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Morning News

USS Cole Investigation: U.S. Authorities Searching for Suspects

Aired October 20, 2000 - 10:34 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDRIA HALL, CNN ANCHOR: A memorial service is scheduled today for the final four sailors whose bodies were recovered from the wreckage of the USS Cole. As the families grieve, U.S. authorities are searching for suspects in the attack.

CNN national correspondent Mike Boettcher has the latest on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While American investigators continue their search for physical evidence on the ground in Aden, in Washington, inside America's intelligence agencies, the search for those with the will, means and motive to carry out the attack is equally intensive.

Meriting close scrutiny by U.S. intelligence analysts is this videotaped statement by fugitive terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden, broadcast over the Middle East satellite network Al-Jazeera about three weeks before the attack. U.S. intelligence officials tells CNN the statement was recorded at least four months before it was broadcast.

In it, bin Laden promises to use all means to gain the release of Egyptian Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who is serving a prison sentence in the United States for his role in the conspiracy to attack targets in New York City.

But who appeared with bin Laden in the videotape is as of equal interest to U.S. analysts as bin Laden himself. With him was one of Sheik Rahman's sons and another Egyptian, Ayman Mohammad (ph) el Zawahri, considered one of bin Laden's top advisers and a leader of the group known as Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which, according to terrorism experts, had close ties to Sheik Rahman and others accused in the New York city conspiracy.

On the bin Laden videotape, el Zawahri makes a direct threat to U.S. forces in Yemen.

According to transcripts of the broadcast, he says: "Enough of words. It is time to take action against this iniquitous and faithless force, the United States, which has spread its troops through Egypt, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia" During much of the past 20 years, Robert Blitzer, now retired, was one of the FBI's top counterterrorist agents. He believes the tape could be a significant lead.

ROBERT BLITZER, FMR. FBI COUNTERTERRORISM CHIEF: It would be a very important piece of information to consider as you're trying to piece together what happened in a case like this. But certainly, you would want to closely examine everything that was said -- their surroundings -- and try to interpret the meaning.

BOETTCHER: Bin Laden's al-Qaida network and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad's tentacles extend into Yemen, say intelligence sources and terrorist experts, adding that the two groups have close ties to a terrorist group known as the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army and an Islamic political party called Islah.

(on camera): Those same sources say the Islah Party helps to subsidize at least three training camps for Islamic guerrillas who volunteer to fight in Chechnya against the Russian army. Those camps are located in remote areas outside the control of Yemeni President Saleh's central government.

(voice-over): But connecting the dots from bin Laden to Egyptian terrorists and on to Yemen and the USS Cole attack is not a certain or a simple task. These days, according to the world's leading terrorism experts, battle-hardened relationships between volunteer Islamic fighters who have fought in Chechnya, Kashmir, the Balkans and Afghanistan have served to break down barriers between individual Middle East terrorist groups, creating loose terrorist networks that defy specific labels.

Bruce Hoffman is one of the world's leading terrorism authorities.

BRUCE HOFFMAN, TERRORISM ANALYST, RAND CORP.: You have so-called mujahideen, that is holy warriors, not just fighters, but people on a specific mission, traveling from place to place, as we know, offering their services, making common cause with like-minded brethren, and then engaging in violence -- and not incidentally bringing, in many cases, some very sophisticated, well-developed, well-honed military skills or terrorist skills with them.

BOETTCHER: This largely circumstantial evidence is one reason bin Laden and his radical Egyptian allies, who appeared together on the videotape, are on the list of suspects in the bombing. But closing the case will not be an easy exercise of connect-the-dots.

Mike Boettcher, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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