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CNN Live Event/Special

America Under Attack: Terrorism Policing

Aired September 14, 2001 - 06:29   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JONATHAN MANN, CNN ANCHOR: As the investigation broadens, it extends further from U.S. shores. Police activity related to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington has been reported in Europe and Asia.

Paul Beaver is a defense analyst specializing in Middle East terrorism. He runs his own firm called ABA Westminster. He was formerly with Jane's Defense Weekly, but he has brought his perspective to our coverage on many issues. He joins us now from London.

There is an enormous force mobilizing on behalf of the United States. NATO has pledged its support, U.S. ships are at sea and the reserves are being considered -- an enormous force. Is it the right force and what to do with it after these attacks on Tuesday?

PAUL BEAVER, DEFENSE ANALYST: Well, I think you're right, there is a huge mobilization of military hardware around the world, intelligence sources and resources as well, but this isn't just an attack on the United States, you know. I think those of us in Europe here believe this is an attack on the whole western way of life. The fact that there were British people, German people, French people in the -- in the Twin Towers at the time, the fact that we have daily contact with New York and Washington, D.C. makes it our battle as well.

I think that the first thing that has to be done of course is to show to the American people a resilience. And to show the rest of the world that America isn't going to standby. That is being done. And now America has a number of military options. The most important of that is those of course is to get the alliance behind it by going to article five of the Washington treaty of 1949. There are now 18 nations standing together against terrorism and to try and do something in self defense about what happened. And other countries are going to join in as well. So it doesn't really matter at the moment what military hardware is there because we're got enough military hardware. What we've got to work out is who actually did it. Where they are, and how best to deal with them and all of the other terrorist groups in the world.

MANN: How best to deal with them? That's the question. There are enormous forces that you've talked about of a 20th century kind. The kinds of conventional armies that fight on the battle field, that fight in the sky, that fight on the water. But they're taking no a very particular foe.

If indeed it is a small group of terrorist who have carried out these acts with some kind of state support they're essentially going after private citizen operating of different territories across the world perhaps under different governments. Is that the kind of enemy that the west is prepared to face effectively?

BEAVER: We've had a real problem I think in the west that we were prepared and being prepared to fight since the end of the cold war, what we call modern warfare. In other words the high technology, 15,000 feet, no ground troops, no body bags, precision guided weapons. And that's what happened in Kosovo and we won.

This is not that. The enemies of western civilization are fighting what they call, and what we would, I think, describe as total warfare, using every means at their disposal. We have got to get away from this high technology point of view.

We have -- rather like the CIA and the FBI have been mesmerized by technology, and by satellites, and eavesdropping on telephone conversations, we've got to stop this. If we're going to fight these terrorists we've got to use human intelligence, we've got to use human resources. This is a hand-to-hand fighting, if you like, in the modern age. We have to be prepared to meet their total war with our total war. It's going to mean a few of us civil liberties may disappear and a few of our freedoms temporarily will go.

But we have to be prepared I think to take the war to the terrorist. And we have to get the international community behind us, and we have to do it with the rule of law. This isn't going to discriminate launching of cruise missile against caves in Afghanistan. This is going to be down properly.

MANN: A decade ago a man named George Bush who was president of the United States at the time led an international collation in a war in the Middle East. It ended up with extraordinary success in the liberation of Kuwait. Are there any lessons for George W. Bush to learn from George Bush, Sr.

BEAVER: Yes, I think there are a number of lessons that your President can learn from his father. The first is to get going quickly. It will take George Bush a little while to get underway. I seem to remember Margaret Thatcher, the famous words that were caught by a tape recorder, "[C]ome on, George, we've got to do something."

Now exactly right, we have got to do something about it. Now President George W. Bush is a very intelligent man. He has very good advisors. He will know exactly...

MANN: Paul Beaver, I'm sorry to interrupt you. We're live to the Pentagon where we're hearing a briefing.

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