Full Transcript of Chris Cuomo's Interview with Former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf

May 11, 2011— -- CUOMO: So let's get right to it. Intelligence now suggests that OBL had been in this compound for at least 5 to 6 years. That would put him in the compound while you were president. So I ask you, how could you not have known that OBL was somewhere so easy to find?

MUSHARRAF: Well, it is indeed a big, uh, blunder. It's a big slip up for the intelligence, but I really doubt (inaudible) is clear. It doesn't appeal to my logic. And you say, I mean how come so many people around the house who all recognize OBL, it's a household name everywhere in most of the world, how come they didn't know OBL was there? So this is a very nagging doubt in my mind. That this isn't logically possible.

CUOMO: Well, two things. On the logic of it Mr. President, two things for you to put into your thinking. One, they have video excerpts of OBL making tapes, practicing for tapes, that put him in the same room over that period, that helps develop the understanding that he was there, and why do you assume that people would have said anything if they knew he were there? That's the big doubt whether the Pakistani people and intelligence were willing to out OBL.

MUSHARRAF: Well, let me tell you where he was. This city, Abbattabad, I know very well. People there are not at all pro-Taliban or pro-al Qaeda. They are not the religious extremist kind. I am very sure that people would have indicated that he was there. Uh, this is not the tribal agency(??) of Pakistan. And the people here, I know, are very very different. But ethnically, they distinguish themselves from the Pashtoons very, very much.

CUOMO: Okay, so let's take the people out of it. Let's say they were innocent in this. That takes us to the intelligence and the military. You told me in our first interview that he was in the tribal regions, that you knew this, that only the Pakistani military could get him. Who gave you bad information about where OBL was?

MUSHARRAF: I wonder if I said so calmly that he was in the tribal region. He could be, he could be, in fact that may have been very early stages. Any particular, specific intelligence that I had. But after the operation, that al Qaeda and Taliban fled into Pakistan, into our cities and mountains. I presumed that he may be there. Could be there.

CUOMO: Are you suspicious of your intelligence officials and the leaders you had around you that somebody was keeping this quiet, somebody was helping him stay hidden when he winds up in such an obvious place?

MUSHARRAF: Yes, it's a very obvious thing. It's really appalling that he was there and nobody knew. I'm certainly appalled that I didn't know and that intelligence people from that time onward didn't know for 6 years that he was inside. And there is no excuse for this great, massive slip up. And an investigation is in order and, uh, people must be punished for this big lapse.