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American Morning

Baghdad Bombings

Aired October 27, 2003 - 09:11   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Baghdad this morning, at least 30 are dead, more than 200 wounded in a wave of bombings. And now U.S. military sources say foreign fighters may, in fact, be responsible.
For the latest on who could be behind the latest Baghdad bombings, let's go to CNN analyst Ken Pollack. He joins us today from Phoenix.

Hello, Ken.

KEN POLLACK, CNN ANALYST: Good morning, Miles. How are you?

O'BRIEN: Good to have you with us. I'm well, thanks.

What are the chances, first of all, that all of this would be coincidental? It seems on the face of it that there must be somebody orchestrating this somewhere.

POLLACK: Right. I think there's no question about it. I think that it's highly unlikely that this is random, that this is uncoordinated. This is very clearly intended to be a coordinated attack. It's the first day of Ramadan, the holiest month of the Muslim calendar. I think that these attacks were designed to send a signal to the Iraqi people, and that signal was, don't think that your life is going to be safe and serene under this new regime. I think that's why you have to start with the possibility that these attacks were mounted by Saddam loyalists, because the attacks against Baghdad police, against the Red Cross, against the pillars of the reconstruction, the people who are trying to deal with the immediate humanitarian needs, and the immediate security needs, that is the perfect message that Saddam and his loyalists would want to send to people -- don't think that just because the Americans are there, that you are now safe, that your lives are going to be fine. I can still reach out. I can still make your lives miserable.

O'BRIEN: Well, so, is it possible that somewhere, right now, Saddam Hussein is orchestrating all of this? Or you say Saddam Hussein loyalists. If he were, in fact, captured, let's say, would this continue?

POLLACK: I think we have to assume that even if Saddam Hussein is captured, that this could continue. I think that you have to recognize that there are a lot of groups inside of Iraq that don't particularly like the United States there now. They don't consist of a very large percentage of the population, but they're a large enough fringe group that they're making a lot of trouble for the United States. And I think, even after Saddam goes, you're going to have a lot of people in Iraq who are going to keep taking shots at Americans, including, in particular, al Qaeda.

O'BRIEN: And which, of course, that brings us to that old Middle Eastern expression, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and al Qaeda certainly right now with look at the Saddam loyalists as natural allies in all of this. Do you think that al Qaeda is at work right now in all that we see here? After all, the synchronicity of attacks is one of their hallmarks?

POLLACK: Absolutely, Miles. You took the words right out of my mouth. That's the other big culprit that you have to look at here. While the targets themselves probably conform better to the targets that Saddam and his loyalists would like to go after. After all, al Qaeda typically likes to kill Americans if they can, they haven't been very shy about killing fellow Muslims.

And as you point out, the MO, the method of the attack, is much more consistent with al Qaeda than what we've seen from Saddam Hussein and his loyalists. In particular, always remember, Saddam knows a lot of people who are willing to fight for him. But they want to fight and live another day. Al Qaeda typically is the one who can come up with the large numbers of suicide bombers, who can come together in these kinds of coordinated attacks, multiple targets, concentrated period of time. That has become their hallmark. And you know, we have had the reports, there are thousands of al Qaeda fighters who apparently have migrated into Iraq, because they want to kill Americans, and Iraq is where the Americans are.

O'BRIEN: On that troubling note, we have to leave it.

Ken Pollack, thanks for your time.

POLLACK: Thank you, Miles.

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 27, 2003 - 09:11   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Baghdad this morning, at least 30 are dead, more than 200 wounded in a wave of bombings. And now U.S. military sources say foreign fighters may, in fact, be responsible.
For the latest on who could be behind the latest Baghdad bombings, let's go to CNN analyst Ken Pollack. He joins us today from Phoenix.

Hello, Ken.

KEN POLLACK, CNN ANALYST: Good morning, Miles. How are you?

O'BRIEN: Good to have you with us. I'm well, thanks.

What are the chances, first of all, that all of this would be coincidental? It seems on the face of it that there must be somebody orchestrating this somewhere.

POLLACK: Right. I think there's no question about it. I think that it's highly unlikely that this is random, that this is uncoordinated. This is very clearly intended to be a coordinated attack. It's the first day of Ramadan, the holiest month of the Muslim calendar. I think that these attacks were designed to send a signal to the Iraqi people, and that signal was, don't think that your life is going to be safe and serene under this new regime. I think that's why you have to start with the possibility that these attacks were mounted by Saddam loyalists, because the attacks against Baghdad police, against the Red Cross, against the pillars of the reconstruction, the people who are trying to deal with the immediate humanitarian needs, and the immediate security needs, that is the perfect message that Saddam and his loyalists would want to send to people -- don't think that just because the Americans are there, that you are now safe, that your lives are going to be fine. I can still reach out. I can still make your lives miserable.

O'BRIEN: Well, so, is it possible that somewhere, right now, Saddam Hussein is orchestrating all of this? Or you say Saddam Hussein loyalists. If he were, in fact, captured, let's say, would this continue?

POLLACK: I think we have to assume that even if Saddam Hussein is captured, that this could continue. I think that you have to recognize that there are a lot of groups inside of Iraq that don't particularly like the United States there now. They don't consist of a very large percentage of the population, but they're a large enough fringe group that they're making a lot of trouble for the United States. And I think, even after Saddam goes, you're going to have a lot of people in Iraq who are going to keep taking shots at Americans, including, in particular, al Qaeda.

O'BRIEN: And which, of course, that brings us to that old Middle Eastern expression, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and al Qaeda certainly right now with look at the Saddam loyalists as natural allies in all of this. Do you think that al Qaeda is at work right now in all that we see here? After all, the synchronicity of attacks is one of their hallmarks?

POLLACK: Absolutely, Miles. You took the words right out of my mouth. That's the other big culprit that you have to look at here. While the targets themselves probably conform better to the targets that Saddam and his loyalists would like to go after. After all, al Qaeda typically likes to kill Americans if they can, they haven't been very shy about killing fellow Muslims.

And as you point out, the MO, the method of the attack, is much more consistent with al Qaeda than what we've seen from Saddam Hussein and his loyalists. In particular, always remember, Saddam knows a lot of people who are willing to fight for him. But they want to fight and live another day. Al Qaeda typically is the one who can come up with the large numbers of suicide bombers, who can come together in these kinds of coordinated attacks, multiple targets, concentrated period of time. That has become their hallmark. And you know, we have had the reports, there are thousands of al Qaeda fighters who apparently have migrated into Iraq, because they want to kill Americans, and Iraq is where the Americans are.

O'BRIEN: On that troubling note, we have to leave it.

Ken Pollack, thanks for your time.

POLLACK: Thank you, Miles.

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