U.S. Army Delta Force Captures Abu Anas al-Libi In Tripoli; Conversation with Cicely Tyson
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, everybody, that's it for Fred. It's me now Don Lemon. Thank you for joining us here in the CNN NEWSROOM. We're going to start with stunning developments today in the U.S. Special Force raid in Libya. The Pentagon confirms commandoes credited with snatching a top al Qaeda leader in Libya where members of the elite U.S. Army Delta Force. The man captured is Abu Anas al-Libi. Just a short time ago, his wife spoke exclusively to CNN about what she saw happened outside her home.</s>UMM ABDUL RAHMAN, WIFE OF CAPTURES AL-QAEDA LEADER (through translator): What I saw were Libyans, maybe they had American was them but I didn't see them because there was more than one car. They say there were ten people but I believe there were more than ten. I couldn't count them because there are many of them. I can't confirm if they were Americans or not. What I saw were Libyans.</s>LEMON: Well, Libi, at least, publically has deemed his capture a kidnapping. Abu Anas al-Libi's wife spoke exclusively to CNN's Jomana Karadsheh. And Jomana joins me now on the phone from Tripoli. What did she tell you?</s>JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via phone): She was defending her husband saying he was an innocent man saying all of the allegations against him and his involvement of the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania are fabricated allegations that are not true. She said and she says her husband returned back to Libya in 2011. After he had left al-Qaeda, she did admit that he was a member of al- Qaeda, that he was a close associate of Osama bin Laden, but said in 1996 he left again and left al-Qaeda at the time. She says he returned to his country, Libya, in 2011 to take part in the revolution to oust Moammar Gadhafi. And she said all these years, he has not had any contact with al-Qaeda members and he has not been involved in any terror activities. And she says that her husband was here to return to his country to be a part of it. Now, of course, we have heard this from western security officials, intelligence officials last year, Don, saying that al-Libi returned to Libya to try and establish</s>LEMON: And she is saying, if this is correct, she believes that it was Libyans who look like Libyans who had come and captured her husband, not Americans?</s>KARADSHEH: Well, what she said, Don, was interesting. She said when he had -- he was coming back from morning players Saturday mornings between 6:30 in the morning and 7:00. And she heard some noise and commotion outside. And when she looked outside the window, she described the men that she saw as Libyan-looking. She said the unmasked men looked like they were Libyans and that she heard Libyan dialect. And initially, until that U.S. announcement was made later on in the day. She said she believed this was some sort of criminal activity, abduction, some sort of revenge. She did not think Americans were involved. So, this is something, Don, we are only hearing from the wife. We are only hearing from the family. There has been into indication so far that Libyans were leaving this way or even involved in it at this point.</s>LEMON: All right. Jomana Karadsheh, thank you very much for your reporting. There's still lots of questions about what exactly happened in Libya. I want to bring in now CNN's pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. Barbara, how is the Pentagon responding to these claims that Libyan is possibly worked in conjunction with U.S. forces to get al-Libi?</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me say, the Pentagon, no Pentagon officials are talking about this publicly. In fact, it was a U.S. official and administration source that told us it was U.S. army delta force that conducted the raid in Tripoli that grabbed al-Libi. The Pentagon officially isn't saying a word about any of this. But administration officials w are talking to are making it very clear. It was a mission led, conducted by U.S. specs operations forces. There may have been a translator along with them. They often operate that way, but they don't do joint operation. There is absolutely no indication there was any kind of joint operation with Libyan forces. And I guess you have to think of it this way. If the U.S. forces, if the U.S. commando was on the street with his face uncovered in Tripoli in the middle of an operation, I think there's probably a fairly good chance that U.S. troop would be have some sort of disguise, perhaps wig, makeup, something to disguise his normal features because these guys simply don't show their face in public in the middle of an operation -- Don.</s>LEMON: We have a lot of questions yesterday, still questions today. But some of them can be answered today like al-Libi is one in connection, Barbara, with the twin U.S. embassy bombings in Africa. How big of a get is he?</s>STARR: Well, I think that my colleagues like Nic Robertson would tell you and Peter Bergen that there's a lot of thought out there that al- Libi, you know, may have sort of gone into semi retirement. Maybe he was in Libya, of course, to start an al-Qaeda operation there, but had sort of moved away over the last 15 years from some of his potential activities. But the U.S. believes very strongly that he is still a major senior al-Qaeda figure 15 years later. Yes, from the embassy bombings, but not giving up, still going after him. And very much aware of his previous activities. In Britain, when he was said to be involved of some bomb intelligence and operations. So, this is a guy they wanted very badly and they had been looking for him for an awfully long time.</s>LEMON: Look, I have a question for you. I don't know if you remember I asked you this question within a break. I want to turn to Somalia now. Remember I asked you about SEAL team six. Because that is the same unit they got Osama bin Laden and storm the home of the top leaders of al-Qaeda's al-Shabaab in Somalia. I should say top leaders of al- Shabaab in Somalia, the group that carried out the recent terror attack in Kenya in that mall. They killed at least one person but they had to retreat. Was it a failure?</s>STARR: Well, you were right last night, Don, when you asked me that. It did turn out to be SEAL team six, the same group that killed bin Laden, went into Somalia. Now, what they are telling us so far and we don't have all the details by any stretch at this point, is the SEALS go into this town. They know within al-Shabaab strong cold. They know they are going to take fire but they are going to a particular villa to look for top al-Shabaab leaders. But, they come under intense fire and there are civilian in the area so they are telling us that the Navy SEALS commander on the ground made the decision that the SEALS would retreat essential, that they would get out of there. They say that they have some concerns about civilian casualties in the area and that it was just not any longer prudent for them to be there. The problem, they don't know at this point, did they get the man they were going after. Was he even there at all. That will be a very tough thing possibly now to determine. And they will have to keep looking for more intelligence to figure out what the results were of that raid.</s>LEMON: Barbara Starr. Great reporting. Thank you, wheel alley see you later on here on CNN. The house speaker, John Boehner said it's time for the Republicans to stand and fight against Obamacare. And he wants President Obama to negotiate with congressional Republicans. Boehner says don't expect a clean spending bill without ties to Obamacare because he does not have the votes in the House to get. So, what exactly would those negotiations with president cover? We will have a live report from Washington coming up. Also, Republican senator Ted Cruz, he has floated a new idea right here on CNN about how to fight Obamacare funding. Meantime, the nation's treasury secretary said without a debt ceiling increased by October 17th, the U.S. won't be able to pay its bills for the first time in 224 years.</s>JACK LEW, TREASURY SECRETARY: We never got to a point where the United States government has operated without the ability to borrow. It is very dangerous. It is reckless. It will mean that the United States, for the first time since 1789, will not paying its bills, hurting the full faith in credit because of a political decision.</s>LEMON: Head out now to CNN's Erin McPike, tracking this shutdown stalemate. Erin. House speaker John Boehner says he wants to talk but he is not going to compromise. So, what is his plan?</s>ERIN MCPIKE, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, for everyone who wants to see a quick end to the shutdown, there isn't much of a plan. As you said just earlier, he says he wants republicans to stand and fight Obamacare. The other thing we got from his 12-minute interview essentially this morning on ABC News is basically that he just wants to have a conversation with the president. He said the word "conversation" 21 times in his interview. Here's a little snapshot of that.</s>REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: What we expect in Washington. When we have a crisis like this that the leaders will sit down and have a conversation. It begins with a simple conversation. It is about to have a conversation. It's time for us to sit down and have a conversation. That's what the American people expect.</s>MCPIKE: And that was basically what we heard this morning from John Boehner. Just that he wants to talk to President Obama. But so far, as yet from our reporting, we have not heard that the White House has reached out to the speakers' office and vice versa. But maybe sometime later this week, we will be talking about a Merlot Summit. Who knows, Don?</s>LEMON: We shall see or Scott Summit. So listen, Erin. Republican Senator Ted Cruz made ways with his comment today on Obamacare. What did he say and how are people in Washington reacted to what he said?</s>MCPIKE: Well, Don, basically, what he wants to do is to attach this fight over Obamacare to the next battle in Congress which is over raising the debt limit. The amount of money that the United States can borrow. Now, the deadline to do that is 11 days away. And so, the fear in Washington is that we can have another big problem and that United States could default on its debt. Listen to what he said this morning on "STATE OF THE UNION."</s>SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: In my view in the debt ceiling, we should look for three things. Number one, we should look for some significant structural plan to reduce government spending. Number two, we should avoid new taxes. And number three, we should look for ways to mitigate harms from Obamacare.</s>MCPIKE: Now, he also said just after that the debt ceiling has historically been the best leverage that congress has. And so, what we heard from a number of people this weekend, is that if Congress cannot raise the debt ceiling and then United States defaults on its debt, we could see problems worse than we saw with the economy in 2008. So, there's a lot of concern in Washington about that strategy -- Don.</s>LEMON: All right. Erin, thank you. Appreciate that. I have some breaking news to tell you about. I want you to take a look at this. One of the most popular race car drivers in the world seriously injured in a crash in today's racing in Houston. Dario Franchitti who is separated from actress Ashley Judd, was driving this car when it slammed into the wall. No words yet on the extent of his injuries. And spectators who were injured as well, some treated and released, others taken to the hospital. We are going to follow the story very closely for you right here in CNN NEWSROOM and we will get information just as soon as we get it. Back to today's top story. One of the FBI's most wanted terrorist now in U.S. custody. Is he a big fish in the terrorist pond? A former CIA operative weighing in next.