Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Interview with Mai Yamani

Aired October 26, 2001 - 05:39   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get more insight now in the Saudi Arabian policy. An expert is joining us now who knows a lot more about this then we do. She authored the book "Changing Identities: A Challenge of the New Generation in Saudi Arabia."

Mai Yamani, she's also an associate fellow at Britain's Royal Institute of International Affairs and she joins us from our London bureau this morning. Good morning. We thank you very much for your time this morning Ms. Yamani.

MAI YAMANI, AUTHOR OF "CHANGED IDENTITIES": Good morning.

HARRIS: You begin by explaining to us this morning some things that Jonathan Mann mentioned in his report there. The fact there were 15 of the suspected hijackers involved in this attack on the World Trade Center have Saudi roots or were Saudi Arabians and yet, we haven't seen one single arrest that's been made in Saudi Arabia. There have been arrests made in some 40 countries around the world in this investigation.

Now how is it -- how do you look at that? I mean people of the U.S., in particular those who have been watching the investigation, can't help but be skeptical about how genuine Saudi supportive investigation actually is at this point.

YAMANI: I think that we have to look at this within the wider context of the general feelings of an anxiety and anger that have been taking place within Saudi Arabia, and that is when we look at these terrorists, we know on the one hand, of course, the Saudi Arabian government has already voiced its being completely against this -- the attack and against the terrorism.

However, there is still a lot of censorship in Saudi Arabia and a lot of what goes on in Saudi Arabia is not public. So we don't know about that because basically the radical tendency the wahadi (ph) conservative tendency has extended to a more radical new (UNINTELLIGIBLE) movement in Saudi Arabia, and that has been the expense and marginalizing the more cosmopolitan liberal trends in the country.

All that has to go back to the beginning of the '91 and the Gulf War and the U.S. presence -- military presence in Saudi Arabian soil that many of those radical wahadis (ph) have been opposing. HARRIS: So basically what we're watching here then is the Saudi royal family then -- trying to find some way of protecting its franchise right now against all of these different elements that maybe counter balancing it. Is that -- is that how you see it right now?

YAMANI: Well at the moment really the -- if we can generalize the Saudi government it's interlocked in a foreign policy that exacerbates the domestic problems and managing the popular demand and the problems are of course not only to do with the United States, but to do with people's sense of uncertainty, the vulnerability in the national identity that they feel because they have to be protected by the United States rather by their own autonomous government.

But then there are other problems, the changing living standards, the unemployment that is rising up to 37 percent, the number of expatriate workers in the country, that make people feel where there's maybe something wrong with us or our system. So all this is related to how the United States is perceived and the policies in general in the region and in specific to who they see as their Palestinian brothers and sisters.

HARRIS: Yes.

YAMANI: And their plight and the problem that is exacerbated.

HARRIS: Yes, we've heard those different reports about 25, 30 maybe even higher 30 percent unemployment and then we hear reports that maybe one of the princes in the royal family going out and building $1 billion resort or a vacation home someplace and that's got to cause some sort of tension there domestically within the country.

But I want to ask you about how the government or the royal family uses that or tries to combat what may be happening amongst the general Saudi Arabian public with that, and their feelings -- the country's feelings about the United States. Is it true that the government and the royal family would much have and will engineer it so that the public actually hates the U.S. more than it is going to be critical of the Saudi royal family?

YAMANI: Well the way the United States is viewed in the region really is a whole range of opinion. At best it is -- opinions are ambivalent and at worst they consider especially in the language of the more radical Selafid (ph) and New Wahadi (ph) tendency in their language they see that the government is being colonized, that Saudi Arabia is being colonized by the United States and they resent to be the Germany of the United States in the region.

The situation at the moment is really been between the United States and the policies in the region and the people and their popular demand and uncertainties and fears especially after the bombing of Afghanistan. There's a lot -- there's a lack of clarity at this stage. What are the consequences to all this in the region.

HARRIS: Let me ask you that finally on the way out this morning about those consequences. Is it possible -- is there a chance -- was there any hope that what we're seeing right now happening in Afghanistan may actually be the beginning of some major changes in Saudi Arabian society?

YAMANI: I think that if more space is given to people to express their opinions, reforms, more jobs, if there is some of these domestic problems that are (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for, are showed, the question of corruption of the manned distribution of wealth, all that has to be addressed as well as the balance between the liberal and the freedom of expression.

That has become a very big issue -- human rights, freedom of expression. I think that these are issues that are important and then there's the question of Iraq, the damaging sanctions of Iraq, the bombing -- persistent bombing of Iraq from Saudi soil and again, the problem of the Palestinians. I think that if the bombing is extended or something moves closer, such as to Iraq, then that would really make big problems in the Arab Middle East.

I really think that it depends on how events unfold and bin Laden and whether he is -- the bin Laden syndrome is again a very problematic issue in Saudi Arabia.

HARRIS: Yes, it'd be nice if there were some simple answers here. But thank you very much for your time and for your insights this morning. Mai Yamani, we sure do appreciate it. Thank you very much and take care.

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