Al Qaeda and Iraq; Presidential Interview - Part 1.

(From CNN News)

Byline: Ali Velshi, Pat Kiernan, Allan Chernoff

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Paula Zahn. Welcome.

The world, the news, the names, the faces, and where we go from here on this Monday, February 9, 2004. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN (voice-over): "In Focus" tonight: al Qaeda and Iraq. The military says a newly discovered document details an effort to bring the terrorist group into Iraq to start a religious war. Also, President Bush on jobs, the war and his own military service. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "MEET THE PRESS")

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did report. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been honorably discharged. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: We'll read between the lines of the president's comments. And the power of positive thinking. Does your spirit help in the fight against cancer?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: All that ahead, but first, here are some of the headlines you need to know right now.

The Pentagon says U.S. forces in Iraq have caught No. 48 on the top 55 most wanted list this weekend. The captive is described as a one-time regional chairman in Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

Ohio investigators, meanwhile, say a highway sniper is getting more brazen, and they're asking the sniper to call them. Investigators believe two shootings on Sunday are linked to 21 others, one of them fatal. Most have been in and around the Columbus area.

And the judge in Scott Peterson's trial says he will hear argument this week about whether some of evidence is admissible. And within two weeks, a jury could be selected to decide whether Peterson murdered his wife and unborn child.

"In Focus" tonight, a discovery in Iraq that could link al Qaeda to attacks on American soldiers. The U.S. military says that computer documents show a connection between methods used by Osama bin Laden and attempts to trigger widespread violence in Iraq. And U.S. officials believe they were written by a top terrorist.

Mike Boettcher reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The reward for his capture, just $5 million, compared to the $25 million offered for Osama bin Laden. But Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has emerged as the world's most active and perhaps dangerous terrorist, and like bin Laden, issuing his own recorded messages of jihad.

In Iraq, al-Zarqawi has become the de facto leader of Ansar al- Islam, which, according to senior U.S. officials, has been responsible for at least two dozen terror bombings of coalition targets. But Zarqawi has expertise with chemical weapons, too. CNN has learned that he took a page right out of the al Qaeda chemical weapons manual. Obtained by CNN, the manual describes how to permeate paper with a lethal cyanide-based poison.

CNN has learned that coalition intelligence agents late last year broke up a Zarqawi plan to use poison paper to assassination top civilian and military leaders in Iraq and surrounding Arab countries. Terrorism analyst M.J. Gohel has extensively studied Zarqawi.

M.J. GOHEL, TERRORISM ANALYST: He has virtually been in every part of the worlds, recruiting, arranging, funding, and planning.

BOETTCHER: In recent months, Zarqawi's extensive network, according to coalition intelligence analysts, has been more active than al Qaeda itself. Besides bombings in Iraq, Zarqawi-affiliated groups are suspected of a series of bombings in Turkey late last year. And Zarqawi was actively recruiting jihadists in Europe for missions in Iraq.

(on camera): But capturing Zarqawi himself will be difficult. According to one U.S. intelligence source, Zarqawi is even more secretive than bin Laden and perhaps more dangerous.

Mike Boettcher, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: So is this document the link that connects continued violence in Iraq with al Qaeda? We're going to answer that in a new style called "High 5," five short questions, five direct answers,…