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American Morning

Interview With Former DIA Analyst

Aired May 20, 2003 - 09:04   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: How serious, then, is the threat of new attacks either in Saudi Arabia or possibly here at home? A retired U.S. Army colonel, Pat Lang, former chief Middle East analyst with the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency is our guest now in D.C.
Sir, good morning to you. Colonel, nice to have you with us.

COL. PATRICK LANG, FORMER ANALYST, DIA: Morning to you.

HEMMER: What are you to make right now about the closings in Saudi Arabia? Is it just temporary, and upon what do we base that?

LANG: Yes, of course, it is temporary. It's really necessary because having had the incidents that we had in Saudi Arabia, the consular facilities in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran are more exposed, in fact, because there are Marines at the embassy in Riyadh, and the embassy is inside a diplomatic compound protected by the Saudi forces, whereas the consular facilities tend to be out in the open more, and it seems they have specific intelligence about threats to these places, so it is only prudent to close it for a while.

HEMMER: Don't know if you can answer this or not, but Prince Bandar -- we'll put the quote up on the screen. This is what he said last night in Riyadh, and we will quote him right now: "My gut feeling tells me that something big is going to happen here or in America."

I am assuming the two are related, possibly, between the statement last night and the word today on the closings?

LANG: Well -- well, knowing Prince Bandar, I think this rhetorical flourish of his about his gut is probably not exactly correct. I think he probably has a lot more specific knowledge than that, and he knows very well that there is a widespread underlining stratum of enthusiasm and sympathy for these Islamist terrorists in Saudi Arabia, and that the possibility of recruiting more people for attacks there, as well as across the rest of the Arab world is quite high, as we saw in Morocco.

HEMMER: Colonel, do you know, or does anyone know the true answer to this question. How prevalent, what are the numbers of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia?

LANG: Well, that's a good question. The -- I think that's not the way to look at it, really. I think the way to look at it is to try to figure out, in the Islamic world in general, how many hundreds of thousands of people there are who are sympathetic, from whom activists can be recruited to replace people who are lost. There are probably only a few hundred hard-core Islamic jihadi terrorists in Saudi Arabia, but there are so many people there who sympathize with them that they can always recruit more to take their place.

HEMMER: What do you make of this report about a connection here between the attacks and what was found, essentially, in a raid in Saudi Arabia back on the 6th of May and a link there with the National Guard in Saudi Arabia. How much cooperation do we know of, and I guess more to the point, would this surprise you if, indeed, true?

LANG: No, it wouldn't surprise me in the least. I was stationed there once as defense attache, and it is quite evident to me, in fact, that, even amongst the bedouin tribesmen who make up the National Guard, there is a long-standing tradition of deep commitment to rather extreme forms of Islam, and these people are susceptible to recruitment. That doesn't mean the National Guard is generally unloyal to the regime or unreliable, but it means that you can recruit people for these jihadi organizations out of that population.

HEMMER: Take that a step further. Is it possible, then, the crackdown on al Qaeda, given the kingdom, the way it is set up right now, and the willingness or lack thereof of those in charge to do it?

LANG: Well, they are now extremely concerned in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia about the fact that what might be demonstrated here is their inability to control their territory and their population. That's what the terrorists are out to do. It isn't so much they're after us, as they want to bring down the government of Saudi Arabia, hoping that in the chaos that ensues they will be able to create a theocracy, an Islamic theocracy, and that is what they want, and people are focused on that, and there is a window now of Saudi willingness to do things that should be done.

HEMMER: Colonel Lang, thanks for talking. Patrick Lang down in D.C.

LANG: Sure.

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 20, 2003 - 09:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: How serious, then, is the threat of new attacks either in Saudi Arabia or possibly here at home? A retired U.S. Army colonel, Pat Lang, former chief Middle East analyst with the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency is our guest now in D.C.
Sir, good morning to you. Colonel, nice to have you with us.

COL. PATRICK LANG, FORMER ANALYST, DIA: Morning to you.

HEMMER: What are you to make right now about the closings in Saudi Arabia? Is it just temporary, and upon what do we base that?

LANG: Yes, of course, it is temporary. It's really necessary because having had the incidents that we had in Saudi Arabia, the consular facilities in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran are more exposed, in fact, because there are Marines at the embassy in Riyadh, and the embassy is inside a diplomatic compound protected by the Saudi forces, whereas the consular facilities tend to be out in the open more, and it seems they have specific intelligence about threats to these places, so it is only prudent to close it for a while.

HEMMER: Don't know if you can answer this or not, but Prince Bandar -- we'll put the quote up on the screen. This is what he said last night in Riyadh, and we will quote him right now: "My gut feeling tells me that something big is going to happen here or in America."

I am assuming the two are related, possibly, between the statement last night and the word today on the closings?

LANG: Well -- well, knowing Prince Bandar, I think this rhetorical flourish of his about his gut is probably not exactly correct. I think he probably has a lot more specific knowledge than that, and he knows very well that there is a widespread underlining stratum of enthusiasm and sympathy for these Islamist terrorists in Saudi Arabia, and that the possibility of recruiting more people for attacks there, as well as across the rest of the Arab world is quite high, as we saw in Morocco.

HEMMER: Colonel, do you know, or does anyone know the true answer to this question. How prevalent, what are the numbers of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia?

LANG: Well, that's a good question. The -- I think that's not the way to look at it, really. I think the way to look at it is to try to figure out, in the Islamic world in general, how many hundreds of thousands of people there are who are sympathetic, from whom activists can be recruited to replace people who are lost. There are probably only a few hundred hard-core Islamic jihadi terrorists in Saudi Arabia, but there are so many people there who sympathize with them that they can always recruit more to take their place.

HEMMER: What do you make of this report about a connection here between the attacks and what was found, essentially, in a raid in Saudi Arabia back on the 6th of May and a link there with the National Guard in Saudi Arabia. How much cooperation do we know of, and I guess more to the point, would this surprise you if, indeed, true?

LANG: No, it wouldn't surprise me in the least. I was stationed there once as defense attache, and it is quite evident to me, in fact, that, even amongst the bedouin tribesmen who make up the National Guard, there is a long-standing tradition of deep commitment to rather extreme forms of Islam, and these people are susceptible to recruitment. That doesn't mean the National Guard is generally unloyal to the regime or unreliable, but it means that you can recruit people for these jihadi organizations out of that population.

HEMMER: Take that a step further. Is it possible, then, the crackdown on al Qaeda, given the kingdom, the way it is set up right now, and the willingness or lack thereof of those in charge to do it?

LANG: Well, they are now extremely concerned in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia about the fact that what might be demonstrated here is their inability to control their territory and their population. That's what the terrorists are out to do. It isn't so much they're after us, as they want to bring down the government of Saudi Arabia, hoping that in the chaos that ensues they will be able to create a theocracy, an Islamic theocracy, and that is what they want, and people are focused on that, and there is a window now of Saudi willingness to do things that should be done.

HEMMER: Colonel Lang, thanks for talking. Patrick Lang down in D.C.

LANG: Sure.

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