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American Morning

Bombings in Turkey

Aired November 21, 2003 - 09:35   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: President Bush is offering U.S. assistance to help Turkey in the investigation and recovery in the latest terror bombings in Istanbul. The massive blast yesterday outside the British consulate and Istanbul headquarters of a London- based bank killed 27 people, injured about 450 others. Turkish authorities have already arrested several people in connection with the attacks.
With us now from Washington is terrorism expert Daniel Benjamin. He's also the author of "The Sacred Age of Terror."

Good morning. Thanks for joining us.

Are you surprised at all by these targets?

DANIEL BENJAMIN, TERRORISM EXPERT: No, not surprised at all. In fact, the terrorists hit three of their top targets on their list with these attacks. Britain is seen as America's foremost ally, and a co- conspirator in American policies in the Middle East. Turkey is an avowedly secularist country and is a NATO ally, a close security partner of Israel. And synagogues, I'm afraid, are going up the target list as jihadists seek to capitalize on the growing tide of anti-Semitism in the world. So these were all, if you will, overdetermined targets.

O'BRIEN: Seemed like a group effort. Are we going to see more of these al Qaeda hybrids with sort of a local terror group to pull off something with an al Qaeda tactics, but not necessarily specifically al Qaeda connection?

BENJAMIN: That seems to be the direction. It's important to remember that al Qaeda began as a sponsor of local radicalism groups that were conducting battles against usually autocracies in the Muslim world, authoritarian regimes that they felt were treating Muslims poorly and destroying Islam. The change that we have seen now is that groups that historically have not had those ties. Islamists groups that were outside of the al Qaeda orbit appear to be taking up the al Qaeda agenda. And instead of wanting to attack those governments, have decided that the way to change history to attack Western targets, the U.S. and its allies above all.

O'BRIEN: So that's a new challenge, isn't it? because how do you go about after you've sort of made efforts to dismantle al Qaeda, squashing these smaller, more local, more spread out groups, where if you actually squash one, maybe doesn't go a very long way in stopping the violence overall across the globe? BENJAMIN: Well, it's a very good question. And I think that this suggests that we are going to be involved in the intelligence and law enforcement efforts to destroy these groups for a long time to come. The important thing, though, is that we also need a broader foreign policy to de-legitimate this ideology, and to convince the many, many people in the Muslim world who might be tempted by al Qaeda's worldview, we need to convince them that that's no way to improve their lot, and that such things as democracy and economic liberalization offer them a better path to joining the modern world.

O'BRIEN: How do you think attacks like this affect the relationship between the U.S. and Turkey?

BENJAMIN: Well, I think, if anything, it will, you know, tighten relations, if there was any room for any tightening. The turks, particularly on security issues, are as close an ally, really, as we have, and they value the relationship with the United States enormously. They are grateful to the United States for its help in past counterterrorism efforts, especially with the radical Kurdish group the PKK. They value their membership in NATO. They view America as a staunch supporter of their efforts to join Europe. So I don't see any daylight coming between us. There may be in some countries, in Turkey and elsewhere, voices that say this isn't paying off for us, but I don't think the government will budge.

O'BRIEN: Daniel Benjamin, joining us this morning. Mr. Benjamin, thanks.

BENJAMIN: My pleasure.

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 21, 2003 - 09:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is offering U.S. assistance to help Turkey in the investigation and recovery in the latest terror bombings in Istanbul. The massive blast yesterday outside the British consulate and Istanbul headquarters of a London- based bank killed 27 people, injured about 450 others. Turkish authorities have already arrested several people in connection with the attacks.
With us now from Washington is terrorism expert Daniel Benjamin. He's also the author of "The Sacred Age of Terror."

Good morning. Thanks for joining us.

Are you surprised at all by these targets?

DANIEL BENJAMIN, TERRORISM EXPERT: No, not surprised at all. In fact, the terrorists hit three of their top targets on their list with these attacks. Britain is seen as America's foremost ally, and a co- conspirator in American policies in the Middle East. Turkey is an avowedly secularist country and is a NATO ally, a close security partner of Israel. And synagogues, I'm afraid, are going up the target list as jihadists seek to capitalize on the growing tide of anti-Semitism in the world. So these were all, if you will, overdetermined targets.

O'BRIEN: Seemed like a group effort. Are we going to see more of these al Qaeda hybrids with sort of a local terror group to pull off something with an al Qaeda tactics, but not necessarily specifically al Qaeda connection?

BENJAMIN: That seems to be the direction. It's important to remember that al Qaeda began as a sponsor of local radicalism groups that were conducting battles against usually autocracies in the Muslim world, authoritarian regimes that they felt were treating Muslims poorly and destroying Islam. The change that we have seen now is that groups that historically have not had those ties. Islamists groups that were outside of the al Qaeda orbit appear to be taking up the al Qaeda agenda. And instead of wanting to attack those governments, have decided that the way to change history to attack Western targets, the U.S. and its allies above all.

O'BRIEN: So that's a new challenge, isn't it? because how do you go about after you've sort of made efforts to dismantle al Qaeda, squashing these smaller, more local, more spread out groups, where if you actually squash one, maybe doesn't go a very long way in stopping the violence overall across the globe? BENJAMIN: Well, it's a very good question. And I think that this suggests that we are going to be involved in the intelligence and law enforcement efforts to destroy these groups for a long time to come. The important thing, though, is that we also need a broader foreign policy to de-legitimate this ideology, and to convince the many, many people in the Muslim world who might be tempted by al Qaeda's worldview, we need to convince them that that's no way to improve their lot, and that such things as democracy and economic liberalization offer them a better path to joining the modern world.

O'BRIEN: How do you think attacks like this affect the relationship between the U.S. and Turkey?

BENJAMIN: Well, I think, if anything, it will, you know, tighten relations, if there was any room for any tightening. The turks, particularly on security issues, are as close an ally, really, as we have, and they value the relationship with the United States enormously. They are grateful to the United States for its help in past counterterrorism efforts, especially with the radical Kurdish group the PKK. They value their membership in NATO. They view America as a staunch supporter of their efforts to join Europe. So I don't see any daylight coming between us. There may be in some countries, in Turkey and elsewhere, voices that say this isn't paying off for us, but I don't think the government will budge.

O'BRIEN: Daniel Benjamin, joining us this morning. Mr. Benjamin, thanks.

BENJAMIN: My pleasure.

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