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American Morning
Suicide Strikes in Iraq Prompt Speculation Attacks Work of al Qaeda
Aired February 12, 2004 - 08:14 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: The latest suicide strikes in Iraq have prompted speculation that the attacks are the work of al Qaeda. A car bomber yesterday killed nearly 50 Iraqis who were lined up outside a Baghdad army recruiting station. It was the second suicide attack in as many days that targeted Iraqis who are working alongside Americans.
CNN analyst Ken Pollack joins us from Washington to talk a little bit about the security situation in Iraq -- ken, good morning.
Nice to see you.
KEN POLLACK, CNN ANALYST: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about the fallout from these two bombings. Obviously, and beyond just the physical damage and the lives lost, but the psychological damage to Iraqis who have been cooperating with the United States.
What's the fallout there?
POLLACK: Yes, well, the potential fallout is very important, Soledad, because you're getting at exactly the key issue. One of the biggest problems that the U.S. has had since the fall of Baghdad is in establishing security for average Iraqis, making the streets safe so that they can go about their lives. The U.S. has been principally relying on large numbers of Iraqi policemen to try to do that job because the U.S. force presence in Iraq has not been used to get out on the streets and just do that day to day security.
So by going after the police forces, they're going after not just the most visible people who are collaborating, in their words, with the U.S. forces. They're also going with those people who, in some ways, are the linchpin of the reconstruction, because these are the people providing day to day security for the Iraqis and if reconstruction is going to succeed, it has to be done on this basis of security.
O'BRIEN: You have said before that suicide bombings are sort of the calling card of al Qaeda.
But is there specific evidence that says this was an al Qaeda or these two attacks were al Qaeda attacks? Or could it be someone mimicking al Qaeda?
POLLACK: Yes, at this point in time, Soledad, I don't think that the U.S. military or intelligence communities has smoking gun evidence that al Qaeda was behind this. There has been a tendency to ascribe these kind of suicide bombing attacks to al Qaeda for two reasons. On the one hand, most of the Iraqi, the home grown insurgents, have not demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice their own lives for the cause. Most of the time they mount these attacks they're improvised explosive devices detonated from a half mile away or quick hit and run attacks where they all get to escape.
On the other hand, a suicide bombing attack, that is the calling card of al Qaeda. It's something that they're very good at, they do all the time.
So this is principally an analytic judgment, less so something based on hard smoking gun evidence.
O'BRIEN: Before the war, the administration had suggested a link between al Qaeda, or suggested that al Qaeda was in Iraq.
Ironically now it does seem to be the case, right?
POLLACK: Yes. Unfortunately, I think that we continue to see very little evidence to indicate that there were strong ties between Iraq and al Qaeda before the war. But now, since the fall of Baghdad, obviously al Qaeda is starting to move into Iraq. There is still great debate among different analysts as to how much of an al Qaeda presence is in Iraq. Obviously, there is enough of a presence that they have been able to mount this series of suicide bombing attacks.
But, on the other hand, there are reports suggesting that the numbers of those people may be very low.
The key issue out there is that increasingly there is a convergence of interests between the al Qaeda bombers operating in Iraq and the homegrown insurgents who want the U.S. out for their own reasons.
O'BRIEN: So then what's the solution, more troops? As you mentioned, to some degree, that brings so many more of its own problems, more troops trying to get into the Iraqi society, as far as moving that toward a direction of Iraqis taking over their own self-g.
POLLACK: Right. Well, we get into a, we do get into a bit of a catch-22 here. But I think unfortunately the only way to break it, the only way to solve the problem, and this is what we've seen in other post-conflict situations, is to start out with a very heavy troop presence, so great that it kind of blankets the country, smothers all resistance and then very quickly after that, within a period of about six or 12 months, you start drawing down and allowing those indigenous security forces to take over.
The problem is that we never put that massive blanket across the country and therefore we didn't give the Iraqi police the space -- the Iraqi security forces, I should say -- the space to develop, to congeal, to coalesce and to be able to take over the mission from our forces.
O'BRIEN: Ken Pollack, CNN analyst and also a director of research at the Saban Center, joining us this morning.
Ken, thanks a lot.
Before we let you go, congratulations on the new baby.
Thanks.
POLLACK: Thank you very much, Soledad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
al Qaeda>
Aired February 12, 2004 - 08:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The latest suicide strikes in Iraq have prompted speculation that the attacks are the work of al Qaeda. A car bomber yesterday killed nearly 50 Iraqis who were lined up outside a Baghdad army recruiting station. It was the second suicide attack in as many days that targeted Iraqis who are working alongside Americans.
CNN analyst Ken Pollack joins us from Washington to talk a little bit about the security situation in Iraq -- ken, good morning.
Nice to see you.
KEN POLLACK, CNN ANALYST: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about the fallout from these two bombings. Obviously, and beyond just the physical damage and the lives lost, but the psychological damage to Iraqis who have been cooperating with the United States.
What's the fallout there?
POLLACK: Yes, well, the potential fallout is very important, Soledad, because you're getting at exactly the key issue. One of the biggest problems that the U.S. has had since the fall of Baghdad is in establishing security for average Iraqis, making the streets safe so that they can go about their lives. The U.S. has been principally relying on large numbers of Iraqi policemen to try to do that job because the U.S. force presence in Iraq has not been used to get out on the streets and just do that day to day security.
So by going after the police forces, they're going after not just the most visible people who are collaborating, in their words, with the U.S. forces. They're also going with those people who, in some ways, are the linchpin of the reconstruction, because these are the people providing day to day security for the Iraqis and if reconstruction is going to succeed, it has to be done on this basis of security.
O'BRIEN: You have said before that suicide bombings are sort of the calling card of al Qaeda.
But is there specific evidence that says this was an al Qaeda or these two attacks were al Qaeda attacks? Or could it be someone mimicking al Qaeda?
POLLACK: Yes, at this point in time, Soledad, I don't think that the U.S. military or intelligence communities has smoking gun evidence that al Qaeda was behind this. There has been a tendency to ascribe these kind of suicide bombing attacks to al Qaeda for two reasons. On the one hand, most of the Iraqi, the home grown insurgents, have not demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice their own lives for the cause. Most of the time they mount these attacks they're improvised explosive devices detonated from a half mile away or quick hit and run attacks where they all get to escape.
On the other hand, a suicide bombing attack, that is the calling card of al Qaeda. It's something that they're very good at, they do all the time.
So this is principally an analytic judgment, less so something based on hard smoking gun evidence.
O'BRIEN: Before the war, the administration had suggested a link between al Qaeda, or suggested that al Qaeda was in Iraq.
Ironically now it does seem to be the case, right?
POLLACK: Yes. Unfortunately, I think that we continue to see very little evidence to indicate that there were strong ties between Iraq and al Qaeda before the war. But now, since the fall of Baghdad, obviously al Qaeda is starting to move into Iraq. There is still great debate among different analysts as to how much of an al Qaeda presence is in Iraq. Obviously, there is enough of a presence that they have been able to mount this series of suicide bombing attacks.
But, on the other hand, there are reports suggesting that the numbers of those people may be very low.
The key issue out there is that increasingly there is a convergence of interests between the al Qaeda bombers operating in Iraq and the homegrown insurgents who want the U.S. out for their own reasons.
O'BRIEN: So then what's the solution, more troops? As you mentioned, to some degree, that brings so many more of its own problems, more troops trying to get into the Iraqi society, as far as moving that toward a direction of Iraqis taking over their own self-g.
POLLACK: Right. Well, we get into a, we do get into a bit of a catch-22 here. But I think unfortunately the only way to break it, the only way to solve the problem, and this is what we've seen in other post-conflict situations, is to start out with a very heavy troop presence, so great that it kind of blankets the country, smothers all resistance and then very quickly after that, within a period of about six or 12 months, you start drawing down and allowing those indigenous security forces to take over.
The problem is that we never put that massive blanket across the country and therefore we didn't give the Iraqi police the space -- the Iraqi security forces, I should say -- the space to develop, to congeal, to coalesce and to be able to take over the mission from our forces.
O'BRIEN: Ken Pollack, CNN analyst and also a director of research at the Saban Center, joining us this morning.
Ken, thanks a lot.
Before we let you go, congratulations on the new baby.
Thanks.
POLLACK: Thank you very much, Soledad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
al Qaeda>
