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American Morning
Police in Saudi Arabia Announce Arrest of Three Men in Connection with Bombing
Aired December 31, 2003 - 08:25 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: Police in Saudi Arabia today announcing the arrest of three men in connection with a bombing on Monday. The target of that explosion was reportedly a senior government security official. Going after government members rather than outsiders seems to be a developing trend right now among terrorists in Saudi Arabia.
Lawrence Wright knows this issue all too well.
Live in Austin, Texas this morning, a recent article on Saudi Arabia now appearing in this week's "New Yorker" magazine.
And Mr. Wright, good morning to you.
LAWRENCE WRIGHT, "NEW YORKER" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Thanks for sharing with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
WRIGHT: Thanks.
HEMMER: You've had access that many of us have never had the chance or the opportunity. Is the kingdom winning its battle against its own terrorists inside of its own borders?
WRIGHT: I think it will win the battle, but it's unclear how long it's going to take. And one thing we're certain to find, is it's going to increase the level of repression in that country and make it harder to live there than it already is.
HEMMER: What do those terrorists, Mr. -- what do they believe the kingdom is doing so wrong?
WRIGHT: Well, bin Laden, since 1991, has been waging a war against the royal family and he believes, first of all, that they royal family shouldn't be running the country, that it should be run, essentially, by clerics, and that they have to give up power altogether. And that's clearly something they're not willing to do.
HEMMER: Your piece is very in depth and quite lengthy and very involved, based on your own experience. You call it a kingdom of silence.
WRIGHT: Right.
HEMMER: Why did you pick that title?
WRIGHT: Well, the people are so subdued and muted because of their despair. And there's very little that comes out of that country. You know, it's a very closed society. It took me a year, nearly a year and a half to get into it. I finally had to take a job in order to enter the kingdom. They wouldn't let me in as a reporter.
And I find that it was a great mood of hopelessness and despair and sadness, especially among the young reporters that I was working with.
HEMMER: Hopelessness, despair, sadness, what leads to that? How does that develop?
WRIGHT: Well, for one thing, there are so few opportunities, there's so few ways for young people to express themselves. And, also, they look at the future and they don't see a good alternative. You know, they're ruled by an elderly group of men who are very much out of touch with them. And they look around at the other countries in their neighborhood, in Egypt, Iraq, Iran, you know, the kinds of changes that they've made are not the ones they want.
So they don't see any clear future for them that's appealing.
HEMMER: The other thing you write about is no clear consensus was achieved, your impressions, anyway, have not led you to believe there is a clear consensus for the future path of that country.
WRIGHT: Right.
HEMMER: I found a similar reaction, actually, in Iraq just a few weeks ago.
WRIGHT: Yes.
HEMMER: What explains that?
WRIGHT: Well, I think that they've talked themselves into this dilemma between kind of Islamic -- the Islamic idea of running a country like making it into Iran and the Turkish idea, which is to turn away from religion and government and create a sector of society. And they don't want either alternative, but those are the only two that seem to be posed to them. There's not yet in Iraq the model that could work in the Arab world.
HEMMER: It's good reading.
Thanks for sharing.
WRIGHT: It's been a pleasure.
HEMMER: Lawrence Wright in Austin, Texas, "New Yorker" magazine, out right now.
Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Connection with Bombing>
Aired December 31, 2003 - 08:25 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Saudi Arabia today announcing the arrest of three men in connection with a bombing on Monday. The target of that explosion was reportedly a senior government security official. Going after government members rather than outsiders seems to be a developing trend right now among terrorists in Saudi Arabia.
Lawrence Wright knows this issue all too well.
Live in Austin, Texas this morning, a recent article on Saudi Arabia now appearing in this week's "New Yorker" magazine.
And Mr. Wright, good morning to you.
LAWRENCE WRIGHT, "NEW YORKER" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Thanks for sharing with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
WRIGHT: Thanks.
HEMMER: You've had access that many of us have never had the chance or the opportunity. Is the kingdom winning its battle against its own terrorists inside of its own borders?
WRIGHT: I think it will win the battle, but it's unclear how long it's going to take. And one thing we're certain to find, is it's going to increase the level of repression in that country and make it harder to live there than it already is.
HEMMER: What do those terrorists, Mr. -- what do they believe the kingdom is doing so wrong?
WRIGHT: Well, bin Laden, since 1991, has been waging a war against the royal family and he believes, first of all, that they royal family shouldn't be running the country, that it should be run, essentially, by clerics, and that they have to give up power altogether. And that's clearly something they're not willing to do.
HEMMER: Your piece is very in depth and quite lengthy and very involved, based on your own experience. You call it a kingdom of silence.
WRIGHT: Right.
HEMMER: Why did you pick that title?
WRIGHT: Well, the people are so subdued and muted because of their despair. And there's very little that comes out of that country. You know, it's a very closed society. It took me a year, nearly a year and a half to get into it. I finally had to take a job in order to enter the kingdom. They wouldn't let me in as a reporter.
And I find that it was a great mood of hopelessness and despair and sadness, especially among the young reporters that I was working with.
HEMMER: Hopelessness, despair, sadness, what leads to that? How does that develop?
WRIGHT: Well, for one thing, there are so few opportunities, there's so few ways for young people to express themselves. And, also, they look at the future and they don't see a good alternative. You know, they're ruled by an elderly group of men who are very much out of touch with them. And they look around at the other countries in their neighborhood, in Egypt, Iraq, Iran, you know, the kinds of changes that they've made are not the ones they want.
So they don't see any clear future for them that's appealing.
HEMMER: The other thing you write about is no clear consensus was achieved, your impressions, anyway, have not led you to believe there is a clear consensus for the future path of that country.
WRIGHT: Right.
HEMMER: I found a similar reaction, actually, in Iraq just a few weeks ago.
WRIGHT: Yes.
HEMMER: What explains that?
WRIGHT: Well, I think that they've talked themselves into this dilemma between kind of Islamic -- the Islamic idea of running a country like making it into Iran and the Turkish idea, which is to turn away from religion and government and create a sector of society. And they don't want either alternative, but those are the only two that seem to be posed to them. There's not yet in Iraq the model that could work in the Arab world.
HEMMER: It's good reading.
Thanks for sharing.
WRIGHT: It's been a pleasure.
HEMMER: Lawrence Wright in Austin, Texas, "New Yorker" magazine, out right now.
Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Connection with Bombing>
