Senior Al Qaeda Operative Arrested in Egypt; Senior Al Qaeda Chief Arrested In Cairo; One Dead In Missouri After Severe Weather
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Let's start with some breaking news. The man who briefly led al Qaeda after Osama Bin Laden was killed has been detained according to Egypt's Interior Ministry. Seif Al Adel was arriving from Pakistan when he was taken into custody at Cairo's airport. He is believed to have spent years detained in Iran where the U.S. couldn't get access to him. The FBI had been offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture or conviction. We've got lots more on this developing story. Let's grab Peter Bergen. He is joining us by phone. Peter, so when you first hear this word, and of course, it hasn't been confirmed yet, but it is believed it is Seif Al Adel is under arrest. Tell me who this guy is in terms of the hierarchy in al Qaeda.</s>PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (via telephone): Well, Soledad, he's the military commander of al Qaeda. He's been involved in the group since the late '80s when the group was founded. He is enormously important to the group. He was reported to have briefly taken over leadership of al Qaeda after Bin Laden's death while they spent six weeks deciding who the leader is. Arguably, he's more important than the actual leader of the group, Ayman Al Zawahiri, another Egyptian, in terms of an operational sense. However, the plot the thickening because the person who's been arrested at Cairo airport is claiming that it's case of mistaken identity and -- or it's always been some debate among experts if the person who had been identified as the leader Seif Al Adel is, in fact, the right guy. In terms of the identity that's been assigned to him by the U.S. government. That said, whoever has been arrested at Cairo airport has played some kind of role in al Qaeda, I believe. If it is Seif Al Adel, it's enormously important. It's really the first senior leader of al Qaeda who has been arrested rather than killed by U.S. drone arguably since 2005. If it is Seif Al Adel, the U.S. government would love to talk to him. He could shed a lot of light on what the group is actually doing now.</s>O'BRIEN: And the group has done, right? Let's talk a little bit about his history. He has been linked to the killing of Daniel Pearl. He has been linked to the embassy bombings in Africa.</s>BERGEN: Yes. And you know, mean, most importantly, the drone strikes have obviously put a lot of pressure on al Qaeda, but, you know, dead men don't talk. One of the problems that the drone strikes is there have been no interrogations of the senior leadership of al Qaeda. If this is Seif Al Adel he would be something of a gold mine in terms of what the group is actually up to now. My guess is that he would say that things are under a tremendous amount of pressure because of the drone strikes. The generation that he represents, people in late 40s early 50s, many of them are being killed. He's one of the very last leaders left -- Soledad.</s>O'BRIEN: So one of the things that Barbara Starr said when we talked to her last, she said which was going to be interesting was to talk about his path way out of Iran. If in fact he did go from Iran into Pakistan into Dubai and then into Egypt, what exactly was Iran's role in that because he was supposed to be under house arrest in Iran, correct?</s>BERGEN: Yes. He's been under house arrest in Iran arguably since 2002, when a number of senior leadership figures from al Qaeda went from Afghanistan to Pakistan through Iran as the Taliban fell. My belief and I think others' belief is that these guys were being held as sort of potential bargaining chips in any kind of bargain. That the Iranian government might do with the United States government as it became clear they would like a deal between the U.S. and Iran is becoming less and less likely. Eventually a number of these guys were let go and I think that Seif Al Adel was probably let go at the end of 2010. He then made his way to the tribal areas of Pakistan where he played an important role in al Qaeda. And even when he was in Iran, Soledad, he was playing an important role in al Qaeda according to Saudi intelligence officials he was the guy who green lined Al Qaeda's campaign in Saudi Arabia, which we had in 2003. So even on the house arrest he was able to play some sort of role. He basically disappeared into Pakistan. But he took a tremendous risk, I think, obviously wanting to return to his home country where he hasn't been in more than probably two decades. And it appears that this risk has paid off rather poorly for him.</s>O'BRIEN: It will be very interesting to get more details about this person who has now been arrested at Cairo airport. Peter Bergen joining us by phone with an update on that arrest. Important news enormously important as Peter says. First senior leader of al Qaeda arrested rather than killed by those drone strikes, could be a font of information once they're able to confirm exactly who it is, who is under arrest at Cairo airport. Thank you, Peter. All right, other breaking news to get to this morning. One person is dead, several other people injured after severe storms slammed right through parts of Kansas and also Missouri. It happened early this morning. As many as 10 tornados have been reported. Emergency teams are now on the scene. Severe weather threat isn't over. Let's get right to our meteorologist. Rob Marciano has got an update for us on what happened there last night, this morning as well and what is going to happen later today.</s>ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Impressive storm system to say the least. Many facets, big one and it's more reminiscent of March or even April than it would be of this time of year. Multiple tornado warnings are in effect right now as well as some watches in effect until about noontime. As far as what we're looking at right now, this cell just east of Evansville right down the Ohio River next stop would be Troy or Tel City, moving about 65 to 70 miles an hour. This has a history of producing a tornado. We have damage just south and east of Evansville. Also damage on the other side of the border in Illinois, Harrisburg, Illinois, reporting wide spread damage with this specific cell, which likely still has a tornado in it as it runs down the Ohio River. Another couple of tornado warnings just south and west of that so we're under the threat here. These really don't show much in the way of signs of weakening. So that's why the Storm Prediction Center has the storm watch boxes up in effect until noontime. We have a blizzard warning that's in effect for parts of the northern tier and a threat for severe weather will continue today and stretch into the Carolinas and parts of the southeast and that snow and wintry mix will stretch into the northeast as well. Quite a storm. Soledad, back to you.</s>O'BRIEN: All right, appreciate that, Rob. Thank you. Let's turn to politics now and the two big primary wins for Mitt Romney happened last night. Romney scored a close win in Michigan. He beat Rick Santorum by just three percentage points. But power to a very nice, hefty victory in Arizona and that's really where his speech started in the state of Arizona last night. Those two wins though helping Mitt Romney at his lead in the race for convention delegates. He has now 165 while Rick Santorum is second with 44. Newt Gingrich has 38. Ron Paul has 27. Reince Priebus is the chairman of the Republican National Committee and he joins us this morning. Priebus -- I butchered it.</s>REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Bizarre name.</s>O'BRIEN: No more bizarre than Soledad O'Brien, let's be real. Apologies over, let's move on. It was a win, but it was a squeaker. And so now is it fair to say you have an established GOP frontrunner at this point?</s>PRIEBUS: Well, I think Governor Romney had a good night last night and moving on to Super Tuesday. I think you're putting it in the right perspective, though. You know, according of our numbers, and the AP and CNN and everyone has a little bit of different numbers. But we were worried 172 delegates so far. Next Tuesday, there will be 400 delegates in one day on Tuesday and so certainly Governor Romney has done well in the states that have awarded delegates. Obviously we're going to see what happens next Tuesday. I feel good about this. I know that people argue over whether, you know, having a tough primary is a good thing or a bad thing. I just happen to believe that it's good for a party, as you and I have talked about many times.</s>O'BRIEN: Good for your party, bad for independents, though? You keep seeing the independents go on a downward drag.</s>PRIEBUS: Well, you know, I think that it's important to make the case to all Americans, and not just independents. And I think in the end, independents will come our way based on where we are as far as whether or not we're better off today than we were three or four years ago, where are we in regard to the economy and is it better or worse? And I think all those things are fluid, but I think all in all, if you look at the president's promises and the standards that he set for himself and really grand incredible fashion in 2008, he's not come anywhere close to meeting those standards. I think at the end, and I think we all see, you know, the way that media is so intense, even in our own primary here, just imagine what a week is going to feel like in October and September.</s>O'BRIEN: It's kind of feel longer than it does now? Is that what you're saying? It feels like forever.</s>PRIEBUS: I just think that sometimes we lose perspective of how long June, July, August, September, October --</s>O'BRIEN: We believe you on that. We agree on that completely.</s>PRIEBUS: It's going to be eternity. So I'm not nervous about this at all. I think the drama and the tough primaries is a good thing for us, Soledad. We put people to sleep in '08 with our nomination process. And I think it's laughable when I hear people claiming that, you know, we ought to put people to sleep again this time around and just move on. I don't think that's the case.</s>O'BRIEN: Hang on one second.</s>RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: One thing that Michigan underscored is that you have a sharp and I think by now a very stable dividing Republican Party. If you look at the results in Michigan, Arizona like the earlier states, Mitt Romney is doing very well in what can be done in managerialing the party, upscale voters, better educated, non-Evangelical, non-Tea Party. Oakland County, Michigan, he won by 32,000 votes. That's his home county. That's the classic kind of place where he's doing well. The other side of the party continues to resist him, the Evangelicals, Tea Party activist, very conservative voters. And I think one question and I think we'll like to see that divide persist, one question will be, can these two ends of the party come back together as opposition to Barack Obama, which is very real and powerful, enough to knit this back together given a central cleavage that we've seen established in this Republican race.</s>O'BRIEN: Let me ask you about those robocalls, Reince, because I'm really curious to know what the party thinks about them. We do, in Michigan, it was -- I think we have a clip of it. Let's play that clip so I don't have to describe it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On Tuesday, join Democrats who are going to send a loud message to Massachusetts' Mitt Romney by voting for Rick Santorum for president. This call is supported by hardworking Democratic men and women and paid for by Rick Santorum for president.</s>O'BRIEN: So when you heard that robocall from the Santorum campaign, what did you think?</s>PRIEBUS: Well, I mean, obviously as chairman of the party I wish people would follow Reagan's 11th commandment and not particularly a big fan of that tactic, Soledad, but, you know, as party chairman, playing referee and getting in the weeds. This little piece is good and that's not good and this 30- second ad is over the line, I really don't get into that. But I want to respond. I think, you know, John King had a couple of poll numbers out last night on your coverage. And you know, he showed that the split on Tea Party was pretty even at least on the polling that I was watching last night. I think it goes up and down. I think it's an important thing for our party to make sure that we keep not just, you know, people who identify themselves as Tea Party Republicans or regular Republicans, whatever you want to call it, whatever labels you want to put on it. But we do have to keep, I think, the conservative movement moving in the same direction. I think that's a job that I have as part of my job as chairman of the RNC. What I tell folks in the Tea Party and people worried about the constitution and liberty and freedom as I am, is that we're just part of the conservative movement. We're not in competition with it. We just have to do our real part in raising money and staying on message and making sure that we provide an alternative to a president who hasn't fulfilled his promises.</s>O'BRIEN: Reince Priebus is the chairman of the Republican National Committee. It's nice to have you joining us this morning. We appreciate it.</s>PRIEBUS: Thank you. Good morning, guys. Bye-bye.</s>O'BRIEN: Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, has Egypt captured a major al Qaeda player? An arrest at Cairo airport could be the guy who was set to succeed Osama Bin Laden. We're going to follow those developing details and bring them to you. As we told you about just a moment ago, a deadly tornado outbreak in the Midwest. We're live on the ground in one of the hardest hit areas. We'll update you on what's happening there. STARTING POINT is back in just a moment.