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American Morning
Interview With Former Ambassador to Morocco
Aired May 19, 2003 - 09:08 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: Now, the question again today, are the bombings in Morocco linked to al Qaeda? A man who authorities believe was supposed to have been one of the bombers now in custody as of Friday night. According to Moroccan police, he is cooperating. Our guest now from Washington, former U.S. ambassador to Morocco, Ed Gabriel. Mr. Ambassador, good morning to you.
ED GABRIEL, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO MOROCCO: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: There are some who suggest right now that Morocco is paying a price for loyalty to the U.S. Do you see it the same way?
GABRIEL: Yes, I do. I see two reasons. One, they are paying the price for their long history of support for America in military and political matters, but more recently on terrorism effort, the anti-terrorism effort. But secondly, there is another reason, and that is because Morocco represents everything that al Qaeda and these terrorist organizations don't like. Morocco has one of the most religiously tolerant societies. Yesterday when you showed footage of King Mohamed, he was walking side by side with the head of the Jewish community. Later you interviewed a Catholic priest. It's a sign of the religious tolerance there, but also, the King has embarked upon a very vigorous reform program that targets Democratic and economic openness. These are things they don't like, and I think it's a serious situation for American foreign policy, because it starts to lead us into new areas of thought in this regard.
HEMMER: What have you heard about any stronger link between al Qaeda and what happened in Casablanca Friday night?
GABRIEL: Bill, I just got off the phone with the authorities in Morocco. They tell me that they are now pretty convinced that there are international ties to international terrorist organizations. These people seem to have ties with more than one international organization, and have had some communication with them, but they are far from saying that they think that this is tied to al Qaeda at this time.
HEMMER: Do you agree with those who believe the bombing in Morocco is similar to the one in Riyadh in this sense: they are controlled by outside forces like you just mentioned, a larger international terrorist network, but carried out and guided by locals. Do you subscribe to that?
GABRIEL: Yes, I think there is a lot of similarities, but what we've got to realize here is that we have got to make a distinction between al Qaeda-ordered attacks and, perhaps, al Qaeda sympathizers. One thing you should realize, Morocco sits in a very volatile position. It's in Africa, volatile continent. Its neighbors, it's in a tough neighborhood. Algeria and Libya are its neighbors. It's the guard of the southern border of the straits of Gibraltar, and it has been traditionally an anchor for the United States on military and security issues. So -- and today, they have now entered into free trade negotiations with Morocco, so what we have here is now a gateway, possibility for stability, prosperity, and democracy in North Africa and the continent, something the president has talked about in Iraq.
So, what this really represents is whether or not the president is going to step forward and the administration is going to step forward and really get behind Morocco now because it's in a pretty serious situation.
HEMMER: Ed Gabriel, former U.S. ambassador to Morocco, our guest today. Thank you, Mr. Ambassador.
GABRIEL: Thank you.
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 19, 2003 - 09:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the question again today, are the bombings in Morocco linked to al Qaeda? A man who authorities believe was supposed to have been one of the bombers now in custody as of Friday night. According to Moroccan police, he is cooperating. Our guest now from Washington, former U.S. ambassador to Morocco, Ed Gabriel. Mr. Ambassador, good morning to you.
ED GABRIEL, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO MOROCCO: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: There are some who suggest right now that Morocco is paying a price for loyalty to the U.S. Do you see it the same way?
GABRIEL: Yes, I do. I see two reasons. One, they are paying the price for their long history of support for America in military and political matters, but more recently on terrorism effort, the anti-terrorism effort. But secondly, there is another reason, and that is because Morocco represents everything that al Qaeda and these terrorist organizations don't like. Morocco has one of the most religiously tolerant societies. Yesterday when you showed footage of King Mohamed, he was walking side by side with the head of the Jewish community. Later you interviewed a Catholic priest. It's a sign of the religious tolerance there, but also, the King has embarked upon a very vigorous reform program that targets Democratic and economic openness. These are things they don't like, and I think it's a serious situation for American foreign policy, because it starts to lead us into new areas of thought in this regard.
HEMMER: What have you heard about any stronger link between al Qaeda and what happened in Casablanca Friday night?
GABRIEL: Bill, I just got off the phone with the authorities in Morocco. They tell me that they are now pretty convinced that there are international ties to international terrorist organizations. These people seem to have ties with more than one international organization, and have had some communication with them, but they are far from saying that they think that this is tied to al Qaeda at this time.
HEMMER: Do you agree with those who believe the bombing in Morocco is similar to the one in Riyadh in this sense: they are controlled by outside forces like you just mentioned, a larger international terrorist network, but carried out and guided by locals. Do you subscribe to that?
GABRIEL: Yes, I think there is a lot of similarities, but what we've got to realize here is that we have got to make a distinction between al Qaeda-ordered attacks and, perhaps, al Qaeda sympathizers. One thing you should realize, Morocco sits in a very volatile position. It's in Africa, volatile continent. Its neighbors, it's in a tough neighborhood. Algeria and Libya are its neighbors. It's the guard of the southern border of the straits of Gibraltar, and it has been traditionally an anchor for the United States on military and security issues. So -- and today, they have now entered into free trade negotiations with Morocco, so what we have here is now a gateway, possibility for stability, prosperity, and democracy in North Africa and the continent, something the president has talked about in Iraq.
So, what this really represents is whether or not the president is going to step forward and the administration is going to step forward and really get behind Morocco now because it's in a pretty serious situation.
HEMMER: Ed Gabriel, former U.S. ambassador to Morocco, our guest today. Thank you, Mr. Ambassador.
GABRIEL: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
