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American Morning
Suicide Bombings in Capital City Raising Concerns About Safety of Americans
Aired May 16, 2003 - 08:16 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: There are about 50 -- make that 40,000 U.S. citizens living in Saudi Arabia today. About 12,000 now in Riyadh. This week's suicide bombings in the capital city raising concerns about the safety of Americans in that kingdom.
Joe Gorman was one of them. He came back to the U.S. back on April, after spending 18 months in Riyadh.
Here's our guest now, the fire chief of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Joe Gorman is live there this morning.
Joe, good morning to you.
Thanks for talking with us.
JOE GORMAN, FORMER RESIDENT OF RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Go back to Riyadh. Which complex did you live in?
GORMAN: I lived in the Vinnell compound that was part of the Saudi Arabian National Guard facilities.
HEMMER: How safe did you feel, Joe?
GORMAN: We used to kid about it because there was a .50 caliber machine gun out in front with Saudi Arabian National Guard members guarding it on a 24/7 basis. But their military presence is very casual as compared to base we worked at, which was a U.S. Army base. And security there was very tight.
HEMMER: Did you ask for greater security?
GORMAN: I did not personally. We got updates periodically about issues or embassy warnings and were trained to protect ourselves and to take evasive action if we encountered certain situations.
HEMMER: Jane Harmon, who is a member of the House committee on intelligence was with us yesterday here on AMERICAN MORNING. She says that the Vinnell Corporation had threats against it for some time.
Are you aware of that?
GORMAN: I'm aware that the -- at staff meetings that we were always trying to focus on some security issues but since Vinnell had never been attacked and had been a long-term Saudi contractor, I'm not sure that we understood the intensity of the possibilities.
HEMMER: When you heard the news earlier in the week about the bombs exploding near those complexes where you once lived your reaction was what, Joe? Any surprise?
GORMAN: Very much so. I thought Vinnell and -- because we had a number of Saudis that lived on base, we were well entrenched in and comfortable in the community. I got a phone call about 20 minutes after it happened from a friend of mine that lived in downtown Riyadh and we were just devastated. I had three -- my off duty firefights lived in the high rise building and I had three injured, one pretty significantly. The remainder dug out the rescue people, or my people rescued the people in the rubble and provided medical aid.
HEMMER: Yes, I'm wondering if Vinnell got lucky. It's my understanding of 70 employees, they were in Riyadh at the time, 50 had been in a different part of Saudi Arabia on training exercises.
Was there a bit of luck here, Joe?
GORMAN: Yes, as a matter of fact, there was also several large diesel fuel tanks in that compound and if they would have decided to take those out, I think the devastation would have been a lot worse.
HEMMER: Wow.
Explain to our viewers, why do you go live and work there when you know the threats going in and the dangers?
GORMAN: It's overseas work, especially retired military people, they're used to the overseas work. They're working at military compounds. So they've encountered a lot of safe environments. It can be financially lucrative and the travel options, when you get to go out of country, you're already in the Middle East and you can travel and do some interesting things and see other countries.
HEMMER: Joe, would you go back?
GORMAN: I might, but I have a family here in the States and that was one of the reasons I wanted to come back and that's why I took the job here in Michigan.
HEMMER: Despite the attacks, you would still consider it possibly?
GORMAN: That's always a possibility. God gives us strange burdens to bear, and that would be one of them for me.
HEMMER: Joe Gorman, have a good weekend.
Thanks for talking in Ann Arbor.
GORMAN: Thank you very much for having me on.
HEMMER: All right, you're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Safety of Americans>
Aired May 16, 2003 - 08:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There are about 50 -- make that 40,000 U.S. citizens living in Saudi Arabia today. About 12,000 now in Riyadh. This week's suicide bombings in the capital city raising concerns about the safety of Americans in that kingdom.
Joe Gorman was one of them. He came back to the U.S. back on April, after spending 18 months in Riyadh.
Here's our guest now, the fire chief of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Joe Gorman is live there this morning.
Joe, good morning to you.
Thanks for talking with us.
JOE GORMAN, FORMER RESIDENT OF RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Go back to Riyadh. Which complex did you live in?
GORMAN: I lived in the Vinnell compound that was part of the Saudi Arabian National Guard facilities.
HEMMER: How safe did you feel, Joe?
GORMAN: We used to kid about it because there was a .50 caliber machine gun out in front with Saudi Arabian National Guard members guarding it on a 24/7 basis. But their military presence is very casual as compared to base we worked at, which was a U.S. Army base. And security there was very tight.
HEMMER: Did you ask for greater security?
GORMAN: I did not personally. We got updates periodically about issues or embassy warnings and were trained to protect ourselves and to take evasive action if we encountered certain situations.
HEMMER: Jane Harmon, who is a member of the House committee on intelligence was with us yesterday here on AMERICAN MORNING. She says that the Vinnell Corporation had threats against it for some time.
Are you aware of that?
GORMAN: I'm aware that the -- at staff meetings that we were always trying to focus on some security issues but since Vinnell had never been attacked and had been a long-term Saudi contractor, I'm not sure that we understood the intensity of the possibilities.
HEMMER: When you heard the news earlier in the week about the bombs exploding near those complexes where you once lived your reaction was what, Joe? Any surprise?
GORMAN: Very much so. I thought Vinnell and -- because we had a number of Saudis that lived on base, we were well entrenched in and comfortable in the community. I got a phone call about 20 minutes after it happened from a friend of mine that lived in downtown Riyadh and we were just devastated. I had three -- my off duty firefights lived in the high rise building and I had three injured, one pretty significantly. The remainder dug out the rescue people, or my people rescued the people in the rubble and provided medical aid.
HEMMER: Yes, I'm wondering if Vinnell got lucky. It's my understanding of 70 employees, they were in Riyadh at the time, 50 had been in a different part of Saudi Arabia on training exercises.
Was there a bit of luck here, Joe?
GORMAN: Yes, as a matter of fact, there was also several large diesel fuel tanks in that compound and if they would have decided to take those out, I think the devastation would have been a lot worse.
HEMMER: Wow.
Explain to our viewers, why do you go live and work there when you know the threats going in and the dangers?
GORMAN: It's overseas work, especially retired military people, they're used to the overseas work. They're working at military compounds. So they've encountered a lot of safe environments. It can be financially lucrative and the travel options, when you get to go out of country, you're already in the Middle East and you can travel and do some interesting things and see other countries.
HEMMER: Joe, would you go back?
GORMAN: I might, but I have a family here in the States and that was one of the reasons I wanted to come back and that's why I took the job here in Michigan.
HEMMER: Despite the attacks, you would still consider it possibly?
GORMAN: That's always a possibility. God gives us strange burdens to bear, and that would be one of them for me.
HEMMER: Joe Gorman, have a good weekend.
Thanks for talking in Ann Arbor.
GORMAN: Thank you very much for having me on.
HEMMER: All right, you're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Safety of Americans>
