control Policy Office linking drug use with the war on terrorism.
One message from the president will be that drug use in the United States, people who do participate in drug use, could in some way, indirectly, be helping terrorists, because the president has said terrorists often get a lot of their funding through drug trafficking. So, you will hear the president call for reducing drug use in this country by 10 percent over two years, 25 percent over five years, and, again, also making the case that fighting the war on drugs in the U.S. will go a long way to fighting the war on terror overseas.
HEMMER: I remember the spots quite well from the Super Bowl night. Kelly, thanks. WALLACE: Sure.
HEMMER: Kelly Wallace at the White House. In the East Room, we will see the president within 30 minutes' time, and we'll have it for you live, again, when it happens there at the White House.
In the meantime, from Britain, a judge there has granted bail to an Algerian man linked to one of the September 11th hijackers. The U.S. had decided not to extradite Lotfi Raissi on terrorism charges, but wanted him returned to the U.S. to face lesser charges of lying on his pilot's license application. U.S. attorneys argued against bail, saying Raissi would likely flee if released. The judge had previously expressed frustration that the U.S. has not presented evidence linking Raissi to terrorism in the plots of 9/11.
Now to the Pentagon. The defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, took the podium earlier today at the briefing. You saw it live here on CNN.
Barbara Starr was there, and joins us live, and once again, Barbara, I think really the headline coming from from you and others quite credulous at this point, sitting there in the audience with more reports there in Eastern Afghanistan listening to the explanations. What more do we know, if anything, as the ball moved from yesterday to today regarding that attack in Eastern Afghanistan a week ago yesterday?
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Pentagon was again forced -- Don Rumsfeld was again forced to address a couple of very high-profile issues at the briefing today. One of them was this attack in Eastern Afghanistan, the CIA missile launch against a group of suspected al Qaeda.
Rumsfeld said that this entire incident is now being looked at because allegations have surfaced that innocent people were killed. But both CIA and Pentagon officials say they have plenty of intelligence in hand that tells them that this was a legitimate military target.
Perhaps one of the most interesting issues that have come up is the fact that the CIA has the authority to pull the trigger, to launch lethal missiles against military targets in Afghanistan. It's not a very well-known fact. These are missiles that come off unmanned drones which are controlled and piloted by the CIA. Now, the Central Command and the CIA are publicly saying, of course, they're in very close coordination on any lethal attack, that they share intelligence, that they know what they are going after, and that they work together on each and every attack.
But it is the case, and it is quite interesting, that the CIA can pull the trigger and launch, essentially, a military attack, a military mission, even if the Pentagon objects to it. It doesn't happen in reality too often because they do work close together, but it is drawing a lot of public attention.
The secretary was also forced to address, again, another high profile issue. The allegations that have surfaced in the last few days that some detainees who were seized last month in a raid north of Kandahar, 27 of them, that some of them may have been beaten and mistreated by U.S. soldiers. Very definitive word out of the Pentagon today. They said they absolutely no evidence that that was the case.
Now on the question of this terrorist alert, Rumsfeld said that they did get this information from detainees in Guantanamo Bay, and that from his point of view, it simply underscored that these detainees are a vital source of intelligence, that the U.S. wants to interrogate all of them, and keep their hands on them until they can get any information about potential future terrorist attacks.
The military, of course, is already at a very high state of alert around the world, so even with this alert, there was not a lot more the U.S. military could or would do, but we -- he said there were some instances around the world where the alert status had been heightened because of this, but he didn't want to go into any details.
And finally, the defense secretary declined to be drawn too much into the ongoing debate about Iraq. The polite word being bandied about in Washington these days is "regime change" that the U.S. is planning for a regime change in Iraq. He wouldn't address that directly, but he did say, again, Iraq is certainly increasing its efforts to get chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons. The U.S. knows terrorists want those weapons, and he sort of left reporters to draw their own conclusion -- Bill.
HEMMER: Barbara, more on that Iraq matter, now. The vice president, Dick Cheney, will head to the Middle East and various country tour in the month of March, and there is talk that possibly he will try and recruit more support for Saddam Hussein and Iraq being a target. I know that's more at the White House, but are they talking much more about that at the Pentagon?
STARR: Well, what's interesting is, of course, the Pentagon has military plans for any contingency you could possibly think of. So in fact, there is always a very detailed plan in this building, not too far on the back shelf, on how to unseat Saddam Hussein. We know those plans have looked at in recent weeks. They have been dusted off, they've been updated, but so far there's no indication that the U.S. military is endorsing any effort to actually go do something about it -- Bill.
HEMMER: John King at the White House, Barbara, indicates that there are no plans on the table right now. Barbara Starr, thanks, live at the Pentagon.
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