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CNN Saturday Morning News
President Bush Briefed on Kenya Attacks
Aired November 30, 2002 - 09:00 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.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, on the heels of those headlines, we begin this hour with the war on terror and its potential flashpoint, of course, in Kenya.
President Bush received two secure video briefings on the investigation while vacationing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
CNN senior White House correspondent John King is traveling with the president. He joins us from Crawford. John, hello.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Kris .
Those two briefings yesterday likely to be repeated today. That is how the president keeps in touch with the FBI, with the CIA, and his national security team when he is on vacation here at the Crawford ranch. It is a secure video link so that the CIA director, the FBI director, other key officials, if necessary, including national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, can brief the president.
We are told in the two discussions yesterday, Mr. Bush was briefed on the very preliminary stages of the investigations in Israel and Kenya. It is the attack in Kenya, of course, that is of most concern to U.S. officials because of the suspicions, U.S. officials say way too soon to make any conclusions, but there are suspicions of possible al Qaeda involvement because it is in Kenya and al Qaeda is known to operate there. Remember the 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassy and because of the use of those surface-to-air missiles, a weapon al Qaeda is known to have.
So U.S. officials say they cannot rule it in, cannot rule it out. They are offering any assistance they can to the investigators on the scene. Of course, they want to know who is responsible for these strikes, and there is some suspicion high in the U.S. government that al Qaeda could have a role, Kris .
OSBORN: You know, John, you were talking about the al Qaeda suspicions. I wanted to ask you about a question that is getting a lot of attention right now, which is, are you hearing anything from the administration on what will happen if, in fact, it is confirmed that al Qaeda is behind this attack? What does that mean in terms of Israel potentially joining the war on terror? And how might that position this administration in terms of its needed diplomatic relations with key Arab allies?
KING: There is a great in the administration on that very point. The Bush administration is not about to tell the Israeli government it cannot defend itself, it cannot go after those responsible for terrorist strikes. After all, that is why the United States went to war against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
But the administration is likely to tell the Israeli government, if there is a direct tie to al Qaeda, to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- the administration is likely to ask the Israeli government to let the United States handle any response. Why? Any Israeli military projection of force outside of Israel's borders would incite anger across the Arab and the Muslim world, and of course we are a critical time in the confrontation with Iraq.
The United States is worried that perhaps that is one of the goals to begin with. Some U.S. officials believe these strikes are part of a pattern, the beginning of a pattern to incite anti-Israeli and anti-American sentiment in the Arab and Muslim world.
So that could significantly complicate the already very delicate diplomacy of the Bush administration in the Arab world when it comes to Iraq. It is a major concern of the administration -- Kris.
OSBORN: Well, it's interesting, you mention about how the, you know, the response would need to be muted in some way. I wanted to ask you as well about something we hear a lot about in addition to all of this, which is the intelligence cooperation. You were reporting about this immediately after these attacks, that there was some intelligence cooperation between the Israelis and the U.S. You get this sense that some of this will be somewhat quiet, no?
KING: They try to keep it as quiet as possible. The CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies' longstanding, very close ties to the Mossad, the chief Israeli intelligence agency, Prime Minister Sharon said the Mossad would lead the investigation into the attacks in Kenya. It is no secret that the United States and Israel cooperate a great deal on intelligence about Hezbollah, about Hamas, about terrorist groups known to operate in southern Lebanon, sometimes in Syria, in the Palestinian territories.
That cooperation will continue. And again, the Bush administration has said if there is anything the CIA, the Pentagon, the FBI, any agency can do to help, it will offer that assistance. There is no direct role because no Americans among the victims. But yes, when the Mossad and the CIA are working together, they like to keep it quiet. Obviously all intelligence agencies like to operate in the shadows. But again, any Israeli-U.S. cooperation is something that raises suspicions in the Arab world.
OSBORN: CNN's John King live from Crawford, Texas, with reaction to an increasingly sensitive situation. Thank you.
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 November 30, 2002 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, on the heels of those headlines, we begin this hour with the war on terror and its potential flashpoint, of course, in Kenya.
President Bush received two secure video briefings on the investigation while vacationing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
CNN senior White House correspondent John King is traveling with the president. He joins us from Crawford. John, hello.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Kris .
Those two briefings yesterday likely to be repeated today. That is how the president keeps in touch with the FBI, with the CIA, and his national security team when he is on vacation here at the Crawford ranch. It is a secure video link so that the CIA director, the FBI director, other key officials, if necessary, including national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, can brief the president.
We are told in the two discussions yesterday, Mr. Bush was briefed on the very preliminary stages of the investigations in Israel and Kenya. It is the attack in Kenya, of course, that is of most concern to U.S. officials because of the suspicions, U.S. officials say way too soon to make any conclusions, but there are suspicions of possible al Qaeda involvement because it is in Kenya and al Qaeda is known to operate there. Remember the 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassy and because of the use of those surface-to-air missiles, a weapon al Qaeda is known to have.
So U.S. officials say they cannot rule it in, cannot rule it out. They are offering any assistance they can to the investigators on the scene. Of course, they want to know who is responsible for these strikes, and there is some suspicion high in the U.S. government that al Qaeda could have a role, Kris .
OSBORN: You know, John, you were talking about the al Qaeda suspicions. I wanted to ask you about a question that is getting a lot of attention right now, which is, are you hearing anything from the administration on what will happen if, in fact, it is confirmed that al Qaeda is behind this attack? What does that mean in terms of Israel potentially joining the war on terror? And how might that position this administration in terms of its needed diplomatic relations with key Arab allies?
KING: There is a great in the administration on that very point. The Bush administration is not about to tell the Israeli government it cannot defend itself, it cannot go after those responsible for terrorist strikes. After all, that is why the United States went to war against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
But the administration is likely to tell the Israeli government, if there is a direct tie to al Qaeda, to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- the administration is likely to ask the Israeli government to let the United States handle any response. Why? Any Israeli military projection of force outside of Israel's borders would incite anger across the Arab and the Muslim world, and of course we are a critical time in the confrontation with Iraq.
The United States is worried that perhaps that is one of the goals to begin with. Some U.S. officials believe these strikes are part of a pattern, the beginning of a pattern to incite anti-Israeli and anti-American sentiment in the Arab and Muslim world.
So that could significantly complicate the already very delicate diplomacy of the Bush administration in the Arab world when it comes to Iraq. It is a major concern of the administration -- Kris.
OSBORN: Well, it's interesting, you mention about how the, you know, the response would need to be muted in some way. I wanted to ask you as well about something we hear a lot about in addition to all of this, which is the intelligence cooperation. You were reporting about this immediately after these attacks, that there was some intelligence cooperation between the Israelis and the U.S. You get this sense that some of this will be somewhat quiet, no?
KING: They try to keep it as quiet as possible. The CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies' longstanding, very close ties to the Mossad, the chief Israeli intelligence agency, Prime Minister Sharon said the Mossad would lead the investigation into the attacks in Kenya. It is no secret that the United States and Israel cooperate a great deal on intelligence about Hezbollah, about Hamas, about terrorist groups known to operate in southern Lebanon, sometimes in Syria, in the Palestinian territories.
That cooperation will continue. And again, the Bush administration has said if there is anything the CIA, the Pentagon, the FBI, any agency can do to help, it will offer that assistance. There is no direct role because no Americans among the victims. But yes, when the Mossad and the CIA are working together, they like to keep it quiet. Obviously all intelligence agencies like to operate in the shadows. But again, any Israeli-U.S. cooperation is something that raises suspicions in the Arab world.
OSBORN: CNN's John King live from Crawford, Texas, with reaction to an increasingly sensitive situation. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
