Storm Over Sacking Eight U.S. Attorney Starting to Gather Around Karl Rove
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: With my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistani. For those who would like to confirm, there are pictures of me on the Internet holding his head." His confession read like that of a cold-blooded serial killer. Is that how he thinks? CNN's Tom Foreman investigates.</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Investigators already knew about his involvement in 9/11, the death of Daniel Pearl, the Indonesian nightclub bombing and so much more to which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed. So, what anti-terror officials are most interested in learning from this former North Carolina college student is how terrorists think.</s>PAUL BUTLER, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: How do they move that thought into action and to operationalize things?</s>FOREMAN: Paul Butler, a former U.S. attorney, previously handled terrorism cases, including this one for the government.</s>BUTLER: What do they do to segregate different parts of an operation so that if one person is caught, they may not know who the other people are, how do they finance themselves? All of the things that the intelligence community and the law enforcement community are trying to use to stop active plots.</s>FOREMAN: For example, the united states toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan because it was harbor be al Qaeda. Mohammed, however, in edited court documents provided by the Pentagon, says in his broken English, "Many Taliban do not agree about why we are in Afghanistan. They have never been with al Qaeda." Such a knowing if verified and still true, could present at least a slight opportunity for driving a wedge between those enemy forces. Intelligence sources have told CNN Mohammed was at one time subjected to intense interrogation techniques, including sleep deprivation, forced standing and water boarding. How much that affected his testimony is unknown. But he talks about how al Qaeda pursues military, economical and political targets. That could suggest strikes on purely civilian targets, may be less likely than some fear. Especially sense he also says Muslim religious leaders must still be consulted before violent attacks. "When we need fatwa from the religious," that's an official decree of sorts, he says, "we still have to go back to see what they said, yes or not." So that would make it seem that if Muslim clerics are convinced to change their message, the terrorists could lose critical validation for their violence.</s>FOREMAN (on camera): Investigators, of course, take nothing that Mohammed has said at face value. But they compare all these tiny details with the testimony of others, with facts they already know about al Qaeda. (voice-over): They weed out deliberately misleading information and in the end they hope what they have left is a clearer picture of the worldwide terror network and how it really works. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.</s>COOPER: Well, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, of course, is in custody. Other alleged terror masterminds are nowhere to be found. Here is the raw data. There are 24 men on the FBI's most-wanted terrorists. Here are their faces. In addition to Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al Zawahiri the search is on for Adam Gadan, the American who pledged his loyalty to the terrorist network. We have seen him on videotapes. Also Abdul Rahman Yassin, suspected in participating in the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. With so many terrorists still out there, potentially planning new attacks, and no new arrests to speak of, some are asking, is the war on terror stalled? CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson joins us from Kabul. Nic, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured four years ago. Have there been any other big captures since then in past year or so, or has the war on terror in fact stalled?</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There haven't been big captures at the magnitude of somebody in his position, the head of operations. There have been traces of al Qaeda-linked groups traced back to Pakistan which was where he was arrested. Some of the people arrested for plotting terror attacks in Britain and even perpetrating terror attacks in Britain have been traced back to Pakistan. So, Pakistan is still the focus for efforts to track down al Qaeda and really at this time, intelligence officials believe that al Qaeda's strength in the tribal border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan is growing. And the effort is still under way in that area, even heating up to try and capture al Qaeda's main leaders before their sort of area of operation can expand and they begin to feel safe as they did in Afghanistan under the Taliban, Anderson.</s>COOPER: Is Pakistan cooperating? I mean, we've been covering extensively for months now this peace deal that Pakistan signed with militants along the Afghan border. Now that sort of coming home to roost for Pakistan, as you were report on this program last night, you're seeing suicide attacks now inside Pakistan. Is Pakistan really doing everything they can to track down al Qaeda figures inside their own country? Because a lot of times it seems like they're denying these guys are there.</s>ROBERTSON: The bottom line is, most intelligence officials say, absolutely not. Afghans here, to the top of government, believe that Pakistan isn't doing enough. U.S. intelligence officials here say that Pakistan isn't doing enough. That there are elements within the Pakistan's intelligence services that are even at this time not only not actively hunting for al Qaeda, but are actually supporting them in their training camps, and even some of Pakistan's former military officers according to one former Pakistan intelligence spy in the border region told me that Pakistani former military officials are actually training al Qaeda and Taliban in some of the camps along the border.</s>COOPER: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks, including 9/11, he said, quote, from A to Z, he said he was Osama bin Laden's operations director for planning and executing 9/11 attacks. Do we know though exactly his relationship with bin Laden?</s>ROBERTSON: Well, we do know that it wasn't a smooth relationship. We do know that within al Qaeda Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was accused of not focusing on 9/11 coming up with other grandiose plans and ideas, and to some degree there is decent and reasonable skepticism that his claims are not valid, that he's trying to make himself out to be some sort of hero. So, we no that within al Qaeda, at least, he wasn't exactly their most favorite of operatives. Nevertheless, he does seem to have been, by his own account, at least, very effective.</s>COOPER: These confessions are sickening to read. Do they teach us anything about al Qaeda, about how they operate, how they recruit? How they get money?</s>ROBERTSON: Well, we can certainly see that as al Qaeda solidified their operations in Afghanistan, their training, after Osama bin Laden came here in 1996, when he left Sudan, that their planning and ideas became more extensive, perhaps greater reaching to the extent of attacks like September 11th. 1994 for example, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said he was involved in the planned in the assassination of President Clinton in the Philippines in 1994, that's before al Qaeda comes here. But when they are here, having the big training camps, when they are operating under the Taliban, when they feel that they have the space and the security, the plans get bigger. And I think that's one thing that we learned from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed here. Anderson?</s>COOPER: Nic Robertson, reporting live from Kabul. Nic, thanks. Stay safe. Here in the U.S. the storm over the sacking of eight U.S. attorney is starting to gather around presidential advisor Karl Rove. White House e-mails released this evening show that Rove was involved along with Alberto Gonzales before he was attorney general in proposals to sack all 93 federal prosecutors as far back as 2005. Now that's when Gonzales was the White House counsel. Rove says legitimate disagreements were behind the shake up. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux investigates.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The e-mail shows that Karl Rove raised the idea of firing all 93 U.S. attorneys, earlier than the White House previously acknowledged. The e-mail released just hours ago by the Justice Department, contains the subject line, "Question from Karl Rove." The electronic conversation between two White House officials dated January 6th, 2005 says, quote, "Rove stopped by to ask you how he planned to proceed regarding U.S. attorneys. Allow all to stay, request resignations from all and accept only some, or selectively replace them." The message was then forwarded to Justice Department official Kyle Sampson. Sampson who redesigned this week, replied January 9, 2005, that he and Alberto Gonzales discussed it a few weeks earlier. Sampson outlines several scenarios and ends note by saying, "If Karl thinks there would be political will to do it, then so do I." This e-mail exchange came nearly a month before the administration had said the issue was raised. Still, the White House tonight stuck by its claim that it was Harriet Miers, the president's staff secretary at that time, who originally suggested getting rid of all 93 U.S. attorneys and Rove dismissed it as a bad idea. However, the White House has provided no documentation supporting that. Democrats pounced on the newly surfaced e-mail, accusing the White House of not being up front about Rove's role.</s>SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, (D) NY: The new e-mails show conclusively that Karl Rove was in the middle of the mess from the beginning. It is now imperative that they testify before Congress and give all of the details of his involvement.</s>MALVEAUX (on camera): The battle comes to a head on Friday, with the Senate deadline for White House lawyers to decide whether Rove, Miers and other White House staff will testify before Congress. Or whether the White House will invoke executive privilege. Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Washington.</s>COOPER: Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee authorized subpoenas for Rove, Harriet Miers and other Justice Department official as well as the fired prosecutors. It's hoping they won't need to issue them and they'll testify on their own. We'll find out tomorrow. "How the right went wrong," that's the cover story of this week's "Time" magazine. It paints the picture of a Republican Party reeling from scandals, corruption and an unpopular war. I spoke to "Time" magazine national correspondent -- political correspondent Karen Tumulty earlier.</s>COOPER: As we just heard, Karl Rove is now under fire for his reported role in the firing of the U.S. attorneys. Given that, given the results of the midterm elections, do Rove's troubles mirror the troubles of the Republican Party?</s>KAREN TUMULTY, "TIME MAGAZINE": You know, I do think in they do, because the Republican Party has essentially moved on past a lot of the kind of conservative ideals that people like Ronald Reagan were talking about in the 1980s and it really has sort of devolved into a party that's really more about tactics, more about interest groups than it is about principles. I think this is where we're seeing this particular scandal has taken us.</s>COOPER: And Rove was certainly the master tactician until, of course, midterm elections when it didn't seem to work. And then if you don't have the tactics and the ideology, then what do you have?</s>TUMULTY: That's right. And certainly the conservative coalition has never been the kind of monolith that a lot of people think it is. There were some things that really held it together, and they were principles like a strong foreign policy that wouldn't get us involved in a lot of adventures overseas. That of course became ragged with the Iraq War. And also, competent government was another thing that conservatives have always, you know, have always offered as they have run for re-election.</s>COOPER: And smaller government and fiscal responsibility and say what you will about this administration, fiscal responsibility is probably not the top of the list of things their supporters would say that they did or have.</s>TUMULTY: That's right. That's when, when you talk to conservatives these day, they are a pretty demoralized bunch. They really do sense there are not a lot of big, new ideas out there. And that the ideas that have sustained them for the last 20, 30 years have either run their course or run aground or have been discarded by Ronald Reagan's legatees.</s>COOPER: It's interesting. In the article there was a line that caught my attention, you write that the Republicans are, quote, "handcuffed to a political party that looks unsettlingly like the Democrats did in the 1980s, one that is more a collection of interest groups than ideas, recognizable more by its campaign tactics than its philosophy. It's come a long way than its republican party of Ronald Reagan. Where do they go from here? Are they even looking at '08 or are they looking beyond?</s>TUMULTY: They certainly are looking at '08. Particularly as conservatives look at '08 and look at this Republican field, they're not seeing, to put it -- to put a phrase to it, Mr. Right out there. None of the top candidates in the Republican field really fit the definition of a classic conservative. You know, the person who is leading the field right now, by almost 20 points in our "Time" magazine poll is a pro-choice, pro-gay rights former mayor of liberal New York City.</s>COOPER: Are Democrats trying - I'm sure they're trying to take advantage of this opportunity. How are they doing it? Are they succeeding at all?</s>TUMULTY: Well, you know the Democratic Party is in a much different spot. There was a "New York Times" poll out earlier this week that was very interesting because when they surveyed Republicans, they found out that six in 10 Republicans wished they had some other choices in this 2008 presidential race whereas six in 10 Democrats said they were pretty satisfied with their field.</s>COOPER: It's an interesting article. It's in "Time" magazine. Karen Tumulty, thanks.</s>TUMULTY: Thank you.</s>COOPER: We want to let you know the new issue of "Time" magazine goes on sale tomorrow. You're going to notice a makeover. It's a redesign for the magazine. Time of course is part of our parent company, Time Warner. Up next, Hillary Clinton's new take on U.S. troops in Iraq. The political fallout she's facing because of it. Plus, Glenn Beck on the addictions that controlled his life.</s>GLENN BECK, CNN HN HOST: I would pour myself one tumbler, I would smoke a bong and ...</s>PAULA ZAHN, CNN HOST: Were you doing this with kids in the house?</s>BECK: Mm-hmm.</s>ZAHN: Did your kids see you get stoned?</s>BECK: No.</s>ZAHN: How disgusted ...</s>BECK: Paula, I don't know if you see it with all of the makeup on, I still am embarrassed and I'm still -- it's the worst. It's the worst thing I've ever done.</s>COOPER: Glenn Beck, on addict, including the incredible way he met his wife. A story of addiction survival really when 360 continues.