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American Morning

Bombing Arrests

Aired November 11, 2003 - 09:02   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The first claim of responsibility since the deadly bombing in Riyadh surfaced today as Saudi officials announced that a group of suspects has been arrested.
CNN's Nic Robertson at the scene of the blast, and he joins us from Riyadh on videophone this morning.

Nic, good morning.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

We were given access to the site of the scene of the blast just a few hours ago. The devastation there over a very wide scale. What really struck me was just how far into the compound the bombers had actually driven before they stopped their car. They drove in past the armed gate, around a corner, down another street, took a left turn, parked the vehicle in the middle of a complex apartment, and then detonated the bomb. The buildings on both sides of where the car exploded completely demolished, completely flat. Most of the rest of the buildings on that street will very likely have to be pulled down.

We saw in there today residents, people not in the compound had come back to clear out their houses. We talked with some very lucky survivors today who heard the gunfire before the explosion, caved in the backs of their houses and then were able to survive the blast, got away with perhaps a few minor injuries.

Everyone there today still shocked about what happened, Trying to get whatever personal possessions they could out of their houses. The windows blown in, door frames blown in, walls partially blown down, and that was only on some of the more lightly damaged buildings.

Also today, Saudi authorities saying they have now have in captivity several al Qaeda members they believe were -- may have something to do with the attack over the weekend. They were arrested following Saturday night's bombing.

And we do understand from Saudi officials now that some of the people that they've interrogated have told them that they thought the compound that was attacked had Americans in it, not Arabs.

We also know today that al Qaeda has made a claim of responsibility for the bombing. They placed that claim with a weekly political Saudi paper here. This paper, owned bay senior member of the royal family has a good track record, if you will, of reporting such tape (ph) -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson for us this morning. Nic, thanks for that update.

More now on the fight against terror in Saudi Arabia. Joining from us Washington is the director of information for the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Nail Al-Jubeir.

It's nice to see you, Mr. Jubeir. Thank for joining us.

NAIL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI SPOKESMAN: Thank you for having me.

O'BRIEN: My pleasure.

First, your theory as to the why behind the attacks. Many theories have been floated, one that the goal was sort of a general chaos. Two, to attack symbolically the royal family. Or, three, actually a mistake. The intended target was actually Americans, and it was sort of a big mistake. What's your theory in this?

AL-JUBEIR: Well, the whole idea is to bring havoc and kill as many people as they can. If that was a mistake, it means that we have been able to disrupt the intelligence gathering operations in Saudi Arabia. This community has been Arabs for quite sometime. So anybody living in that area would know the predominant people living there were Arabs. So they probably got instructions somewhere telling them this may be American target, but they were wrong in this case.

The other thing is, if their intent to is kill Americans, it doesn't answer the question as why are they involved in activities in Mecca? Why do they have bomb factories in the holy city of Mecca that only Muslims go to? Why do they have booby-trapped (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Mecca? So that sort of undermines the argument that, oh, well, we made a mistake, we were trying to go after Americans, but that doesn't explain the criminal activities involved in Mecca.

O'BRIEN: So what do you believe is really what happened? do you think in fact it was an attack, a symbolic attack on the royal family?

AL-JUBEIR: It's an attack on humanity. Killing innocent civilians to say, oh, we attacked the royal family. There are royals all over Saudi Arabia. There are other palaces they could have gone to if they wanted, but they targeted civilians, people of a soft target, and that was a soft target. They're going after soft targets, where they can have the most damage and this is the case.

The 122 civilians that were injured, mostly children, a third of those who were killed were children. So their target is humanity. It has nothing to do with the royal family, in terms of going after the royal family, in this particular attack.

O'BRIEN: Many people have said if al Qaeda starts to go after soft targets and Arabs in Arab countries, well then, they run the risk of losing all their support. Are you saying you don't think they care?

AL-JUBEIR: I don't think they care, because they don't have as much support as people think they have. We have been rounding them up. We've arrested over 600 of those. About 2,000 have been questioned. We've disrupted their operations in Saudi Arabia. We were not successful in disrupting this one, but other areas in Mecca were disrupted.

So if their intent is to kill civilians, that's what they're after.

The latest shootout in Mecca, the two people who committed suicide in Mecca, is an indication they were trying to carry out criminal acts in Mecca. So it has nothing to do with the royal family. It's just havoc and kill as many people as they can.

O'BRIEN: Here is what Senator Joe Biden had to say about this. I want to a quick piece of tape for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: The truth of the matter is maybe this will wake up the Saudi regime one more click, and them stop the indirect support of al Qaeda, stop building madrassas (ph) and get serious about and understand this is about international terror against nation states, not just about the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: It sounds to some degree as if he's saying that Saudi Arabia is now reaping what it has sown.

AL-JUBEIR: Well, I think I have respect for the senator. He has been forceful in his policy on the Middle East. I think he's wrong in this case. We've been very active in trying to pursue al Qaeda. We have been very active in trying to shut down any possible funding. We worked with the Americans. We established a joint task force on financial issues, where we'll track the money. We have a joint task force working in Saudi Arabia to try to track some of these criminal elements. So we have asked for American help, and we have received American help, so there is a joint effort in trying to track these groups, not only in Saudi Arabia, but all over the world.

O'BRIEN: There are reports that Saudi Arabia is expecting another attack, another terror attack, imminently because some of the information that's coming out. I guess there's a lot of chatter, as they put it. How do you possibly prepare for that?

AL-JUBEIR: Well, it all has to be with human intelligence. We have foiled a number of attacks. Unfortunately, we were not successful in the last one. But we have to do the best, we have to go after them mercilessly, try to track them down. We have exposed and arrested a number of cells inside the kingdom as well as outside the kingdom, and now we have to do the best.

It is a joint effort on the part of the people and the security forces. The citizens have been handing in suspects. In one cell in Riyadh, the neighbors suspected the house something unusual going on in the house. It was rented supposedly by a family, but yet no women were coming and leaving the house. That was an indication that something was wrong, and they reported it. We went there, and we found weapons in there, and we found suspected terrorists hiding in the house. So it's a global effort and we have appealed to the citizens to help us in this.

O'BRIEN: Director of information from the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Nail Al-Jubeir. Thanks for joining us. It's nice to have you. Thank you.

AL-JUBEIR: Thank you for having me.

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 11, 2003 - 09:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The first claim of responsibility since the deadly bombing in Riyadh surfaced today as Saudi officials announced that a group of suspects has been arrested.
CNN's Nic Robertson at the scene of the blast, and he joins us from Riyadh on videophone this morning.

Nic, good morning.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

We were given access to the site of the scene of the blast just a few hours ago. The devastation there over a very wide scale. What really struck me was just how far into the compound the bombers had actually driven before they stopped their car. They drove in past the armed gate, around a corner, down another street, took a left turn, parked the vehicle in the middle of a complex apartment, and then detonated the bomb. The buildings on both sides of where the car exploded completely demolished, completely flat. Most of the rest of the buildings on that street will very likely have to be pulled down.

We saw in there today residents, people not in the compound had come back to clear out their houses. We talked with some very lucky survivors today who heard the gunfire before the explosion, caved in the backs of their houses and then were able to survive the blast, got away with perhaps a few minor injuries.

Everyone there today still shocked about what happened, Trying to get whatever personal possessions they could out of their houses. The windows blown in, door frames blown in, walls partially blown down, and that was only on some of the more lightly damaged buildings.

Also today, Saudi authorities saying they have now have in captivity several al Qaeda members they believe were -- may have something to do with the attack over the weekend. They were arrested following Saturday night's bombing.

And we do understand from Saudi officials now that some of the people that they've interrogated have told them that they thought the compound that was attacked had Americans in it, not Arabs.

We also know today that al Qaeda has made a claim of responsibility for the bombing. They placed that claim with a weekly political Saudi paper here. This paper, owned bay senior member of the royal family has a good track record, if you will, of reporting such tape (ph) -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson for us this morning. Nic, thanks for that update.

More now on the fight against terror in Saudi Arabia. Joining from us Washington is the director of information for the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Nail Al-Jubeir.

It's nice to see you, Mr. Jubeir. Thank for joining us.

NAIL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI SPOKESMAN: Thank you for having me.

O'BRIEN: My pleasure.

First, your theory as to the why behind the attacks. Many theories have been floated, one that the goal was sort of a general chaos. Two, to attack symbolically the royal family. Or, three, actually a mistake. The intended target was actually Americans, and it was sort of a big mistake. What's your theory in this?

AL-JUBEIR: Well, the whole idea is to bring havoc and kill as many people as they can. If that was a mistake, it means that we have been able to disrupt the intelligence gathering operations in Saudi Arabia. This community has been Arabs for quite sometime. So anybody living in that area would know the predominant people living there were Arabs. So they probably got instructions somewhere telling them this may be American target, but they were wrong in this case.

The other thing is, if their intent to is kill Americans, it doesn't answer the question as why are they involved in activities in Mecca? Why do they have bomb factories in the holy city of Mecca that only Muslims go to? Why do they have booby-trapped (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Mecca? So that sort of undermines the argument that, oh, well, we made a mistake, we were trying to go after Americans, but that doesn't explain the criminal activities involved in Mecca.

O'BRIEN: So what do you believe is really what happened? do you think in fact it was an attack, a symbolic attack on the royal family?

AL-JUBEIR: It's an attack on humanity. Killing innocent civilians to say, oh, we attacked the royal family. There are royals all over Saudi Arabia. There are other palaces they could have gone to if they wanted, but they targeted civilians, people of a soft target, and that was a soft target. They're going after soft targets, where they can have the most damage and this is the case.

The 122 civilians that were injured, mostly children, a third of those who were killed were children. So their target is humanity. It has nothing to do with the royal family, in terms of going after the royal family, in this particular attack.

O'BRIEN: Many people have said if al Qaeda starts to go after soft targets and Arabs in Arab countries, well then, they run the risk of losing all their support. Are you saying you don't think they care?

AL-JUBEIR: I don't think they care, because they don't have as much support as people think they have. We have been rounding them up. We've arrested over 600 of those. About 2,000 have been questioned. We've disrupted their operations in Saudi Arabia. We were not successful in disrupting this one, but other areas in Mecca were disrupted.

So if their intent is to kill civilians, that's what they're after.

The latest shootout in Mecca, the two people who committed suicide in Mecca, is an indication they were trying to carry out criminal acts in Mecca. So it has nothing to do with the royal family. It's just havoc and kill as many people as they can.

O'BRIEN: Here is what Senator Joe Biden had to say about this. I want to a quick piece of tape for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: The truth of the matter is maybe this will wake up the Saudi regime one more click, and them stop the indirect support of al Qaeda, stop building madrassas (ph) and get serious about and understand this is about international terror against nation states, not just about the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: It sounds to some degree as if he's saying that Saudi Arabia is now reaping what it has sown.

AL-JUBEIR: Well, I think I have respect for the senator. He has been forceful in his policy on the Middle East. I think he's wrong in this case. We've been very active in trying to pursue al Qaeda. We have been very active in trying to shut down any possible funding. We worked with the Americans. We established a joint task force on financial issues, where we'll track the money. We have a joint task force working in Saudi Arabia to try to track some of these criminal elements. So we have asked for American help, and we have received American help, so there is a joint effort in trying to track these groups, not only in Saudi Arabia, but all over the world.

O'BRIEN: There are reports that Saudi Arabia is expecting another attack, another terror attack, imminently because some of the information that's coming out. I guess there's a lot of chatter, as they put it. How do you possibly prepare for that?

AL-JUBEIR: Well, it all has to be with human intelligence. We have foiled a number of attacks. Unfortunately, we were not successful in the last one. But we have to do the best, we have to go after them mercilessly, try to track them down. We have exposed and arrested a number of cells inside the kingdom as well as outside the kingdom, and now we have to do the best.

It is a joint effort on the part of the people and the security forces. The citizens have been handing in suspects. In one cell in Riyadh, the neighbors suspected the house something unusual going on in the house. It was rented supposedly by a family, but yet no women were coming and leaving the house. That was an indication that something was wrong, and they reported it. We went there, and we found weapons in there, and we found suspected terrorists hiding in the house. So it's a global effort and we have appealed to the citizens to help us in this.

O'BRIEN: Director of information from the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Nail Al-Jubeir. Thanks for joining us. It's nice to have you. Thank you.

AL-JUBEIR: Thank you for having me.

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