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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bali Blasts

Aired October 14, 2002 - 06:00   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.


CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The identification of victims continues at the scene of a devastating bomb blast on the Indonesian island of Bali. At least 192 people are now reported dead; 220 Australians are unaccounted for.
One American, who is missing, is Jake Young. The 34-year-old attorney was an all-American football player at Nebraska. Young had been working in Hong Kong and was in Bali to play in a rugby tournament.

Our team coverage of this blast includes John Vause in Sydney, Australia.

We begin with Maria Ressa in Jakarta -- Maria.

MARIA RESSA, CNN JAKARTA BUREAU CHIEF: This is certainly the worst terrorist attack since September 11. It seems to cap two weeks of scattered attacks around the world, which experts say could signify a shift in al Qaeda's strategy; that is, less centralized, less controlled, less sophisticated, but just as dangerous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RALPH BOYCE, U.S. AMB. TO INDONESIA: I think that the horrific events over the weekend in Bali speak for themselves, and that is that even as Indonesia does continue to be a place that's friendly, open, going through a tremendous democratic transition, and generally very moderate, open and tolerant to outsiders and to different religions, et cetera, the actions over the weekend of a small, determined group of fanatics -- not even sure at this point who they were -- show that there is danger out there, that the war on terror continues and that the threats are serious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RESSA: This was certainly a wake-up call for Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population. For many months now, the public, the government officials have really been in denial. That has shattered; newspapers today reflecting that kind of mood. Government officials saying, they're calling this the worst terrorist act in Indonesia's history.

Also, a bit of a wake-up call for Australia. Regional intelligence documents have long shown in the past few months that al Qaeda operatives linked with local groups in the region have infiltrated Australia. Now, Australia is also taking much stronger action and calling for stronger action from Indonesia. The U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, Ralph Boyce, also took more concrete action on Monday here in Jakarta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOYCE: We have updated our travel warning to suggest that Americans considering traveling to Indonesia might want to defer all but the most essential travel at this time. We are going to draw down our embassy community. The dependents are going to be leaving temporarily, and non-essential employees as well, for a period to be determined.

We're also suggesting that Americans resident in Indonesia carefully review their security posture and consider whether they might want to leave as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RESSA: The Indonesian government is now saying it is also aware of that threat after almost a day of meetings between Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her security officials.

Indonesia's chief security minister came out and said that Indonesia is aware of terrorist plots to target vital oil and gas installations in the country. They have increased security around those installations. They say that they will take firmer counterterrorism measures, although no details are out as yet.

There is, of course, pressure on Indonesia, not just from the United States, but also from countries around the region to go after Islamic cleric, Abu Bakar Baasyir, the man Malaysia and Singapore says is the head of al Qaeda's network in Southeast Asia. Baasyir called a press conference on Sunday. He said that these terrorist attacks are so sophisticated that only the United States could have been behind it -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: It will be interesting to see what happens in that case over the next couple of hours. Thank you very much, Maria.

And let's turn now to CNN's John Vause who is in Sydney. He has the latest on Australian reaction there.

John -- what is coming out of Sydney this morning?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Catherine, today, it's very much like it was on September 11 a year ago in New York, people watching news bulletins, listening to radios, hoping to hear any kind of good news, but instead today has only brought uncertainty and tragedy.

So far, 14 Australians confirmed dead, more than 200 unaccounted for, and that is why there is fear that this death toll for this country will rise so high in the coming days.

But right now, the focus is on getting home the wounded. There is more than 100 Australians in hospitals in Bali, more than 60 of those considered to be in a critical condition. A massive airlift operation began almost 24 hours ago, five C-1 Hercules planes from the Royal Australian Air Force bringing home the wounded, the worst of the wounded.

They sent medical teams over there to work as a triage unit to sort out who should be brought home immediately. Some of those who were more seriously wounded, though, being brought home on private jets. The trip on a Hercules considered too rough for those people who were suffering, most of them suffering from terrible burns, burnt by the sheer force of this blast in that nightclub in Bali.

Also today, the Australian government is vowing to track down those who are responsible, sending agents to Indonesia to work with the authorities there.

The Australian prime minister saying that he will, in fact, work with those people. He wants the response to be measured, but he wants a powerful response. And he also spoke to CNN a short time ago, and he said that it will be, in fact, the Australian spirit which will help this country deal with what he calls a national tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOANNE, AUSTRALIAN TOURIST: Very frightened, very scared, we stayed at Hardrock (ph) last night and heard the explosion, and there was just people running everywhere and blood and clothes burnt -- very frightening for us. Time to go home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yes, that was one of the victims speaking about exactly what happened as they're arriving home from Bali, speaking at the airports as they arrived in Australia.

Many of the people will be bringing home those memories from Kuta Beach, memories of horrific scenes -- people on fire or people losing limbs during this blast -- Catherine.

This, of course, is Australia's September 11, and they're dealing with it much the same way that the United States dealt with it a year ago.

CALLAWAY: Is there a cry, John, like we saw here in America after the terrorist attack here for some kind of action to be taken there in Indonesia?

VAUSE: Yes, absolutely. But there has been some good news.

Australia has had strained relationships with Indonesia in the past. It's very difficult diplomatic times in the history with these two countries. That has improved in the last decade or so, but of course, this will strain those relationships.

And it will depend very much on how the Indonesian government reacts right now, whether it cracks down, whether the investigation that it initiates to track down who is responsible -- this is, in fact, a serious one -- and where they put the resources behind it and arrest those people responsible.

So, for now, the response of the Australian government or the Australian people depends very much on what the Indonesian government will do.

CALLAWAY: And, John, you tried to put this in perspective for us last hour on how this is affecting Australia compared -- for our American audience on the numbers compared to American numbers, something. It's like something like a thousand victims you said here in America it would equate to.

VAUSE: Yes, there's less than 20 million people in Australia. There's 260 million people in the United States.

CALLAWAY: Right.

VAUSE: If you do the math, we're looking at, at least, 100 people possibly -- according to some of the authorities, at least 100 Australians could be killed in this disaster. We know that already there are 14. And they're having trouble identifying the victims. That's why it's taking such a long time to work out the actual death toll from this terrorist attack.

But if it goes as high as the authorities believe it will, and there's no reason not to believe and certainly at this stage, if it does go into triple digits, this will be a massive tragedy for this country. The prime minister has described it as a national tragedy, and one which this country will just have to deal with.

CALLAWAY: All right, thank you, John. That's John Vause joining us from Sydney this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired October 14, 2002 - 06:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The identification of victims continues at the scene of a devastating bomb blast on the Indonesian island of Bali. At least 192 people are now reported dead; 220 Australians are unaccounted for.
One American, who is missing, is Jake Young. The 34-year-old attorney was an all-American football player at Nebraska. Young had been working in Hong Kong and was in Bali to play in a rugby tournament.

Our team coverage of this blast includes John Vause in Sydney, Australia.

We begin with Maria Ressa in Jakarta -- Maria.

MARIA RESSA, CNN JAKARTA BUREAU CHIEF: This is certainly the worst terrorist attack since September 11. It seems to cap two weeks of scattered attacks around the world, which experts say could signify a shift in al Qaeda's strategy; that is, less centralized, less controlled, less sophisticated, but just as dangerous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RALPH BOYCE, U.S. AMB. TO INDONESIA: I think that the horrific events over the weekend in Bali speak for themselves, and that is that even as Indonesia does continue to be a place that's friendly, open, going through a tremendous democratic transition, and generally very moderate, open and tolerant to outsiders and to different religions, et cetera, the actions over the weekend of a small, determined group of fanatics -- not even sure at this point who they were -- show that there is danger out there, that the war on terror continues and that the threats are serious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RESSA: This was certainly a wake-up call for Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population. For many months now, the public, the government officials have really been in denial. That has shattered; newspapers today reflecting that kind of mood. Government officials saying, they're calling this the worst terrorist act in Indonesia's history.

Also, a bit of a wake-up call for Australia. Regional intelligence documents have long shown in the past few months that al Qaeda operatives linked with local groups in the region have infiltrated Australia. Now, Australia is also taking much stronger action and calling for stronger action from Indonesia. The U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, Ralph Boyce, also took more concrete action on Monday here in Jakarta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOYCE: We have updated our travel warning to suggest that Americans considering traveling to Indonesia might want to defer all but the most essential travel at this time. We are going to draw down our embassy community. The dependents are going to be leaving temporarily, and non-essential employees as well, for a period to be determined.

We're also suggesting that Americans resident in Indonesia carefully review their security posture and consider whether they might want to leave as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RESSA: The Indonesian government is now saying it is also aware of that threat after almost a day of meetings between Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her security officials.

Indonesia's chief security minister came out and said that Indonesia is aware of terrorist plots to target vital oil and gas installations in the country. They have increased security around those installations. They say that they will take firmer counterterrorism measures, although no details are out as yet.

There is, of course, pressure on Indonesia, not just from the United States, but also from countries around the region to go after Islamic cleric, Abu Bakar Baasyir, the man Malaysia and Singapore says is the head of al Qaeda's network in Southeast Asia. Baasyir called a press conference on Sunday. He said that these terrorist attacks are so sophisticated that only the United States could have been behind it -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: It will be interesting to see what happens in that case over the next couple of hours. Thank you very much, Maria.

And let's turn now to CNN's John Vause who is in Sydney. He has the latest on Australian reaction there.

John -- what is coming out of Sydney this morning?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Catherine, today, it's very much like it was on September 11 a year ago in New York, people watching news bulletins, listening to radios, hoping to hear any kind of good news, but instead today has only brought uncertainty and tragedy.

So far, 14 Australians confirmed dead, more than 200 unaccounted for, and that is why there is fear that this death toll for this country will rise so high in the coming days.

But right now, the focus is on getting home the wounded. There is more than 100 Australians in hospitals in Bali, more than 60 of those considered to be in a critical condition. A massive airlift operation began almost 24 hours ago, five C-1 Hercules planes from the Royal Australian Air Force bringing home the wounded, the worst of the wounded.

They sent medical teams over there to work as a triage unit to sort out who should be brought home immediately. Some of those who were more seriously wounded, though, being brought home on private jets. The trip on a Hercules considered too rough for those people who were suffering, most of them suffering from terrible burns, burnt by the sheer force of this blast in that nightclub in Bali.

Also today, the Australian government is vowing to track down those who are responsible, sending agents to Indonesia to work with the authorities there.

The Australian prime minister saying that he will, in fact, work with those people. He wants the response to be measured, but he wants a powerful response. And he also spoke to CNN a short time ago, and he said that it will be, in fact, the Australian spirit which will help this country deal with what he calls a national tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOANNE, AUSTRALIAN TOURIST: Very frightened, very scared, we stayed at Hardrock (ph) last night and heard the explosion, and there was just people running everywhere and blood and clothes burnt -- very frightening for us. Time to go home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yes, that was one of the victims speaking about exactly what happened as they're arriving home from Bali, speaking at the airports as they arrived in Australia.

Many of the people will be bringing home those memories from Kuta Beach, memories of horrific scenes -- people on fire or people losing limbs during this blast -- Catherine.

This, of course, is Australia's September 11, and they're dealing with it much the same way that the United States dealt with it a year ago.

CALLAWAY: Is there a cry, John, like we saw here in America after the terrorist attack here for some kind of action to be taken there in Indonesia?

VAUSE: Yes, absolutely. But there has been some good news.

Australia has had strained relationships with Indonesia in the past. It's very difficult diplomatic times in the history with these two countries. That has improved in the last decade or so, but of course, this will strain those relationships.

And it will depend very much on how the Indonesian government reacts right now, whether it cracks down, whether the investigation that it initiates to track down who is responsible -- this is, in fact, a serious one -- and where they put the resources behind it and arrest those people responsible.

So, for now, the response of the Australian government or the Australian people depends very much on what the Indonesian government will do.

CALLAWAY: And, John, you tried to put this in perspective for us last hour on how this is affecting Australia compared -- for our American audience on the numbers compared to American numbers, something. It's like something like a thousand victims you said here in America it would equate to.

VAUSE: Yes, there's less than 20 million people in Australia. There's 260 million people in the United States.

CALLAWAY: Right.

VAUSE: If you do the math, we're looking at, at least, 100 people possibly -- according to some of the authorities, at least 100 Australians could be killed in this disaster. We know that already there are 14. And they're having trouble identifying the victims. That's why it's taking such a long time to work out the actual death toll from this terrorist attack.

But if it goes as high as the authorities believe it will, and there's no reason not to believe and certainly at this stage, if it does go into triple digits, this will be a massive tragedy for this country. The prime minister has described it as a national tragedy, and one which this country will just have to deal with.

CALLAWAY: All right, thank you, John. That's John Vause joining us from Sydney this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.