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American Morning
Discussion With Representative Jane Harman
Aired May 15, 2003 - 08:06 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: The Riyadh bombings in Saudi Arabia raising new questions yet again about the current war on terror and how much is has weakened al Qaeda. A spokesperson at the White House, Ari Fleischer, was asked yesterday about that and whether or not the U.S. is winning the current war on terror.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think you might want to ask Khalid Shaikh Mohammed what it feels like. Ask him if he thinks the United States is making success in the war against terror. You may want to ask Abu al-Harifi. You may want to ask Rahim al- Nashiri. These are all some of the leading al Qaeda operatives who have been arrested.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: And the Bush administration concerned that al Qaeda might be planning more attacks yet again. Intelligence reports suggest they could happen soon.
Jane Harmon, a ranking Democrat in the House Intelligence Committee, is our guest now live in D.C.
Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
REP. JANE HARMAN (D-CF), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Nice to see you.
HEMMER: What do you know about the State Department visit and Steve Hadley in recent days to Saudi Arabia to tell the Saudis to improve the security around the compounds where Americans were living?
HARMAN: I think it was a prudent move and the Saudis did not heed the warning. It's time to treat Saudi Arabia like other governments in the world. We've had, or this administration has had a very close relationship with the Saudis, the Saudi leadership and Prince Bandar, a ambassador here, for years, and I don't think that the Saudi government has gotten the message yet, which is that the majority of hijackers on 9/11, the majority of hijackers in Saudi Arabia two days ago were Saudis. And they have to crack down in their own country. They have to provide safety for foreign nationals in their own country or they ought to be considered as harboring terrorists.
HEMMER: But up to you original point. What it is about other countries and the way the U.S. treats them and that relationship? How is that different in Saudi Arabia?
HARMAN: It has just been clear for years that because of family ties and longstanding business relationships, the Saudis, which have an oil-based economy, which is another problem with some of these Middle East governments, have not been treated the same as other governments. We've been tougher, I would say, from my observations, on Egypt -- I'm not just talking about those in the axis of evil, but Egypt and other neighbors of the Saudi regime than we have been on Saudi Arabia...
HEMMER: Why is it then...
HARMAN: ... and we're paying for it.
HEMMER: Why is it so difficult to ride this line and ride the political side as well as being tough with Saudi Arabia? Is it a difference in culture or does it go much more beyond that?
HARMAN: Well, I think you'd have to ask those who have that special relationship what it is. But I think the time for kid gloves is over. American lives are at stake all over the world. The war on terror has not been won. By the way, I would say we ought to reconsider our claim that the military action in Iraq is over when you look at what's just been going on in Tikrit. That's still a totally unstable regime. Our reconstruction efforts are at zero at the moment. We're trying to build something, but it hasn't really happened yet.
HEMMER: I want to get back to the Saudi Arabian issue. The Saudis are saying that the threats that were basically handed in based on the intelligence a couple of days ago were not specific regarding these compounds.
Did it need to be more specific?
HARMAN: Well, that's always a problem with our threat information and I'm sympathetic to the intelligence agencies because they try their hardest to take this chatter, which is generalized, and reduce it to a specific site.
HEMMER: Right.
HARMAN: In this case, my understanding is that they knew that the site, this Vinnell Corporation related to Northrop Grumman, which is actually in my congressional district, was going to be a target, their compound. And that is the one that was hit and that is where seven Americans died two days ago.
HEMMER: We want to get to the issue of al Qaeda. The president said on board the Lincoln about two weeks ago that half the al Qaeda leadership has been destroyed or knocked out or detained. If, indeed, this is al Qaeda, no claim of responsibility, in Saudi Arabia, all the earmarks are there. We know that and have heard that from countless experts here. But if, indeed, they've been crippled to the point of 50 percent, what does it say about their ability right now to carry out the incidents like we see in Riyadh? The status of that organization then is what?
HARMAN: Well, first, I commend our intelligence and defense agencies for rounding up 50 of the -- or 50 percent of the top leadership. However, these organizations, these terrorist groups, not just al Qaeda -- Hezbollah, Hamas, all the rest of them are horizontal in nature. You can cut off the head and they still, the body is still alive. And we're learning that.
They have cells embedded all over the world. Some ask well, if we hadn't gone into Iraq, would these things be happening? I think they would be happening anyway. I think that we have been well warned that for the last decade or so these groups have been growing and it is a very, very serious problem and now the challenge is to put together an integrated homeland security effort -- most Americans live in America -- one that carefully balances our increased security needs with our civil liberties. And we'd better figure it out on the front end or we're not going to have any civil liberties left in this country.
HEMMER: A lot more to talk about.
Jane Harmon, thanks.
We'll pick it up again next time.
HARMAN: Thank you.
HEMMER: Thanks for your time 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
Aired May 15, 2003 - 08:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The Riyadh bombings in Saudi Arabia raising new questions yet again about the current war on terror and how much is has weakened al Qaeda. A spokesperson at the White House, Ari Fleischer, was asked yesterday about that and whether or not the U.S. is winning the current war on terror.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think you might want to ask Khalid Shaikh Mohammed what it feels like. Ask him if he thinks the United States is making success in the war against terror. You may want to ask Abu al-Harifi. You may want to ask Rahim al- Nashiri. These are all some of the leading al Qaeda operatives who have been arrested.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: And the Bush administration concerned that al Qaeda might be planning more attacks yet again. Intelligence reports suggest they could happen soon.
Jane Harmon, a ranking Democrat in the House Intelligence Committee, is our guest now live in D.C.
Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
REP. JANE HARMAN (D-CF), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Nice to see you.
HEMMER: What do you know about the State Department visit and Steve Hadley in recent days to Saudi Arabia to tell the Saudis to improve the security around the compounds where Americans were living?
HARMAN: I think it was a prudent move and the Saudis did not heed the warning. It's time to treat Saudi Arabia like other governments in the world. We've had, or this administration has had a very close relationship with the Saudis, the Saudi leadership and Prince Bandar, a ambassador here, for years, and I don't think that the Saudi government has gotten the message yet, which is that the majority of hijackers on 9/11, the majority of hijackers in Saudi Arabia two days ago were Saudis. And they have to crack down in their own country. They have to provide safety for foreign nationals in their own country or they ought to be considered as harboring terrorists.
HEMMER: But up to you original point. What it is about other countries and the way the U.S. treats them and that relationship? How is that different in Saudi Arabia?
HARMAN: It has just been clear for years that because of family ties and longstanding business relationships, the Saudis, which have an oil-based economy, which is another problem with some of these Middle East governments, have not been treated the same as other governments. We've been tougher, I would say, from my observations, on Egypt -- I'm not just talking about those in the axis of evil, but Egypt and other neighbors of the Saudi regime than we have been on Saudi Arabia...
HEMMER: Why is it then...
HARMAN: ... and we're paying for it.
HEMMER: Why is it so difficult to ride this line and ride the political side as well as being tough with Saudi Arabia? Is it a difference in culture or does it go much more beyond that?
HARMAN: Well, I think you'd have to ask those who have that special relationship what it is. But I think the time for kid gloves is over. American lives are at stake all over the world. The war on terror has not been won. By the way, I would say we ought to reconsider our claim that the military action in Iraq is over when you look at what's just been going on in Tikrit. That's still a totally unstable regime. Our reconstruction efforts are at zero at the moment. We're trying to build something, but it hasn't really happened yet.
HEMMER: I want to get back to the Saudi Arabian issue. The Saudis are saying that the threats that were basically handed in based on the intelligence a couple of days ago were not specific regarding these compounds.
Did it need to be more specific?
HARMAN: Well, that's always a problem with our threat information and I'm sympathetic to the intelligence agencies because they try their hardest to take this chatter, which is generalized, and reduce it to a specific site.
HEMMER: Right.
HARMAN: In this case, my understanding is that they knew that the site, this Vinnell Corporation related to Northrop Grumman, which is actually in my congressional district, was going to be a target, their compound. And that is the one that was hit and that is where seven Americans died two days ago.
HEMMER: We want to get to the issue of al Qaeda. The president said on board the Lincoln about two weeks ago that half the al Qaeda leadership has been destroyed or knocked out or detained. If, indeed, this is al Qaeda, no claim of responsibility, in Saudi Arabia, all the earmarks are there. We know that and have heard that from countless experts here. But if, indeed, they've been crippled to the point of 50 percent, what does it say about their ability right now to carry out the incidents like we see in Riyadh? The status of that organization then is what?
HARMAN: Well, first, I commend our intelligence and defense agencies for rounding up 50 of the -- or 50 percent of the top leadership. However, these organizations, these terrorist groups, not just al Qaeda -- Hezbollah, Hamas, all the rest of them are horizontal in nature. You can cut off the head and they still, the body is still alive. And we're learning that.
They have cells embedded all over the world. Some ask well, if we hadn't gone into Iraq, would these things be happening? I think they would be happening anyway. I think that we have been well warned that for the last decade or so these groups have been growing and it is a very, very serious problem and now the challenge is to put together an integrated homeland security effort -- most Americans live in America -- one that carefully balances our increased security needs with our civil liberties. And we'd better figure it out on the front end or we're not going to have any civil liberties left in this country.
HEMMER: A lot more to talk about.
Jane Harmon, thanks.
We'll pick it up again next time.
HARMAN: Thank you.
HEMMER: Thanks for your time 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
