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American Morning

Aftermath of Jordan Hotel Bombings; Deadliest Attacks Inside Iraqi Capital in Months

Aired November 10, 2005 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien. A developing story out of Baghdad this morning. The deadliest attacks inside the capital in months. A suicide bomber blows himself up inside a crowded restaurant. Thirty-four people are dead, 25 others are wounded. We have a live report from Baghdad straight ahead.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien. Troubling new messages in the aftermath of those Jordan hotel bombings. The Abu Musab Al Zarqawi terror group is claiming responsibility. Is the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq's most wanted terrorist expanding his reach? We're live in Jordan this morning.

S. O'BRIEN: And a show of force here at home. Police in New York hit the streets after the Jordan bombings. A new security watch, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody.

Unfortunately, we begin the day with lots of violence to tell you about from yesterday, and then, of course, this morning in Baghdad as well.

M. O'BRIEN: It's a busy morning. Let's get right to it.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, we've got correspondents all across the globe this morning, on this story especially. Guy Raz is on the scene for us in Amman, Jordan, national security correspondent David Ensor is in Washington d.c., Chris Huntington in here in New York, where security is being stepped up as well today.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's set the scene for you. It happened yesterday, a little before 2:00 Eastern Time, a seven-hour time change to Jordan. You can see Jordan there. It's sandwiched by Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. It's a strategic location, a country that has generally had friendly relations with the West, sort of the gateway to Iraq for many Westerners.

As you move into the capital city of Amman, we'll show you how it happened, about 8:50 local time, as we say, blast occurring in this order, nearly simultaneous, or simultaneous suicide bombings. And as it stands right now, 56 dead.

CNN's Guy Raz has the latest from Amman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After the initial shock has subsided, the investigation into what happened on Wednesday night is now under way in earnest. A senior Jordanian intelligence officer has told CNN that all of the bombers were wearing suicide-bomb belts. No vehicles were involved in any of the attacks. In one instance, at the Days Inn Hotel, the bomber walked into the hotel, walked up to the bar, ordered an orange juice and attempted to detonate his suicide belt. It failed, and he walked out returning 15 minutes later, only to detonate that vest right in the lobby of the Days Inn hotel. The bomber who entered the Hyatt also entered through the lobby and detonated his belt right by the main lobby bar.

And also, at the Radisson Hotel, a suicide bomber wearing a bomb belt walked deep into the hotel, into a reception hall where a wedding was taking place, and that's where he detonated his vest, killing and wounding scores of people at the Radisson Hotel.

Now a group calling itself Al Qaeda in Iraq has claimed responsibility for this attack. That claim was made on its Arabic- language Web site which is reportedly associated with Al Qaeda in Iraq, a group believed to be led be Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, one of the most wanted men in the world, a man on whose head the United States has placed a $25 million be bounty. Jordanian officials now believe that Al Qaeda or Al Qaeda-linked groups were almost certainly involved in the triple blasts that are now being called the worst terrorist acts in Jordanian history.

Guy Raz, CNN, Amman.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get to David Ensor. He is our national security correspondent. He's in Washington D.C. Let's talk a little bit more about Iraq's most wanted terrorist, Abu Musab Zarqawi, and this claim that's been posted on the Web site, David.

Good morning.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, right, even before this claim was made, U.S. intelligence officials were putting Zarqawi at the very top of their suspect list in these bombings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR (voice-over): U.S. intelligence officials say Abu Musab Al Zarqawi is at the top of their list of suspects in the Amman attacks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His group has long had a presence in Jordan. They were very focused on overthrowing the Jordanian monarchy.

ENSOR: Officials say they suspect Zarqawi for several reasons. First, the method of the attack, suicide bombs, used as Zarqawi's terrorists have done to such deadly effect in neighboring Iraq. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't need many young men to have a pretty effective, pretty lethal terrorist cell, certainly if you have young men who are willing to incinerate themselves.

ENSOR: Secondly, the history: Zarqawi's men killed American diplomat Lawrence Foley in 2002. They were behind the rocket attacks in the port of Aqaba that killed two just months ago, according to U.S. officials. And they tried, but failed, to attack Jordanian intelligence in April of 2004.

And third, the Jordanian terrorist leader, affiliated with Al Qaeda, has repeatedly stated his intention of hitting his homeland.

In an April 2004 statement, he said quote, "We will have more fierce confrontations with the Jordanian government. The chapters of some of these confrontations have ended, but what is coming is more vicious and bitter, God willing."

Are the attacks part of a pattern? Like other Al Qaeda attacks, they were simultaneous, against soft targets, using suicide killers. And two of the hotels in Amman, the Radisson and Hyatt, have been targeted unsuccessfully before.

JOHN MCLAUGHIN, CNN NATL. SECURITY ANALYST: One of the things you learn about Al Qaeda is once they've tried something, it stays on the shelf. I mean, they've done some reconnaissance, they've thought about it, and yes, they may have been foiled once, but a little bit of their job is done if they want to go back to that target. The Trade Center is, of course, a good example of that.

ENSOR: Finally, U.S. intelligence officials note the brutality of the attack. Many of the dead were celebrating a wedding at one of the hotels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Al Qaeda's number-two man recently warned Zarqawi in a letter that U.S. intelligence says it captured that his attacks on innocent Iraqis could lose the battle from Muslim hearts and minds in that country. It would seem in Jordan, too, whoever did this, Zarqawi or whoever, isn't concerned about that issue at all -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: David Ensor for us this morning in Washington. Thanks, David -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Now the attacks in Jordan triggered a quick response in New York City. Police sent extra security to dozens of hotels last night.

CNN's Chris Huntington live in Lower Manhattan, where you can see, police are there with quite a show of force.

Good morning, Chris.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles. Indeed a strong show of force, but again, remember this is New York City post-9/11. This kind of operation, which we're seeing here amass today, is actually a normal morning exercise that happens around the city. They call it a critical-response vehicle unit. It's a special search-and-deployment operation that, in fact, goes on around the city in different locations every single day. They have chosen today to amass here in the world financial center. I'm right across from the entrance of Merrill Lynch, only about 250 yards or so from the site of the World Trade Center. So, indeed, this is a charged area. I don't have to elaborate on that.

This unit, though, will fan out across the city. They are drawn from precincts around the city. We estimate here close to 200 plain regular blue police officers in cruisers. Not the heavy artillery Hercules unit, as its known, which is sometimes brought to bear. A month or so ago, when there was that scare in the subway system here, there was much more heavily armed police force in evidence. That's not the situation here today, although last night, in hotels around the city, there was immediate step up of heavy duty police presence. Again, keep in mind, this is New York City, always vigilant.

In fact, this city has technically been on orange level since 9/11. We spoke with the instructor who's running this particular operation, and he sort of, as is typical of New Yorkers, sort of joked, said, well, we're orange, I don't know if it's bright orange or sort of amber orange, but the fact is these guys, as he put it, are at the top of their game. They never let down.

Another thing to keep in mind, we're only a couple days following mayor Mike Bloomberg's re-election. And one thing Mayor Bloomberg has made very clear is that security is his highest priority. He was criticized, along with his police chief, for perhaps overreacting to the subway scare back in October. But frankly, that is a mistake that he is more than willing to make. He's made it very clear he will do whatever it takes to keep this city safe -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Chris Huntington in Manhattan thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Early morning violence to tell you about in Iraq today. At least 34 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a restaurant in Baghdad.

CNN's Aneesh Raman is live for us in Baghdad this morning. Aneesh, good morning.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good morning to you.

It was the deadliest of three suicide attacks that ripped through Iraq today. It happened at 9:30 a.m. local, when a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest walked into a restaurant on Abu Nawa (ph) Street, one of the main commercial thoroughfares through the Iraqi capital and blew himself up. At least 34 people are confirmed dead. Twenty-five others wounded. Now also in Tikrit, in the Sunni Triangle, north of the of the Iraqi capital, a suicide car bomb detonated at an Army medical facility. That attack killed four people.

And as we perennially ask in these days, how do you curb these attacks from happening? Two answers. One is, of course, the borders. Iraqi borders remain porous, especially that Syrian border, where foreign fighters, weapons, cash continue to flow into the country. Towards that end, the U.S. and Iraqi Operation, Steel Curtain, is under way to try to seal the border.

The second is intelligence and information. Iraqi civilians become critical in a guerrilla war where urban warfare is the defining characteristic. And getting them to come forward on better intel with where the insurgents are living among the civilians is key. That, Soledad, can really only happen when Iraqi security forces become the faith of the security apparatus here -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Aneesh Raman with an update out of Baghdad this morning. Aneesh, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: A state of emergency in France as rioters clash with police for another night. Officers say there is a drop in violence, however, but hundreds of vehicles, once again torched all throughout the country. Curfews in effect in nearly 40 French towns now, including the Rivera resorts of Caane and Nice. Local officials have been told to deport foreigners involved in the violence.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, we're talking about Andrea Yates. You'll remember she was convicted of drowning all five of her children. Well, now, she's been given a new trial. Her lawyer, though, says, he hopes that doesn't happen. We're going to ask him to explain, just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: And more on those deadly attacks in Jordan. One reporter got into that bombed-out wedding hall just after the attack, and she'll tell us -- just describe the horrifying scene, really. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: It was a terrible explosion, and took a horrible toll on people in three hotels; 56 people reported now killed in the wake of these explosions, reportedly set off by suicide bombers. Rana Husseini is a reporter with the Jordan times. Just minutes really after the blast, she was able to get into one hotel, the Radisson Hotel, which was also the scene of a wedding celebration. Many victims from that celebration were killed in this blast. She's in Amman, Jordan today.

Nice to talk to you, Rana. Thank you.

You got there, as I said, just about 20 minutes after the explosion. What did you see?

RANA HUSSEINI, "JORDAN TIMES": First of all, I saw a lot of ambulances and fire engines, hundreds of police officers, you know, ambulances rushing people. Every one minute there were ambulances rushing to the scene. There were sirens heard constantly all the time.

Then I decided, you know, I thought about it, I said, shall I go in, or maybe there's another bomb, and then I said, I'm just going to go in. Of course, the hotel its surrounded with glass doors. They're all shattered. I entered from the lobby. The lobby was a bit -- the ceiling was down, was torn down. You can see the destruction everywhere.

As I walked toward wedding hall, there was scattered glass everywhere, chairs were turned over, piano was -- the ceiling fell on the piano. It was really horrific. Of course, there was bloodstains all over -- on the walls, on the floor; some chairs were filled with blood. And when I reached the wedding hall, it was dark, because they have disconnected the electricity. But I can see the chairs, the tables, it was a total mess inside. And I noticed that the center -- the explosion was in the center of the room.

S. O'BRIEN: You ran into...

HUSSEINI: There was also...

S. O'BRIEN: Forgive me for interrupting you, Rana. I know you ran into a couple of employees who really were there and saw a lot of the most gruesome things that happened, especially inside this wedding hall. What were they able to tell you?

HUSSEINI: Yes. As I was walking to the hotel to go inside, I met -- I noticed four men, they looked like as if they were coming out of a battle. They were so scared, they panicked, they were in a disbelief situation. So -- and I heard one of them saying, Yusef (ph) is dead. So you know, I asked them, who's Yusef? He said he's my colleague. I said, were you inside? He said, yes, I was inside the wedding hall. They were employees at the hotel. So I asked them to describe what went on. He said everything was normal. We didn't feel anything peculiar.

As the bride and the groom were getting ready to enter the hall, you know, we have this wedding procession where you have musicians, you know, they sing some cultural music. As they were walking into the hall, the suicide bomber detonated him or herself.

So they said it was like a flash. They saw all the walls falling, the ceiling, and then when they woke up from the shock, one employee told me, I just saw piles of bodies, heads everywhere, amputated legs, arms. He said it was a total mess. And he kept saying Yusef is dead. I said, how do you know Yusef is dead? He said, I saw him. His head, he had a big cut on his forehead, and he's dead. So I tried to calm him down. I said, you know, calm down, maybe he's just injured. He said, no, no, I know he's dead; he wasn't moving.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about today...

HUSSEINI: And then one of his friends... S. O'BRIEN: Let me interrupt you there, Rana. The sense today, obviously people clearly must still be in shock. How does it feel today?

HUSSEINI: So far, you know, as you said people are shocked, angry. They're in disbelief, because Jordan is known to be a very secure place. People are very peaceful here. You know, we're one of the countries that's situated in the middle of a lot of turmoil, and we've always tried to balance our presence in this area and, you know, to make peace with everyone, but -- and really people did not expect that. People were shocked. You can tell from the reaction of their eyes. I was driving today in Amman, people were sad, many were wearing black. People were carrying the Jordanian flag.

S. O'BRIEN: They must really feel like things...

HUSSEINI: There are several rallies.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it must feel like things have truly changed.

HUSSEINI: There are several rallies taking place at the moment.

S. O'BRIEN: Rana Husseini, reporter for "The Jordan Times." Rana, thank you for talking with us this morning.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, we're "Minding Your Business." Executives for some Big Oil companies do a little bobbing and weaving on Capitol Hill. They didn't stand and raise their right hand, though, did they? Did they convince anyone that they're giving us a fair shake? We'll ask that question of Andy Serwer after a break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer is here, and you watched every last minute of that hearing as the oil company executives...

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Enough of it. Enough of it.

M. O'BRIEN: To see what?

SERWER: Well, they turned up the burner under the five oil company executives yesterday.

M. O'BRIEN: So to speak.

SERWER: So to speak. And interesting stuff.

Here are a few takeaway points. Number one, the executives avoided being sworn in, so they didn't have the moment where their hands were raised, their right hands were raised like the tobacco executives.

S. O'BRIEN: That always makes you look bad.

SERWER: Yes, it really does. M. O'BRIEN: It is the shot. It becomes the definitive moment, doesn't it?

SERWER: It certainly does.

The senators were trying to score points yesterday. Senator Pete Domenici, a Republican in New Mexico, asking why the price of oil was high. Here's what he asked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PETE DOMENICI (R). NEW MEXICO: Are you rigging the price of oil? Or is somebody rigging the price? Who chooses to answer the question first? No volunteers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERWER: There weren't any volunteers, not a volunteer. Actually, it was a voluntary session, but they weren't exactly getting...

S. O'BRIEN: Can't win on that one. You don't want to be the one to answer that.

SERWER: The executives defended themselves by saying, you know, of course the place of oil goes up, the price of oil goes down, and actually, it was interesting, Lee Raymond from Exxon saying, well, we didn't want to cut prices too much, because then we would have run out of supply.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, this is the interesting thing.

SERWER: A little economics there.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, this is the interesting thing. It was somebody from the Federal Trade Commission was saying the same thing. If it weren't for the high prices, people would hoard more, buy more, and you'd run out, supply-and-demand kind of stuff.

SERWER: Yes, not a very compassionate argument.

M. O'BRIEN: You might say bloodless.

SERWER: Right, I would say that's right.

S. O'BRIEN: We should thank them. Oh, my goodness.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: And one interesting point here also that Senator Domenici said, he was very frustrated by their answers, and actually asked for more responses in writing, saying I hope you do a better job in writing than you did orally here today.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that was -- I would agree, not a...

M. O'BRIEN: What's interesting, there seems to be bipartisan criticism here.

SERWER: Right. But probably just so much venting. I don't think there's going to be a lot of change coming out of these hearings at the end of the day.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, and also I think certainly for the voters, you want to see your senator, whatever side of the aisle you're on, you want to see your senator drilling Big Oil regardless of what...

SERWER: Easy target.

M. O'BRIEN: Soundbite here, soundbite there.

S. O'BRIEN: There a soundbite, a soundbite everywhere. Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, we're talking about Andrea Yates. She might get a new trial in the drowning deaths of her five children. Is there is a plea deal in the works, though? We're going to talk to Andrea Yates' lawyer, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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