Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Saudi Leaders Trying to Remove Any Doubt They're Committed to Fighting War on Terror

Aired May 19, 2003 - 07:31   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: While the Saudis are linking last week's attacks in Riyadh to al Qaeda killers, Saudi leaders are trying to remove any doubt that they are committed to fighting the war on terror.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADEL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: The attack was a massive jolt to Saudi Arabia. We, they have declared war on us. We will rise to the challenge. We will confront them and we will crush them. We will not allow anyone to jeopardize the safety of our citizens or our residents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Despite the sometimes tough talk from Saudi Arabia, there's a report this week in "Time" magazine that says al Qaeda is showing its resilience with the attacks in Riyadh and in Casablanca. It also suggests the war on terror will never end.

Michael Eliot, "Time" editor-at-large, with us now here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good to see you again in person, Michael.

Good morning to you.

MICHAEL ELIOT, "TIME MAGAZINE" EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: Never end, why not?

ELIOT: Well, I would say the war on terror will never end because terror is always too attractive to groups who have political beefs against incredibly powerful nations like the United States and its allies. It doesn't mean that terror always wins. It rarely does. It doesn't mean that it isn't worth fighting terrorists. It always is.

But so-called asymmetrical warfare, the ability to explode a bomb and to kind of really take on a country with massive power, firepower, is simply always attractive.

HEMMER: Why, then, do you think that we can look at the Saudi Arabia situation right now and hear the words publicly about cracking down -- we've heard about charities being closed, we've heard about arrests being made -- is this just a dent in that very vicious armor or is it more than that?

ELIOT: Well, it's extremely welcome. Some of the things that the Saudis said publicly at the end of last week were things that they had never dreamed of saying publicly before, that they would close some foreign offices of some of their charitable foundations, crack down elsewhere.

But for the Saudis really to take on the infrastructure, if you like, of terror creation in that country, I mean that's a generation's worth of work, because they've got to work on their educational system, they've got to work on their links with some real firebrand imams. They've got to look at the whole structure of legitimacy for the regime. You don't do that overnight. You don't do that in a week. You don't do it in a year. That's a generation.

HEMMER: What do you think about the suggestion, though, that why attack other Muslim countries? Why hit Saudi Arabia? Why hit countries like Morocco? There's a suggestion today that today in the "L.A. Times" that Arab nations are essentially, in places like Egypt, turning against these organizations because the attacks are taking place...

ELIOT: Sure.

HEMMER: ... on their soil. Does that backfire? And, if so, why?

ELIOT: Well, it certainly did in Egypt in 1997 when there was the absolute bloody massacre at the Luxor Temple, if you remember...

HEMMER: Yes, against the German tourists.

ELIOT: ... when 60 German tourists were killed. And there was a massive reaction to that.

Terrorists get a three-fer, if you like, by attacking Muslim countries. First of all, Western interests are there, and often not particularly well protected. So you can go after tourists in Bali or restaurant diners in Casablanca. Secondly, you send a signal to Arab governments that they shouldn't get too close to the United States. I mean Morocco is as close to being a pluralistic Western society as you have in the Islamic world. And thirdly, because it's home. Thirdly, because it's home, because the Islamic world is home, and there is, there's an ideological point of demonstrating that you are powerful at home, not just in Western Europe...

HEMMER: And it's probably easier at home, one would think, also.

ELIOT: You can certainly melt away easier.

HEMMER: Sure.

ELIOT: There's no question about that.

HEMMER: Why is it, then, that you have claims of responsibility from groups like Hamas and al Qaeda does not necessarily do that publicly? Why is that not their M.O.?

ELIOT: It never has been. I mean if you go back to the embassy bombings in 1998, the...

HEMMER: Tanzania, Kenya.

ELIOT: The Tanzania and Kenya -- the claim for responsibility for those was by a group that no one had ever heard of. I mean their M.O. is to kind of, as it were, invent, you know, names that kind of last a weekend. But when you kind of follow the trails back, you find pretty quickly that they go back into this network, this umbrella, whatever analogy it is that you want to use, of groups which, you know, don't, this isn't a tight mesh. But it's a number alone and a network of groups that work pretty closely together.

HEMMER: Thanks for coming in today.

ELIOT: Thank you.

HEMMER: Michael Eliot, "Time" magazine.

We'll speak again.

ELIOT: You bet.

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





to Fighting War on Terror>


Aired May 19, 2003 - 07:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: While the Saudis are linking last week's attacks in Riyadh to al Qaeda killers, Saudi leaders are trying to remove any doubt that they are committed to fighting the war on terror.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADEL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: The attack was a massive jolt to Saudi Arabia. We, they have declared war on us. We will rise to the challenge. We will confront them and we will crush them. We will not allow anyone to jeopardize the safety of our citizens or our residents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Despite the sometimes tough talk from Saudi Arabia, there's a report this week in "Time" magazine that says al Qaeda is showing its resilience with the attacks in Riyadh and in Casablanca. It also suggests the war on terror will never end.

Michael Eliot, "Time" editor-at-large, with us now here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good to see you again in person, Michael.

Good morning to you.

MICHAEL ELIOT, "TIME MAGAZINE" EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: Never end, why not?

ELIOT: Well, I would say the war on terror will never end because terror is always too attractive to groups who have political beefs against incredibly powerful nations like the United States and its allies. It doesn't mean that terror always wins. It rarely does. It doesn't mean that it isn't worth fighting terrorists. It always is.

But so-called asymmetrical warfare, the ability to explode a bomb and to kind of really take on a country with massive power, firepower, is simply always attractive.

HEMMER: Why, then, do you think that we can look at the Saudi Arabia situation right now and hear the words publicly about cracking down -- we've heard about charities being closed, we've heard about arrests being made -- is this just a dent in that very vicious armor or is it more than that?

ELIOT: Well, it's extremely welcome. Some of the things that the Saudis said publicly at the end of last week were things that they had never dreamed of saying publicly before, that they would close some foreign offices of some of their charitable foundations, crack down elsewhere.

But for the Saudis really to take on the infrastructure, if you like, of terror creation in that country, I mean that's a generation's worth of work, because they've got to work on their educational system, they've got to work on their links with some real firebrand imams. They've got to look at the whole structure of legitimacy for the regime. You don't do that overnight. You don't do that in a week. You don't do it in a year. That's a generation.

HEMMER: What do you think about the suggestion, though, that why attack other Muslim countries? Why hit Saudi Arabia? Why hit countries like Morocco? There's a suggestion today that today in the "L.A. Times" that Arab nations are essentially, in places like Egypt, turning against these organizations because the attacks are taking place...

ELIOT: Sure.

HEMMER: ... on their soil. Does that backfire? And, if so, why?

ELIOT: Well, it certainly did in Egypt in 1997 when there was the absolute bloody massacre at the Luxor Temple, if you remember...

HEMMER: Yes, against the German tourists.

ELIOT: ... when 60 German tourists were killed. And there was a massive reaction to that.

Terrorists get a three-fer, if you like, by attacking Muslim countries. First of all, Western interests are there, and often not particularly well protected. So you can go after tourists in Bali or restaurant diners in Casablanca. Secondly, you send a signal to Arab governments that they shouldn't get too close to the United States. I mean Morocco is as close to being a pluralistic Western society as you have in the Islamic world. And thirdly, because it's home. Thirdly, because it's home, because the Islamic world is home, and there is, there's an ideological point of demonstrating that you are powerful at home, not just in Western Europe...

HEMMER: And it's probably easier at home, one would think, also.

ELIOT: You can certainly melt away easier.

HEMMER: Sure.

ELIOT: There's no question about that.

HEMMER: Why is it, then, that you have claims of responsibility from groups like Hamas and al Qaeda does not necessarily do that publicly? Why is that not their M.O.?

ELIOT: It never has been. I mean if you go back to the embassy bombings in 1998, the...

HEMMER: Tanzania, Kenya.

ELIOT: The Tanzania and Kenya -- the claim for responsibility for those was by a group that no one had ever heard of. I mean their M.O. is to kind of, as it were, invent, you know, names that kind of last a weekend. But when you kind of follow the trails back, you find pretty quickly that they go back into this network, this umbrella, whatever analogy it is that you want to use, of groups which, you know, don't, this isn't a tight mesh. But it's a number alone and a network of groups that work pretty closely together.

HEMMER: Thanks for coming in today.

ELIOT: Thank you.

HEMMER: Michael Eliot, "Time" magazine.

We'll speak again.

ELIOT: You bet.

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





to Fighting War on Terror>