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American Morning
Terror in Riyadh, Three Explosions Rock Housing Complexes
Aired May 13, 2003 - 08:31 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to Saudi Arabia right now. Ten Americans dead. Again, those numbers could change.
Mike Brooks, the team leader of the first FBI group to investigate the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, now our guest. To the CNN Center.
Mike -- good morning to you.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: I know you're half-a-world away right now. Are you seeing similarities from seven years ago and what we saw last night?
BROOKS: I'm looking at these pictures, Bill, and I'm seeing a lot of similarities between -- going back to 1995, the Saudi Arabian National Guard bombing, where a truck drove through the gate, detonated right in the parking lot in front of the Saudi Arabian National Guard facility, killing five Americans. Then we go a year later, June 5, 1996, the Khobar Towers bombing, where a truck laden with at least a minimum of 5,000 pounds of C-4 high explosives detonated and killed 19 Americans. Then we go a little bit later, August 1998, simultaneous bombings, Bill, in Nairobi, Kenya and Darussalam, Tanzania.
And we talk about this morning's bombings, we're hearing that a gunman got out, shot their way in. The embassy in Nairobi, Kenya in August of '98, one of the people got out of the truck, threw a grenade over the fence. Then people were drawn to the window. Then the other bomber in the truck detonated the bomb, along with the simultaneous attacks in Tanzania.
Then we go ahead just recently in Mombasa, where a truck laden with explosives tried to get into one gate, was not allowed to go there, turned away by security guards, went to another gate, detonated there. And also another truck bomb in Bali.
Now, we know that all of these have the similarities of al Qaeda, but we go back to Khobar Towers, Bill, and that was believed to be a local Shia group, possibly Hezbollah that was Iranian-backed, but also possibly funded by al Qaeda.
So, a lot of similarities here.
HEMMER: Yes, Mike, when you arrived on the ground in 1996, how would you rate the level of cooperation you received from the Saudi Arabian government? BROOKS: Well, we split up into two teams, Bill -- a forensic team and an investigative team. The investigative team did not get a lot of cooperation initially...
HEMMER: They did not.
BROOKS: ... from the Saudi -- they did not get a lot of cooperation.
HEMMER: And why is that, Mike?
BROOKS: Well, they felt that -- I think that they feel that they're a sovereign country. They don't like people coming into their country. In fact, right now I talked to some sources this morning. They're still working with the host country on exactly how big of a package the United States can send over there to investigate these particular bombings, Bill.
And then on the forensic side, I was out working the sifters looking for pieces of the bomb. And into just -- we're almost a week- and-a-half into the investigation, and they show up with a big piece of evidence. And we go, "Where did this come from?" And they said, "We just found this." We said, "No, you didn't just find this." You know, so they took it and kind of hoarded it away themselves, because they wanted to do their own side investigation.
But, you know, the cooperation, it seemed to be there, but it really wasn't. And then we look back when they caught some people that were responsible for the OPM (ph) (UNINTELLIGIBLE) bombing. They said, hey, we've got these four people, we're going to execute them. The American investigators didn't even have time to talk to the folks.
HEMMER: Wow! Well, listen, and we know last week when the warning went out about 19 members of al Qaeda wanted by the Saudi Arabian government, that actually their names and their pictures were published there, which I think really is a giant step forward based on what they have done in the past. So, possibly seven years later right now the emphasis is there in Saudi Arabia to go out and find and catch and crack down. Because at this point, we do not know the level of effectiveness that country has had against al Qaeda.
Mike, thanks. We'll talk a bit later, OK? Mike Brooks at the CNN Center.
BROOKS: Absolutely, Bill.
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 May 13, 2003 - 08:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to Saudi Arabia right now. Ten Americans dead. Again, those numbers could change.
Mike Brooks, the team leader of the first FBI group to investigate the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, now our guest. To the CNN Center.
Mike -- good morning to you.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: I know you're half-a-world away right now. Are you seeing similarities from seven years ago and what we saw last night?
BROOKS: I'm looking at these pictures, Bill, and I'm seeing a lot of similarities between -- going back to 1995, the Saudi Arabian National Guard bombing, where a truck drove through the gate, detonated right in the parking lot in front of the Saudi Arabian National Guard facility, killing five Americans. Then we go a year later, June 5, 1996, the Khobar Towers bombing, where a truck laden with at least a minimum of 5,000 pounds of C-4 high explosives detonated and killed 19 Americans. Then we go a little bit later, August 1998, simultaneous bombings, Bill, in Nairobi, Kenya and Darussalam, Tanzania.
And we talk about this morning's bombings, we're hearing that a gunman got out, shot their way in. The embassy in Nairobi, Kenya in August of '98, one of the people got out of the truck, threw a grenade over the fence. Then people were drawn to the window. Then the other bomber in the truck detonated the bomb, along with the simultaneous attacks in Tanzania.
Then we go ahead just recently in Mombasa, where a truck laden with explosives tried to get into one gate, was not allowed to go there, turned away by security guards, went to another gate, detonated there. And also another truck bomb in Bali.
Now, we know that all of these have the similarities of al Qaeda, but we go back to Khobar Towers, Bill, and that was believed to be a local Shia group, possibly Hezbollah that was Iranian-backed, but also possibly funded by al Qaeda.
So, a lot of similarities here.
HEMMER: Yes, Mike, when you arrived on the ground in 1996, how would you rate the level of cooperation you received from the Saudi Arabian government? BROOKS: Well, we split up into two teams, Bill -- a forensic team and an investigative team. The investigative team did not get a lot of cooperation initially...
HEMMER: They did not.
BROOKS: ... from the Saudi -- they did not get a lot of cooperation.
HEMMER: And why is that, Mike?
BROOKS: Well, they felt that -- I think that they feel that they're a sovereign country. They don't like people coming into their country. In fact, right now I talked to some sources this morning. They're still working with the host country on exactly how big of a package the United States can send over there to investigate these particular bombings, Bill.
And then on the forensic side, I was out working the sifters looking for pieces of the bomb. And into just -- we're almost a week- and-a-half into the investigation, and they show up with a big piece of evidence. And we go, "Where did this come from?" And they said, "We just found this." We said, "No, you didn't just find this." You know, so they took it and kind of hoarded it away themselves, because they wanted to do their own side investigation.
But, you know, the cooperation, it seemed to be there, but it really wasn't. And then we look back when they caught some people that were responsible for the OPM (ph) (UNINTELLIGIBLE) bombing. They said, hey, we've got these four people, we're going to execute them. The American investigators didn't even have time to talk to the folks.
HEMMER: Wow! Well, listen, and we know last week when the warning went out about 19 members of al Qaeda wanted by the Saudi Arabian government, that actually their names and their pictures were published there, which I think really is a giant step forward based on what they have done in the past. So, possibly seven years later right now the emphasis is there in Saudi Arabia to go out and find and catch and crack down. Because at this point, we do not know the level of effectiveness that country has had against al Qaeda.
Mike, thanks. We'll talk a bit later, OK? Mike Brooks at the CNN Center.
BROOKS: Absolutely, Bill.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
