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American Morning
Security Very Tight in Saudi Arabia
Aired November 10, 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Security is ultra tight today in Saudi Arabia. Officials there are expecting another terror attack at any time. Al Qaeda is suspected of Saturday night's bombing in Riyadh.
Nic Robertson is there. He's reporting for us live on videophone.
Nic, does the royal family believe that they were actually the target of this attack?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very much, I think, that's exactly what they think. They think this is a classic al Qaeda-style attack, as a means to uproot and unseat the ruling family here. The reason that they believe that that is the case, despite the fact that the targets were not Westerners, were not members of the royal family, but were in fact businessmen from Lebanon, from Egypt, from Sudan, from Ethiopia, from many other countries. Despite the fact that they were the targets, the ruling family, the government here, believes this was just a target of opportunity, a soft target, if you will, that could be attacked.
But the ruling family very much sees this as an effort by al Qaeda to unseat them from their positions here. That's why they're taking it so seriously. Government sources here say that they believe right now because of their intelligence information on the al Qaeda elements here, that they have them in a position of having pressure on them at this time.
Nevertheless, security is very tight in key areas around the city and as security increases, we've been saying in the holy town of Mecca, some 4,600 troops sent there to secure that city during the holy month of Ramadan -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Nic, why is everyone so convinced that another terror attack in the region is imminent?
ROBERTSON: Well, certainly officials here had a very good assessment that an attack was due over the weekend. It was part of the broader view of why the United States was able to close down some of its facilities in Saudi Arabia. There was evidence, if you will, that an attack was due, and if, perhaps, through similar means that the government now has the similar insight that another attack could be due at any time. Certainly the government sources we talk to say that they are very, very clear on that issue, that they very much do expect at least one more attack, and that it could come at any time. At this moment, we don't know exactly how they're getting this information. But if we look back over what's happened over the weekend, we can see there certainly was an element of prior knowledge on the part of security forces here -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson is in Riyadh for us this morning. Nic, 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 November 10, 2003 - 09:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Security is ultra tight today in Saudi Arabia. Officials there are expecting another terror attack at any time. Al Qaeda is suspected of Saturday night's bombing in Riyadh.
Nic Robertson is there. He's reporting for us live on videophone.
Nic, does the royal family believe that they were actually the target of this attack?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very much, I think, that's exactly what they think. They think this is a classic al Qaeda-style attack, as a means to uproot and unseat the ruling family here. The reason that they believe that that is the case, despite the fact that the targets were not Westerners, were not members of the royal family, but were in fact businessmen from Lebanon, from Egypt, from Sudan, from Ethiopia, from many other countries. Despite the fact that they were the targets, the ruling family, the government here, believes this was just a target of opportunity, a soft target, if you will, that could be attacked.
But the ruling family very much sees this as an effort by al Qaeda to unseat them from their positions here. That's why they're taking it so seriously. Government sources here say that they believe right now because of their intelligence information on the al Qaeda elements here, that they have them in a position of having pressure on them at this time.
Nevertheless, security is very tight in key areas around the city and as security increases, we've been saying in the holy town of Mecca, some 4,600 troops sent there to secure that city during the holy month of Ramadan -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Nic, why is everyone so convinced that another terror attack in the region is imminent?
ROBERTSON: Well, certainly officials here had a very good assessment that an attack was due over the weekend. It was part of the broader view of why the United States was able to close down some of its facilities in Saudi Arabia. There was evidence, if you will, that an attack was due, and if, perhaps, through similar means that the government now has the similar insight that another attack could be due at any time. Certainly the government sources we talk to say that they are very, very clear on that issue, that they very much do expect at least one more attack, and that it could come at any time. At this moment, we don't know exactly how they're getting this information. But if we look back over what's happened over the weekend, we can see there certainly was an element of prior knowledge on the part of security forces here -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson is in Riyadh for us this morning. Nic, 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
