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American Morning

New Terror Threat Against Westerners Living in Saudi Arabia

Aired May 16, 2003 - 08:04   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: Back to our top story yet again, the new terror threat against Americans and other Westerners living and working in Saudi Arabia. It is out yet again, especially for the town of Jetta, which sits along the western border of Saudi Arabia, right along the Red Sea.
Chris Burns now at the White House has more on this for us -- Chris, good morning there.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning.

It was just the other day that President Bush insisted that about half of al Qaeda has been wiped out. But that other half, according to the Bush administration, is very active. In fact, the threat in Saudi Arabia is only one of several they have been -- there have been warnings from the State Department to Americans also living in Kenya, in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines in recent days to look out.

Now, this one in particular in Saudi Arabia is very interesting because it is based on an unconfirmed threat made by a phone call. But according to a State Department official, anything that says Saudi Arabia, they're all over. And they are passing that on to Americans living there.

Now, this threat mentioned, reportedly mentioned specifically the Al Hamra District of Jetta. Now, that is where U.S. families had been living. They had been moved away. But that threat remains and the warning is out there.

The FBI has sent agents. They're on the ground now investigating that triple car bombing the other day that killed 34 people, including eight Americans. Now, there's a bit of blame going on, blame game. Now the White House is suggesting that the Saudis could have done more, they didn't do enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE SECRETARY: I think Saudi Arabia officials, high level officials have acknowledged and recognized that terrorism has hit their soil and that not only American lives were lost, but Saudi lives were lost, as well as other countries, and that they need to face up to these threats and take action. Saudi Arabia has provided good cooperation with us on the war on terrorism but there is more that can be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNS: Now, when will, when could this bombing happen, this terror attack happen? The State Department statement only said in the near future. So obviously putting people on edge there. Bill, you and I had spent some time in that area in the Gulf. When we get these warnings we do watch out. But you do have to carry on with your lives, too.

HEMMER: Yes, very true.

You know, Chris, a lot of our viewers writing in to us wondering if Steven Hadley gave the warning to the Saudi Arabian government maybe a week ago, maybe 10 days ago, was that same warning passed along to the Americans in those housing complexes? Do we know that or not?

BURNS: Not that I'm aware of. That deputy national security adviser did travel there several days before and, in fact, he did mention and focus on one of the three compounds that was hit in that triple car bombing, warning the Saudis that, look, this could very well happen. And that is there, that concern by the White House and the Bush administration that not enough was done by the Saudis to try to prevent this from happening.

HEMMER: Chris, a bit later here on AMERICAN MORNING we're going to talk with an American who used to live in one of these complexes. We'll talk to him about his thoughts living there and now being half a world away after these attacks went down late on Monday night.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




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Aired May 16, 2003 - 08:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to our top story yet again, the new terror threat against Americans and other Westerners living and working in Saudi Arabia. It is out yet again, especially for the town of Jetta, which sits along the western border of Saudi Arabia, right along the Red Sea.
Chris Burns now at the White House has more on this for us -- Chris, good morning there.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning.

It was just the other day that President Bush insisted that about half of al Qaeda has been wiped out. But that other half, according to the Bush administration, is very active. In fact, the threat in Saudi Arabia is only one of several they have been -- there have been warnings from the State Department to Americans also living in Kenya, in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines in recent days to look out.

Now, this one in particular in Saudi Arabia is very interesting because it is based on an unconfirmed threat made by a phone call. But according to a State Department official, anything that says Saudi Arabia, they're all over. And they are passing that on to Americans living there.

Now, this threat mentioned, reportedly mentioned specifically the Al Hamra District of Jetta. Now, that is where U.S. families had been living. They had been moved away. But that threat remains and the warning is out there.

The FBI has sent agents. They're on the ground now investigating that triple car bombing the other day that killed 34 people, including eight Americans. Now, there's a bit of blame going on, blame game. Now the White House is suggesting that the Saudis could have done more, they didn't do enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE SECRETARY: I think Saudi Arabia officials, high level officials have acknowledged and recognized that terrorism has hit their soil and that not only American lives were lost, but Saudi lives were lost, as well as other countries, and that they need to face up to these threats and take action. Saudi Arabia has provided good cooperation with us on the war on terrorism but there is more that can be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNS: Now, when will, when could this bombing happen, this terror attack happen? The State Department statement only said in the near future. So obviously putting people on edge there. Bill, you and I had spent some time in that area in the Gulf. When we get these warnings we do watch out. But you do have to carry on with your lives, too.

HEMMER: Yes, very true.

You know, Chris, a lot of our viewers writing in to us wondering if Steven Hadley gave the warning to the Saudi Arabian government maybe a week ago, maybe 10 days ago, was that same warning passed along to the Americans in those housing complexes? Do we know that or not?

BURNS: Not that I'm aware of. That deputy national security adviser did travel there several days before and, in fact, he did mention and focus on one of the three compounds that was hit in that triple car bombing, warning the Saudis that, look, this could very well happen. And that is there, that concern by the White House and the Bush administration that not enough was done by the Saudis to try to prevent this from happening.

HEMMER: Chris, a bit later here on AMERICAN MORNING we're going to talk with an American who used to live in one of these complexes. We'll talk to him about his thoughts living there and now being half a world away after these attacks went down late on Monday night.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




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