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U.S. Officials: They Warned Indonesian Government in Weeks Before Bombing

Aired October 16, 2002 - 05:32   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to turn our attention now to the investigation into the deadly Bali blast. U.S. officials reportedly say they warned the Indonesian government in the weeks before the bombing that a group linked to al Qaeda was plotting an attack. The "New York Times" is reporting that the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia delivered that warning to Indonesia's president just one day before the explosions.
Nearly 200 people were killed in Saturday night's explosions on the resort island.

Mike Chinoy joins us by video phone from Bali with the latest.

And you are very close to the blast scene -- Mike.

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol.

Good morning.

I'm just about 10 yards from the blast scene and we'll move our camera around to give you a little bit of a sense of what it is like. Behind me you can see a canopy and that canopy covers a big crater where the vehicle packed with explosives, the Indonesian police say apparently C4 plastic explosives, that's where the vehicle was left. Behind the canopy is an open area of debris. That's all that's left of the Sari Club, one of the nightclubs that was utterly destroyed in the blast. The people in there really would hardly have had a chance. The power of the explosion and the fire that followed so great. That's one of the reasons whey they've had such great difficulty identifying the victims.

Before that blast, there was a smaller bomb blast and I'll move the camera to the other side. Just over here, you can see some burned out cars and a group of people in front of some wreaths. We've had a steady stream of people coming every day. Just over here is in front of another nightclub called The Padi Club (ph). And it's here that there was an initial smaller blast.

The Indonesian police say that they have got one man in for questioning who says that he saw somebody go into The Padi Club and leave a white plastic bag and run away. And so that may be an important piece of evidence.

In the last day or so, we've had a lot of leaks of different strands of this investigation. But putting the whole picture together is still very, very complicated -- Carol. COSTELLO: Mike, a question for you. Apparently the Indonesian government was warned about this. Did it act at all?

CHINOY: Not that we can tell. But, of course, it's very hard to judge what a warning means. The American intelligence clearly has been picking up signs of activity by militants. That's why in early September the U.S. Embassy was closed for six days. And the U.S. has been pressing Indonesia to act and has been trying to make its concern felt.

But a generalized warning that tourist sites in Bali and elsewhere might be at risk, it is hard to know what to make of that. Bali is a big island. Where I'm standing now is just one area. It was one of the busiest areas, especially in terms of night life. But there are lots of hotels, lots of restaurants, lots of discos here.

So even if that warning was conveyed in the way in which it was, it's very hard to know what, in fact, one could do with it. And so the question of the nature of the warning and the reaction here is still something that's open for discussion.

Moreover, there are also questions about whether or not that information was available to the Australian government and whether or not the Australian government might have done something with it. But it has to be stressed, intelligence is a very opaque business and signs of something happening and translating that into telling people to stay away from a place like this are two very different things -- Carol.

COSTELLO: As we have learned here in this country.

Mike Chinoy, thank you very much.

Reporting live from Bali, Indonesia 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




Before Bombing>


Aired October 16, 2002 - 05:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to turn our attention now to the investigation into the deadly Bali blast. U.S. officials reportedly say they warned the Indonesian government in the weeks before the bombing that a group linked to al Qaeda was plotting an attack. The "New York Times" is reporting that the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia delivered that warning to Indonesia's president just one day before the explosions.
Nearly 200 people were killed in Saturday night's explosions on the resort island.

Mike Chinoy joins us by video phone from Bali with the latest.

And you are very close to the blast scene -- Mike.

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol.

Good morning.

I'm just about 10 yards from the blast scene and we'll move our camera around to give you a little bit of a sense of what it is like. Behind me you can see a canopy and that canopy covers a big crater where the vehicle packed with explosives, the Indonesian police say apparently C4 plastic explosives, that's where the vehicle was left. Behind the canopy is an open area of debris. That's all that's left of the Sari Club, one of the nightclubs that was utterly destroyed in the blast. The people in there really would hardly have had a chance. The power of the explosion and the fire that followed so great. That's one of the reasons whey they've had such great difficulty identifying the victims.

Before that blast, there was a smaller bomb blast and I'll move the camera to the other side. Just over here, you can see some burned out cars and a group of people in front of some wreaths. We've had a steady stream of people coming every day. Just over here is in front of another nightclub called The Padi Club (ph). And it's here that there was an initial smaller blast.

The Indonesian police say that they have got one man in for questioning who says that he saw somebody go into The Padi Club and leave a white plastic bag and run away. And so that may be an important piece of evidence.

In the last day or so, we've had a lot of leaks of different strands of this investigation. But putting the whole picture together is still very, very complicated -- Carol. COSTELLO: Mike, a question for you. Apparently the Indonesian government was warned about this. Did it act at all?

CHINOY: Not that we can tell. But, of course, it's very hard to judge what a warning means. The American intelligence clearly has been picking up signs of activity by militants. That's why in early September the U.S. Embassy was closed for six days. And the U.S. has been pressing Indonesia to act and has been trying to make its concern felt.

But a generalized warning that tourist sites in Bali and elsewhere might be at risk, it is hard to know what to make of that. Bali is a big island. Where I'm standing now is just one area. It was one of the busiest areas, especially in terms of night life. But there are lots of hotels, lots of restaurants, lots of discos here.

So even if that warning was conveyed in the way in which it was, it's very hard to know what, in fact, one could do with it. And so the question of the nature of the warning and the reaction here is still something that's open for discussion.

Moreover, there are also questions about whether or not that information was available to the Australian government and whether or not the Australian government might have done something with it. But it has to be stressed, intelligence is a very opaque business and signs of something happening and translating that into telling people to stay away from a place like this are two very different things -- Carol.

COSTELLO: As we have learned here in this country.

Mike Chinoy, thank you very much.

Reporting live from Bali, Indonesia 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




Before Bombing>