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CNN Live Saturday
Does Terrorism Work?
Aired April 13, 2002 - 13:38 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.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Terrorism, does it ever work? How successful as a military tool can it be? Our political analyst Bill Schneider takes a closer look at that question.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST (on camera): Is terrorism the intentional killing of unarmed civilians legitimate? That's a horrifying question with an obvious answer, no, never. But in the Middle East, nothing is obvious.
(voice-over): President Bush made his position on terrorism absolutely clear last September.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The only way to defeat terrorism as a threat to our way of life is to stop it, eliminate it, and destroy it where it grows.
SCHNEIDER: The problem is that many Palestinian supporters believe terrorism works.
KING ABDULLAH II, JORDAN: There is the feeling, whether rightly or wrongly in the Arab street that that is the only mechanism that the Palestinians have in retaliating.
SCHNEIDER: That was what Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meant when he made this startling assertion.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Contrary to popular belief, the motivating force behind terror is neither desperation nor destitution. It is in fact hope.
SCHNEIDER: What Palestinians hope for is the end of Israel's occupation and their own state. After nearly 35 years of occupation, many believe violence is the only way to get it. Israel refuses to discuss any political agenda until terrorism is eliminated.
NETANYAHU: There can never be a political solution for terror. There can never be a political solution for terror for a simple reason. The grievance of terrorists can never be addressed through political concessions. If you offer terrorists political concessions, you encourage them to engage in more terror.
SCHNEIDER: An answer from the leadership of the Palestinian cause? Until Palestinians see a clear political future, terrorism can't be controlled. They have to be linked.
KING ABDULLAH: The root of the problem is that the Israeli government looks at this as a security problem and it's never been a security problem. It's a political one.
SCHNEIDER: The United States now seems to take that position.
COLIN POWELL, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We have to link security and a political process together so people can see, not just a cease- fire, as important as that is, but something beyond a cease-fire, a political settlement that will move us in the right direction to the creation of a Palestinian State.
SCHNEIDER: To Israelis, that's making concessions to terrorists. Now listen to what President Bush recently said.
BUSH: Blowing yourself up does not help the Palestinian cause. To the contrary, suicide-bombing missions could well blow up the best and only hope for a Palestinian State.
SCHNEIDER: Some might hear that message as, "stop the violence and you may get your state."
(on camera): Hard-line Palestinian radicals who are responsible for much of the terrorism, don't just want their own state. They want to destroy the State of Israel. That's why so many Israelis support their government's tough line.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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