Top al Qaeda Capture; Hunt for bin Laden; Massacre in Iraq
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, an exclusive interview with the legendary Warren Buffett. We'll be talking about everything from corporate corruption to Social Security reform to the threat of nuclear and biochemical terrorism.</s>ANNOUNCER: Also ahead on LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, al Qaeda's number three leader is captured. How close are we to Osama bin Laden? Hidden power, how unelected activists in nongovernmental organizations are dominating global politics. And stealing America. Intellectual property theft is costing this country a staggering $200 billion a year. This is LOU DOBBS, for news, debate and opinion, tonight.</s>DOBBS: Good evening. Tonight, a major victory in the global war on terror and radical Islamists. Pakistani Special Forces have captured the third-highest ranking leader of al Qaeda. President Bush today declared the terrorist a top general for Osama bin Laden. Officials said the man coordinated al Qaeda operations in the United States and other countries. Our national security correspondent David Ensor reports.</s>DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. counterterrorism officials say intelligence gathered by the U.S. from human sources was "critical" in finding the hideout of Abu Faraj al-Libbi in northwest Pakistan. The president gave the credit for a difficult, dangerous operation to Pakistan.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I applaud the Pakistani government and President Musharraf for acting on solid intelligence to bring this man to justice.</s>ENSOR: Al-Libbi was captured Monday after a gun battle, U.S. and Pakistani officials say. But word of it was kept quiet to allow time to round up other terrorists he might know about.</s>MOHAMMAD SADIQ, EMBASSY OF PAKISTAN: The announcement of his arrest was delayed because an operation was going on. And I believe that there was some useful information obtained from him which helped us in more arrests.</s>ENSOR: Al-Libbi was the number three man in al Qaeda under Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zarqawi, in charge of operations since the capture of his predecessor, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, in 2003. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is now in CIA hands. Administration officials are nothing less than thrilled at al- Libbi's capture.</s>STEPHEN HADLEY, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: He was not only doing operations, he was a facilitator. He was into finance. He was into administration. This is a real accomplishment.</s>JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: This guy was my number one target. Bin Laden, of course, is much more important symbolically. But in terms of practical day-to-day operations, what al Qaeda is doing, how it threatens the United States, how it plans against targets in the United States, this is the guy you want.</s>ENSOR (on camera): Do you think he knows where Osama bin Laden is?</s>MCLAUGHLIN: If anyone knows where Osama bin Laden is, this is the man.</s>ENSOR: And McLaughlin says that if al-Libbi did know where bin Laden was, that by now will have moved -- Lou.</s>DOBBS: Thank you very much. David Ensor. The arrest of al Qaeda's number three is a major success in the war against radical Islamist terrorism. But three-and-a-half years after September 11, Osama bin Laden and many other al Qaeda leaders remain at large. Kitty Pilgrim reports.</s>KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The high-level arrests make headlines, but where do we stand in disabling al Qaeda? And is the organization still capable of commanding operations?</s>MARVIN WEINBAUM, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: The general feeling is that al Qaeda at this point is a fairly loosely connected network, and that many of the operations which were taking place globally are initiated by locals who may be under certain instructions. But if they are, they are very broad instructions.</s>PILGRIM: Pakistan has proved to be fertile ground in recent months. One important arrest was al Qaeda figure Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, al-Libbi's predecessor and suspected September 11 mastermind. And a few months ago, another kingpin. The high-level arrest of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian wanted since 1998 for his part in the attacks on U.S. embassies in east Africa. U.S. officials point to cooperation from Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf for the arrest. Each capture brings forth new data, cell phones, computer files, and paper to point to additional figures. Meanwhile, the top two, Osama bin Laden, and his closest associate, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are still elusive. Is capturing them important to rooting out al Qaeda?</s>MATTHEW LEVITT, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE: We're now at the middle level of that structure. Clearly, Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's immediate deputy, is an extremely important person who we believe continues to play an operational role. We're dealing with a lot of lower-level people right now in Europe and in the Middle East. And in some cases they are going to be new to us.</s>PILGRIM: Well, the chain of command is no longer clear. Experts put it this way: the war on terror starts with al Qaeda, and there's been good progress in capturing many of the top leaders. The only problem is the ones who replace them are often unknown, and those terrorists often are very loosely affiliated with the al Qaeda organization.</s>DOBBS: Osama bin Laden himself, irrespective of any saving (ph) by an analyst, a strategist, a counterterrorism expert, this administration, is still the number one sought after terrorist.</s>PILGRIM: Absolutely. And it would be a deep morale blow to al Qaeda to have him caught.</s>DOBBS: And a great help for the civilized world. Kitty, thank you very much. Kitty Pilgrim. Two deadly bomb attacks in Iraq today. Insurgents tonight killed nine Iraqi soldiers in southern Baghdad. Seventeen others were wounded. Earlier, 60 police recruits were killed in northern Iraq. The attack took place in the city of Erbil, about 200 miles north of Baghdad. Ryan Chilcote has the report.</s>RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The suicide bomber targeted a crowd of 300 young Kurds who had come to sign up for Iraq's police force. The Iraqi militant group Army of Ansar al-Sunnah claimed responsibility. The attack, the group claimed on a Web site, was payback for the Kurds. They fought alongside the Americans against our people in Falluja, Mosul, Baghdad and other Muslim lands. "We promise you that we are prepared more for you." Some analysts say the claim is a sign the insurgents are stepping up their efforts to turn Iraqis against one another and to undercut cooperation between their representatives in the government.</s>COL. BOB MAGINNIS (RET.), U.S. ARMY: The success of the Iraqi government, especially under Jaafari, who is a Shiite, is really dependent upon the Kurds, Shia, Sunni, and the few Turkmen and Christians and others getting along. And if they can divide those populations, then they are going to be successful at not only dismantling the government, but also perhaps fueling a civil war.</s>CHILCOTE: The fault lines for further ethnic and religious division are already apparent. It has taken Iraq's prime minister months to form what he calls a government of national unity. And he has yet to fill several jobs. Sunni Arabs, who feel alienated by the larger Shiite majority, are expected to get at least some of the jobs. So far, agreement between Iraq's many groups has eluded them. Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Baghdad.</s>DOBBS: Insurgents, of course, have made Iraqi police and military recruits a primary target of their terrorist campaign. One cannot help but wonder how so many of these recruits have been killed. At least 1,000 Iraqi recruits have been killed over the past two years by the terrorists. And today's attack, the worst since a bomb killed 125 recruits in Hillah in February. The recruits are easy targets because they are forced to wait outside concrete barriers that surround government buildings. And police have refused to allow those recruits any closer because some of them may be, in the fears of those authorities, suicide bombers themselves. The FBI today arrested a Pentagon analyst for allegedly passing top-secret information to a pro-Israel lobbying group. Investigators say employees of that Israeli lobbying group may have given the information directly to the government of Israel. The Pentagon analyst, Lawrence Franklin, made his first court appearance today. Prosecutors say he passed on classified information about potential attacks on American troops in Iraq. Franklin's attorney declared that he intends to plead not guilty to the charges. Still ahead here tonight, I'll be talking with the legendary Warren Buffett. We'll be talking about Social Security reform, the economy, corporate crime, the threat of nuclear annihilation, biochemical terrorism and much more. Also ahead tonight, exporting illegal labor in this country, how the hotel industry is profiting through the hiring of illegal aliens, and why more isn't being done to stop it. Our special report is next.