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Terror in Riyadh

Aired May 13, 2003 - 13:11   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now let's check in with Peter Bergen, a person who tracks terrorism in general for us, specifically Al Qaeda, author of an impressive book about Al Qaeda "Holy War, Incorporated." And one of the few people, few Western journalists who have had the opportunity to interview -- the name...
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Bin Laden.

O'BRIEN: Bin Laden, I was thinking Saddam Hussein.

Excuse me, Peter Bergen, for that.

First of all, Al Qaeda -- is it obvious to you?

BERGEN: Yes, there's a sort of dearth of other candidates that have the motivation and capability to do something like this, Miles. And the fact that it was a suicide attack, that it was multiple targets, that it was very carefully planned, coordinated, all these are hallmarks of Al Qaeda. And after all, Al Qaeda is a largely Saudi organization. Its leader is a Saudi exile. Saudi charities and individuals have contributed the most important amount of money to Al Qaeda. Reportedly, the largest group of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are Saudi. And the list goes on. So it's so not really surprising that all fingers are pointing at Al Qaeda, including the Saudi government itself.

O'BRIEN: What about the question about what this shows, the fact that the target is right there in Saudi Arabia? Could you draw any conclusions from that?

BERGEN: Well, I mean should Americans be concerned about their safety in this country? I think it's very unlikely, as Al Qaeda has not been able to pull off other attacks within the United States since 9/11. But clearly, they're capable of pulling off attacks in places where they have a lot of support around world. In places like Pakistan and Karachi, we've seen multiple attacks. In Indonesia, we saw the attack that killed almost 200 people in October. And in Saudi Arabia, we're seeing the kinds of attacks that these pictures demonstrate.

And, Miles, I think there's an interesting thing here. There have been a lot of low-level attacks against Westerners in Saudi Arabia in the past year or two. And many of them have been characterized as disputes over the illegal alcohol trade. I think with the lens of this attack, investigators will go back and look at those attacks, and say perhaps these were Al Qaeda-related attacks, these other small-bore attacks on Westerners that preceded this much larger attack.

O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this. What about the idea of Al Qaeda having some centralized control, to what extent does that exist, Bin Laden notwithstanding, and to what extent does that matter, because these cells sort of operating independently from one another?

BERGEN: Well, in a sense, if you're a victim of one of these attacks, does it matter whether it was Al Qaeda, the central organization, or the loose-knit, sort of ideological sort of Al Qaeda wannabes? In a way, it doesn't really matter. The central organization was massively disrupted by the war in Afghanistan. Bin Laden ran Al Qaeda almost like a corporation. I think that part of is gone. But Al Qaeda has become a more virtual organization. You can find its Web sites on the Internet, and it has become a more decentralized organization, and groups are now acting locally. The people behind this attack were probably all Saudis. The people behind the attacks in Pakistan have generally been Pakistanis, likewise in Indonesia.

So we're not seeing transnational attacks that have happened in the past. We're seeing more local, home grown kinds of things, but obviously at a minimum, inspired by Al Qaeda, and in some cases, direct by Al Qaeda.

O'BRIEN: Peter Bergen, our terrorism expert, thank you very much for your insights.

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 May 13, 2003 - 13:11   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now let's check in with Peter Bergen, a person who tracks terrorism in general for us, specifically Al Qaeda, author of an impressive book about Al Qaeda "Holy War, Incorporated." And one of the few people, few Western journalists who have had the opportunity to interview -- the name...
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Bin Laden.

O'BRIEN: Bin Laden, I was thinking Saddam Hussein.

Excuse me, Peter Bergen, for that.

First of all, Al Qaeda -- is it obvious to you?

BERGEN: Yes, there's a sort of dearth of other candidates that have the motivation and capability to do something like this, Miles. And the fact that it was a suicide attack, that it was multiple targets, that it was very carefully planned, coordinated, all these are hallmarks of Al Qaeda. And after all, Al Qaeda is a largely Saudi organization. Its leader is a Saudi exile. Saudi charities and individuals have contributed the most important amount of money to Al Qaeda. Reportedly, the largest group of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are Saudi. And the list goes on. So it's so not really surprising that all fingers are pointing at Al Qaeda, including the Saudi government itself.

O'BRIEN: What about the question about what this shows, the fact that the target is right there in Saudi Arabia? Could you draw any conclusions from that?

BERGEN: Well, I mean should Americans be concerned about their safety in this country? I think it's very unlikely, as Al Qaeda has not been able to pull off other attacks within the United States since 9/11. But clearly, they're capable of pulling off attacks in places where they have a lot of support around world. In places like Pakistan and Karachi, we've seen multiple attacks. In Indonesia, we saw the attack that killed almost 200 people in October. And in Saudi Arabia, we're seeing the kinds of attacks that these pictures demonstrate.

And, Miles, I think there's an interesting thing here. There have been a lot of low-level attacks against Westerners in Saudi Arabia in the past year or two. And many of them have been characterized as disputes over the illegal alcohol trade. I think with the lens of this attack, investigators will go back and look at those attacks, and say perhaps these were Al Qaeda-related attacks, these other small-bore attacks on Westerners that preceded this much larger attack.

O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this. What about the idea of Al Qaeda having some centralized control, to what extent does that exist, Bin Laden notwithstanding, and to what extent does that matter, because these cells sort of operating independently from one another?

BERGEN: Well, in a sense, if you're a victim of one of these attacks, does it matter whether it was Al Qaeda, the central organization, or the loose-knit, sort of ideological sort of Al Qaeda wannabes? In a way, it doesn't really matter. The central organization was massively disrupted by the war in Afghanistan. Bin Laden ran Al Qaeda almost like a corporation. I think that part of is gone. But Al Qaeda has become a more virtual organization. You can find its Web sites on the Internet, and it has become a more decentralized organization, and groups are now acting locally. The people behind this attack were probably all Saudis. The people behind the attacks in Pakistan have generally been Pakistanis, likewise in Indonesia.

So we're not seeing transnational attacks that have happened in the past. We're seeing more local, home grown kinds of things, but obviously at a minimum, inspired by Al Qaeda, and in some cases, direct by Al Qaeda.

O'BRIEN: Peter Bergen, our terrorism expert, thank you very much for your insights.

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