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CNN Live Today
Saudi Terror Attacks
Aired May 14, 2003 - 11:01 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We have in-depth coverage now of the latest developments. Correspondent Mike Brooks is tracking the FBI team, trying to get to the scene. Senior White House correspondent John King reports on the Saudi promise of cooperation. And national security correspondent David Ensor updates us on the investigation.
Let's kick things off this hour with Mike.
Mike, what's the word?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, what we're hearing now is the investigative team that was on the way to do the assessment for the United States is being held on the ground in Germany. They have not gotten country clearance from the Saudi government as of yet.
Now, this comes as there has been talk about cooperation between the Saudi government and United States on trying to find out exactly who was responsible for these bombings in Riyadh.
But as of right now, Leon, they sit on the ground in Germany, waiting for the Saudi government to give them country clearance. This is a team of U.S. investigators, U.S. intelligence, and State Department officials who are supposed to go there, assess the damage, and find out what more -- how many more resources they will need.
But as of yet, they have yet to get into the country.
Now, there's talk that they may be going sometime tomorrow. But it's still not a done deal. They still have not gotten permission as of right now.
HARRIS: So what's the concern about what they might be losing with the investigation, with them not being on the ground immediately?
BROOKS: Well, with an investigation like this, you can lose, number one, some of the interviews on the investigative side early on, forensic evidence, a lot of other things that they -- that Americans could be on the ground right now working with Saudis to try to find out who was responsible for the bombing.
HARRIS: All right. Thanks, Mike. Mike Brooks here in Atlanta.
Daryn, over to you.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's now get the latest from the White House on the Saudi promise to cooperate in the investigation of the terror attacks. Our senior White House correspondent John King is following that part of the story.
John, good morning once again.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.
In the past half hour or so, we have tried to get reaction from White House officials to these reports from Mike Brooks and others at CNN that that team is being held up in Germany. No response just yet from the White House, but such a development would fly in the face of strong public words from the White House, saying that they believe the Saudi government is cooperating and will cooperate in the investigation.
President Bush called the Saudi crown Prince Abdullah on his way back to Washington yesterday from a tour of the Midwest. We are told that Mr. Bush in that conversation was promised full cooperation from the Saudi crown prince. And the White House also welcomed a very strong public statement from the Saudi crown prince, in which crown Prince Abdullah called the bombers monsters, and promised they would be brought to justice.
Ari Fleischer just this morning saying, quote, "The president is pleased with the cooperation we've had from Saudi Arabia, not only in this instance, but since the war on terror began. Saudi Arabia has worked well with us, and we continue to work with the Saudis." So obviously, in an immediate question as to how cooperative the Saudis are being and how quickly that U.S. investigative team will get in on the ground. We will continue to press here at the white house to see if they know anything about this apparent delay.
KAGAN: All right, We will check back with you as you hear more from there.
John King at the White House -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, in the meantime, U.S. officials say that they are concerned about the possibility of more attacks to come. For the latest on that and the investigation into the past terror attacks, let's turn now to our national security correspondent David Ensor, checking in from Washington -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, NATL. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, as you say, U.S. officials are collecting intelligence all the time on possible threats. They say that they have evidence that there may be plots under way for further attacks in Africa, in Asia, and in the Middle East. So they are definitely not letting down their guard at this point. There's no assumption that because these big strikes have happened in Riyadh, that there will be some quiet period at this point. At the same time they don't have anything specific and credible to point to.
So they're not taking any specific steps apart from, as you know, of course, the State Department has ordered all non-essential personnel out of Saudi Arabia itself.
Now, as to the attacks in Riyadh, you may have seen reports today quoting Saudi officials, saying that they believe they know who the ring leader was. They are pointing to a man named Khalid Mohammed Mussalam Al Jihani. This is an individual who actually our viewers will recognize from this videotape here, which was captured by the U.S. This was put out by the Justice Department back in January of 2002. But this is one of those martyrdom tapes that were found of various Al Qaeda individuals, saying they planned to conduct attacks in which they would die.
Now, he apparently didn't do that. U.S. officials say they believe he moved into Saudi Arabia. However, they are a little skeptical about the Saudi statements that he's the ring leader. They say they have a couple of other, as one put it, core Al Qaeda individuals who may have been the ringleaders of this attack.
So U.S. officials do not know for sure who in Al Qaeda organized this attack, but their working assumption is it was someone from that group -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, David, how about some of the other Al Qaeda leaders that have been taken into custody in the past year or so, since the war in Afghanistan? Is any information coming out of figures like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed that might be helping them in this investigation?
ENSOR: You can be sure that they are -- that Washington has pulsed the interrogators around the world who have in their hands those various individuals like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi Binalshibh and the others, whether or not they would be up to date enough to know who might have been behind these attacks. I'm just not in a position to know right now.
HARRIS: Interesting. And again, the thinking had been amongst those in the administration that perhaps Al Qaeda had been hobbled so badly after the war in Afghanistan and the apprehension of guys like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed that different cells couldn't communicate with each other. So now the thinking definitely is these cells are operating independently and dreaming up these schemes on their own?
ENSOR: It could be that they are operating independently, yes. There are some observers who believe that this is sort of an offshoot; a lot of young Saudis who perhaps just one or two of the old Al Qaeda guard have recruited and put together into a new cell. There is the belief, though, that it's connected to the original body of Al Qaeda, although it may not be a direct order from Osama bin Laden.
HARRIS: So again, this thing may have had its head cut off, and may have grown seven or eight other heads.
ENSOR: That's exactly right.
HARRIS: David Ensor in Washington. Thanks, David. We'll check back with you later on.
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 14, 2003 - 11:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We have in-depth coverage now of the latest developments. Correspondent Mike Brooks is tracking the FBI team, trying to get to the scene. Senior White House correspondent John King reports on the Saudi promise of cooperation. And national security correspondent David Ensor updates us on the investigation.
Let's kick things off this hour with Mike.
Mike, what's the word?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, what we're hearing now is the investigative team that was on the way to do the assessment for the United States is being held on the ground in Germany. They have not gotten country clearance from the Saudi government as of yet.
Now, this comes as there has been talk about cooperation between the Saudi government and United States on trying to find out exactly who was responsible for these bombings in Riyadh.
But as of right now, Leon, they sit on the ground in Germany, waiting for the Saudi government to give them country clearance. This is a team of U.S. investigators, U.S. intelligence, and State Department officials who are supposed to go there, assess the damage, and find out what more -- how many more resources they will need.
But as of yet, they have yet to get into the country.
Now, there's talk that they may be going sometime tomorrow. But it's still not a done deal. They still have not gotten permission as of right now.
HARRIS: So what's the concern about what they might be losing with the investigation, with them not being on the ground immediately?
BROOKS: Well, with an investigation like this, you can lose, number one, some of the interviews on the investigative side early on, forensic evidence, a lot of other things that they -- that Americans could be on the ground right now working with Saudis to try to find out who was responsible for the bombing.
HARRIS: All right. Thanks, Mike. Mike Brooks here in Atlanta.
Daryn, over to you.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's now get the latest from the White House on the Saudi promise to cooperate in the investigation of the terror attacks. Our senior White House correspondent John King is following that part of the story.
John, good morning once again.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.
In the past half hour or so, we have tried to get reaction from White House officials to these reports from Mike Brooks and others at CNN that that team is being held up in Germany. No response just yet from the White House, but such a development would fly in the face of strong public words from the White House, saying that they believe the Saudi government is cooperating and will cooperate in the investigation.
President Bush called the Saudi crown Prince Abdullah on his way back to Washington yesterday from a tour of the Midwest. We are told that Mr. Bush in that conversation was promised full cooperation from the Saudi crown prince. And the White House also welcomed a very strong public statement from the Saudi crown prince, in which crown Prince Abdullah called the bombers monsters, and promised they would be brought to justice.
Ari Fleischer just this morning saying, quote, "The president is pleased with the cooperation we've had from Saudi Arabia, not only in this instance, but since the war on terror began. Saudi Arabia has worked well with us, and we continue to work with the Saudis." So obviously, in an immediate question as to how cooperative the Saudis are being and how quickly that U.S. investigative team will get in on the ground. We will continue to press here at the white house to see if they know anything about this apparent delay.
KAGAN: All right, We will check back with you as you hear more from there.
John King at the White House -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, in the meantime, U.S. officials say that they are concerned about the possibility of more attacks to come. For the latest on that and the investigation into the past terror attacks, let's turn now to our national security correspondent David Ensor, checking in from Washington -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, NATL. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, as you say, U.S. officials are collecting intelligence all the time on possible threats. They say that they have evidence that there may be plots under way for further attacks in Africa, in Asia, and in the Middle East. So they are definitely not letting down their guard at this point. There's no assumption that because these big strikes have happened in Riyadh, that there will be some quiet period at this point. At the same time they don't have anything specific and credible to point to.
So they're not taking any specific steps apart from, as you know, of course, the State Department has ordered all non-essential personnel out of Saudi Arabia itself.
Now, as to the attacks in Riyadh, you may have seen reports today quoting Saudi officials, saying that they believe they know who the ring leader was. They are pointing to a man named Khalid Mohammed Mussalam Al Jihani. This is an individual who actually our viewers will recognize from this videotape here, which was captured by the U.S. This was put out by the Justice Department back in January of 2002. But this is one of those martyrdom tapes that were found of various Al Qaeda individuals, saying they planned to conduct attacks in which they would die.
Now, he apparently didn't do that. U.S. officials say they believe he moved into Saudi Arabia. However, they are a little skeptical about the Saudi statements that he's the ring leader. They say they have a couple of other, as one put it, core Al Qaeda individuals who may have been the ringleaders of this attack.
So U.S. officials do not know for sure who in Al Qaeda organized this attack, but their working assumption is it was someone from that group -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, David, how about some of the other Al Qaeda leaders that have been taken into custody in the past year or so, since the war in Afghanistan? Is any information coming out of figures like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed that might be helping them in this investigation?
ENSOR: You can be sure that they are -- that Washington has pulsed the interrogators around the world who have in their hands those various individuals like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi Binalshibh and the others, whether or not they would be up to date enough to know who might have been behind these attacks. I'm just not in a position to know right now.
HARRIS: Interesting. And again, the thinking had been amongst those in the administration that perhaps Al Qaeda had been hobbled so badly after the war in Afghanistan and the apprehension of guys like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed that different cells couldn't communicate with each other. So now the thinking definitely is these cells are operating independently and dreaming up these schemes on their own?
ENSOR: It could be that they are operating independently, yes. There are some observers who believe that this is sort of an offshoot; a lot of young Saudis who perhaps just one or two of the old Al Qaeda guard have recruited and put together into a new cell. There is the belief, though, that it's connected to the original body of Al Qaeda, although it may not be a direct order from Osama bin Laden.
HARRIS: So again, this thing may have had its head cut off, and may have grown seven or eight other heads.
ENSOR: That's exactly right.
HARRIS: David Ensor in Washington. Thanks, David. We'll check back with you later on.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
