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American Morning
War on Terror Moving Front and Center
Aired October 14, 2002 - 08:31 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: With the deadly blasts in Bali, horrible incident there on Saturday night linking now in some corners to Al Qaeda. And the growing concern today that this may be just the beginning of the terror network's resurgence. The war on terror moving again front and center. How will the White House react? Kelly Wallace on the Front Lawn tracking that for us this morning.
Kelly, good to see you. Good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Bill.
Well, the White House definitely condemning the bombings in Bali. A big question, though, is how could this affect the administration's efforts to build international support for any possible military action in Iraq? Because some of the president's critics here in the United States and around the world have argued that any campaign against Saddam Hussein could disrupt the international coalition to fight terror.
Now President Bush and his aides argue that the international community can do both, fight Al Qaeda and deal with Saddam Hussein. In fact, Mr. Bush has said that Saddam Hussein must be dealt with now to prevent his weapons of mass destruction from getting into the hands of terrorists.
Now we do expect the president to likely reach out to the Indonesian president in the next day or so. We know he spoke on the phone last night with Australian Prime Minister John Howard to convey the United States' condolences, with most of the victims expected to be Australians. The two leaders saying they are more resolved from ever to fight terror around the world.
This all, though, coming as U.S. officials are more and more concerned about what they are seeing. You have the bombings in Bali. You had the French oil tanker explosion off the coast of Yemen. You have shootings at U.S. Marines in Kuwait. You then have that the audiotape of bin Laden's top deputy warning of more attacks around the world. U.S. officials fearing that Al Qaeda could be regrouping, lawmakers worrying that other attacks could be coming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These could be precursor of other things to come against our interest in the world, perhaps in the U.S. We've than much aware of than this for a long time. We don't know if there will be attacks. We hope there weren't be in U.S., but to close our eyes to that, with all of the chatter going around the world, all of the people that we know that are affiliated with Al Qaeda that have been dispersed around the world, we have to be aware of that. We have to be alert.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: In fact, the State Department just last Thursday issuing a new worldwide alert, warning that as security is increasing at U.S. facilities around the world, terrorists could go after -- quote -- "softer targets," targets such as nightclubs and restaurants -- Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you, Kelly. Kelly Wallace, certainly something to track throughout the day and the week here.
Thank you, Kelly.
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 October 14, 2002 - 08:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: With the deadly blasts in Bali, horrible incident there on Saturday night linking now in some corners to Al Qaeda. And the growing concern today that this may be just the beginning of the terror network's resurgence. The war on terror moving again front and center. How will the White House react? Kelly Wallace on the Front Lawn tracking that for us this morning.
Kelly, good to see you. Good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Bill.
Well, the White House definitely condemning the bombings in Bali. A big question, though, is how could this affect the administration's efforts to build international support for any possible military action in Iraq? Because some of the president's critics here in the United States and around the world have argued that any campaign against Saddam Hussein could disrupt the international coalition to fight terror.
Now President Bush and his aides argue that the international community can do both, fight Al Qaeda and deal with Saddam Hussein. In fact, Mr. Bush has said that Saddam Hussein must be dealt with now to prevent his weapons of mass destruction from getting into the hands of terrorists.
Now we do expect the president to likely reach out to the Indonesian president in the next day or so. We know he spoke on the phone last night with Australian Prime Minister John Howard to convey the United States' condolences, with most of the victims expected to be Australians. The two leaders saying they are more resolved from ever to fight terror around the world.
This all, though, coming as U.S. officials are more and more concerned about what they are seeing. You have the bombings in Bali. You had the French oil tanker explosion off the coast of Yemen. You have shootings at U.S. Marines in Kuwait. You then have that the audiotape of bin Laden's top deputy warning of more attacks around the world. U.S. officials fearing that Al Qaeda could be regrouping, lawmakers worrying that other attacks could be coming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These could be precursor of other things to come against our interest in the world, perhaps in the U.S. We've than much aware of than this for a long time. We don't know if there will be attacks. We hope there weren't be in U.S., but to close our eyes to that, with all of the chatter going around the world, all of the people that we know that are affiliated with Al Qaeda that have been dispersed around the world, we have to be aware of that. We have to be alert.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: In fact, the State Department just last Thursday issuing a new worldwide alert, warning that as security is increasing at U.S. facilities around the world, terrorists could go after -- quote -- "softer targets," targets such as nightclubs and restaurants -- Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you, Kelly. Kelly Wallace, certainly something to track throughout the day and the week here.
Thank you, Kelly.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
