Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Interview With Jim Walsh
Aired August 15, 2003 - 14:35 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In addition to capturing Hambali, U.S. officials say they also netted two of his top lieutenants. Jim Walsh is a fellow with the Belfour Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. He joins us from Boston with more insight into these arrests and the impact on al Qaeda. Hi, Jim.
JIM WALSH, : Hi, Kyra. Good to see you.
PHILLIPS: Good to see you too. I'm glad you made it. Hey, let's start off talking about Thailand. This is where Hambali was captured. Why Thailand?
WALSH: Well Thailand is not a country that has been a victim of a lot of terrorism, most of it has happened in the Philippines and in Indonesia. But Thailand has been criticized in the past as allowing easy entry. It has a weak visa system and been criticized for allow terrorists to get in there to have meetings. So that might be part of the reason.
PHILLIPS: So let's talk about this Thailand/U.S. relationship. We were talking yesterday about this nation or this government that helped the U.S., but they didn't want to come out and say exactly what country that it was, we're kind of assuming that it's Thailand. Talk to us about why Thailand would maybe want to remain anonymous.
WALSH: Well there are a couple of motivations a country might have if it didn't want to come public with it's U.S. cooperations. One motivation is it might not want to end up on an al Qaeda hit list. You and I have listened to a lot of bin Laden tapes in which he has he criticized countries that have cooperated with the war on terrorism and has promised retribution. It may be they may want to avoid that.
There's also the issue of political sensitivity. Now, in most cases political sensitivity means a country has a big Muslim population, maybe that is resentful of the U.S. and it doesn't want to get in political trouble.
That's not the case here in Thailand. Ninety-five percent of all Thais are Buddhist, not Muslim. Only 4 percent of the population is Muslim.
But there may be another political sensitivity. This week Thailand, the Thai government rammed through a new anti-terrorism law, it bypassed its parliament and there has been criticism about that, criticism that maybe that was the result of U.S. pressure. So if it is Thailand, and of course we don't know, but if it is Thailand it might be trying to keep its U.S. cooperation less visible and therefore avoid public criticism.
PHILLIPS: All right, on the other hand, Thailand or whatever government is it has ended up being that has helped the U.S. make this capture. What's the motivation? Why help the U.S.?
WALSH: Well I think all those countries in Southeast Asia, be it Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore or Indonesia, are all subject to attack by Jemaah Islamiyah. Jemaah Islamiyah wants to set up an Islamist state throughout Southeast Asia.
And as you pointed out earlier, there's a big important meeting coming up in Thailand later this year and that would have been a promising target for al Qaeda. And maybe by acting now they could avoid future problems.
PHILLIPS: All right, and we're talking about the APEC Summit, of course, that's coming up in October.
So, with this capture, what type of impact will it have on al Qaeda and possible future attacks that have been planned in addition to this one on the APEC Summit?
WALSH: Well maybe one good early indication of that will be this weekend. There have been rumors that Jemaah Islamiyah was planning a series of attacks this Sunday, sometime this weekend, probably in Jakarta. We'll see if those actually, do in fact, happen.
But if we step back and take the longer view, I think we have to say that any arrest is good, but no single arrest will lead to the elimination of Jemaah Islamiyah or al Qaeda.
It;s worth remembering that in Indonesia right this moment the head Jemaah Islamiyah, Mr. Bashir, has been held in custody for some time, but that didn't stop Jemaah Islamiyah from launching that attack on the Marriott Hotel.
So I do think it has an impact, but you have to focus on the process that is taking the terrorists down a cell at a time and not get too wrapped up in any one particular arrest.
PHILLIPS: Our Jim Walsh joining us from Boston, always a pleasure. Thanks, Jim.
WALSH: Thank you, Kyra.
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 August 15, 2003 - 14:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In addition to capturing Hambali, U.S. officials say they also netted two of his top lieutenants. Jim Walsh is a fellow with the Belfour Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. He joins us from Boston with more insight into these arrests and the impact on al Qaeda. Hi, Jim.
JIM WALSH, : Hi, Kyra. Good to see you.
PHILLIPS: Good to see you too. I'm glad you made it. Hey, let's start off talking about Thailand. This is where Hambali was captured. Why Thailand?
WALSH: Well Thailand is not a country that has been a victim of a lot of terrorism, most of it has happened in the Philippines and in Indonesia. But Thailand has been criticized in the past as allowing easy entry. It has a weak visa system and been criticized for allow terrorists to get in there to have meetings. So that might be part of the reason.
PHILLIPS: So let's talk about this Thailand/U.S. relationship. We were talking yesterday about this nation or this government that helped the U.S., but they didn't want to come out and say exactly what country that it was, we're kind of assuming that it's Thailand. Talk to us about why Thailand would maybe want to remain anonymous.
WALSH: Well there are a couple of motivations a country might have if it didn't want to come public with it's U.S. cooperations. One motivation is it might not want to end up on an al Qaeda hit list. You and I have listened to a lot of bin Laden tapes in which he has he criticized countries that have cooperated with the war on terrorism and has promised retribution. It may be they may want to avoid that.
There's also the issue of political sensitivity. Now, in most cases political sensitivity means a country has a big Muslim population, maybe that is resentful of the U.S. and it doesn't want to get in political trouble.
That's not the case here in Thailand. Ninety-five percent of all Thais are Buddhist, not Muslim. Only 4 percent of the population is Muslim.
But there may be another political sensitivity. This week Thailand, the Thai government rammed through a new anti-terrorism law, it bypassed its parliament and there has been criticism about that, criticism that maybe that was the result of U.S. pressure. So if it is Thailand, and of course we don't know, but if it is Thailand it might be trying to keep its U.S. cooperation less visible and therefore avoid public criticism.
PHILLIPS: All right, on the other hand, Thailand or whatever government is it has ended up being that has helped the U.S. make this capture. What's the motivation? Why help the U.S.?
WALSH: Well I think all those countries in Southeast Asia, be it Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore or Indonesia, are all subject to attack by Jemaah Islamiyah. Jemaah Islamiyah wants to set up an Islamist state throughout Southeast Asia.
And as you pointed out earlier, there's a big important meeting coming up in Thailand later this year and that would have been a promising target for al Qaeda. And maybe by acting now they could avoid future problems.
PHILLIPS: All right, and we're talking about the APEC Summit, of course, that's coming up in October.
So, with this capture, what type of impact will it have on al Qaeda and possible future attacks that have been planned in addition to this one on the APEC Summit?
WALSH: Well maybe one good early indication of that will be this weekend. There have been rumors that Jemaah Islamiyah was planning a series of attacks this Sunday, sometime this weekend, probably in Jakarta. We'll see if those actually, do in fact, happen.
But if we step back and take the longer view, I think we have to say that any arrest is good, but no single arrest will lead to the elimination of Jemaah Islamiyah or al Qaeda.
It;s worth remembering that in Indonesia right this moment the head Jemaah Islamiyah, Mr. Bashir, has been held in custody for some time, but that didn't stop Jemaah Islamiyah from launching that attack on the Marriott Hotel.
So I do think it has an impact, but you have to focus on the process that is taking the terrorists down a cell at a time and not get too wrapped up in any one particular arrest.
PHILLIPS: Our Jim Walsh joining us from Boston, always a pleasure. Thanks, Jim.
WALSH: Thank you, Kyra.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
