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American Morning
Kuwait Psychiatrist Under Arrest in Connection With Ambush
Aired January 23, 2003 - 07:33 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, a Kuwait psychiatrist is under arrest today in connection with an ambush on Tuesday that killed one American and wounded another. He was taken into custody by Saudi Arabian authorities as he tried to walk across the border from Kuwait. And a Saudi government source tells CNN that the man has now confessed.
Let's turn to Martin Savidge, who joins us from Kuwait City with all of the latest details -- good morning to you.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula.
Let me show you how the news of the arrest and extradition made the front page of the "Arab Times" here in Kuwait City. Also, it made the front page of the Arabic newspapers here, including a photograph of the alleged suspect, Sami al-Mutairi.
You call him a psychiatrist, it may be a bit lost in the interpretation. Apparently now we're hearing he was not a psychiatrist but actually a social worker. But he's in his '20s. He's a government employee and as you correctly point out, he was arrested as he tried to cross the border from Kuwait into Saudi Arabia. They're right next door to each other. And he didn't have a passport. That was one of the tip offs to the Saudi authorities.
He's since been returned back to Kuwait here. He's under very intense interrogation. What they want to know is, all right, was he the gunman, which allegedly he's confessed to being. Did he have accomplices? The Kuwaiti government believes he did, perhaps two more people were involved. There are about 70 people that have been pulled in on a sort of dragnet.
The other interesting thing about Mr. Al-Mutairi was that he reportedly did spend time in Afghanistan with the Taliban, working as a social worker, and became a Muslim extremist after September 11.
Let me show you something else that took place today in light of the investigation, around it, out at the site where the shooting took place on Tuesday. We had a lot of rain overnight, heavy rains this morning. That's very rare. So are the images of people, Kuwaitis, laying flowers. The reason it's rare is that in the Arab world this is just not a common custom. It's not the way they deal with grief. But so moved have the Kuwaiti people been that a handful of them showed up in that bad weather to lay flowers at the spot and to express their feelings, saying they were shocked, they are saddened and outraged by what has taken place and they feel deeply for the American victims and the American people -- Paula. ZAHN: Meanwhile, what impact has this had on security there for American troops?
SAVIDGE: Well, for the American troops, they've always been under a very tight veil of security. They do not leave the base unless it is absolutely necessary that they do so. Otherwise they remain carefully guarded, obviously, their own people there providing the security force.
As for the other Americans, and there are 8,000 Americans here that are not troops, these are expatriates, as they're referred to, a lot of them say they're very concerned. They have changed their security procedures. Others say no, their lifestyle hasn't changed. They've always been cautious and this has not forced them to change their thinking about being in Kuwait -- Paula.
ZAHN: Thanks, Martin.
Martin Savidge reporting from Kuwait City for us today.
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Ambush>
Aired January 23, 2003 - 07:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, a Kuwait psychiatrist is under arrest today in connection with an ambush on Tuesday that killed one American and wounded another. He was taken into custody by Saudi Arabian authorities as he tried to walk across the border from Kuwait. And a Saudi government source tells CNN that the man has now confessed.
Let's turn to Martin Savidge, who joins us from Kuwait City with all of the latest details -- good morning to you.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula.
Let me show you how the news of the arrest and extradition made the front page of the "Arab Times" here in Kuwait City. Also, it made the front page of the Arabic newspapers here, including a photograph of the alleged suspect, Sami al-Mutairi.
You call him a psychiatrist, it may be a bit lost in the interpretation. Apparently now we're hearing he was not a psychiatrist but actually a social worker. But he's in his '20s. He's a government employee and as you correctly point out, he was arrested as he tried to cross the border from Kuwait into Saudi Arabia. They're right next door to each other. And he didn't have a passport. That was one of the tip offs to the Saudi authorities.
He's since been returned back to Kuwait here. He's under very intense interrogation. What they want to know is, all right, was he the gunman, which allegedly he's confessed to being. Did he have accomplices? The Kuwaiti government believes he did, perhaps two more people were involved. There are about 70 people that have been pulled in on a sort of dragnet.
The other interesting thing about Mr. Al-Mutairi was that he reportedly did spend time in Afghanistan with the Taliban, working as a social worker, and became a Muslim extremist after September 11.
Let me show you something else that took place today in light of the investigation, around it, out at the site where the shooting took place on Tuesday. We had a lot of rain overnight, heavy rains this morning. That's very rare. So are the images of people, Kuwaitis, laying flowers. The reason it's rare is that in the Arab world this is just not a common custom. It's not the way they deal with grief. But so moved have the Kuwaiti people been that a handful of them showed up in that bad weather to lay flowers at the spot and to express their feelings, saying they were shocked, they are saddened and outraged by what has taken place and they feel deeply for the American victims and the American people -- Paula. ZAHN: Meanwhile, what impact has this had on security there for American troops?
SAVIDGE: Well, for the American troops, they've always been under a very tight veil of security. They do not leave the base unless it is absolutely necessary that they do so. Otherwise they remain carefully guarded, obviously, their own people there providing the security force.
As for the other Americans, and there are 8,000 Americans here that are not troops, these are expatriates, as they're referred to, a lot of them say they're very concerned. They have changed their security procedures. Others say no, their lifestyle hasn't changed. They've always been cautious and this has not forced them to change their thinking about being in Kuwait -- Paula.
ZAHN: Thanks, Martin.
Martin Savidge reporting from Kuwait City for us today.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Ambush>
