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CNN Saturday Morning News
Are Bombers in Iraq Getting More Sophisticated?
Aired August 30, 2003 - 07:06 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The three major postwar bombings in Iraq have been at the Jordanian embassy and U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, and yesterday's blast at the Shi'ite mosque in Najaf.
Are the bombers getting more sophisticated? How about the bombs themselves?
Our CNN security analyst is Kelly McCann, who's joining us now from Washington to talk more about this.
Good morning to you, Kelly. Thanks for being here.
KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Heidi.
COLLINS: I want to ask you quickly about a couple of things that Ben Wedeman just reported for us, coming to us live this morning from Najaf. What do you make of a group of people from Ramadi being questioned at this time in possible relation with this bombing?
MCCANN: Well, certainly anything that now is out of the norm, if there is a norm there, is going to be subject to scrutiny, and I think that's what the security forces are doing. They're looking at strange movements, they're looking at people who may not have the appropriate cover for status, cover for action, to be in a particular place doing what they appear to be doing.
So I think that it's obvious now that there is quite a surveillance sophistication and surveillance efforts on, going on by the adversarial side there. So they're just being careful.
COLLINS: And these checkpoints as well might be stepping things up a bit too, security-wise.
But more importantly, I want to talk to you now about this particular bomb. Why was this bomb different than what we have seen in the past here?
MCCANN: Well, you know, there's still some things that are not clear. For instance, they said that when the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ayatollah was walking towards his car with his -- I believe it was his nephew, some vehicles exploded beside him. They're not sure whether it was, in fact, part of his vehicle's entourage or not.
But the initiation of the devices in question. There are some that have said that this particular device was initiated when an ignition was turned on. That goes to a little bit higher level of sophistication than what we've seen in Baghdad, typically military munitions that have been reworked in order to become an improvised explosive device using pretty standard initiation kind of military devices.
This is different. Similarly, the U.N. bombing was different in the scope and size of the bombing, and the tactic used to deliver the device.
The next weeks will tell, Heidi. If this proliferates, and if it continues in other places in Iraq, then that will be telling.
COLLINS: Too early to say this might be a trend.
MCCANN: It is too early to say. Of real concern here is that this is -- it appears, anyway, Shi'a-on-Shi'a violence. That's significantly different than what we've seen in the past directed towards the U.S.
This particular cleric, of course, had been promoting the fact that there should be a state government separate from a religious kind of entity, and I think that he fell in disfavor. But still, I think it is too early to say that it's a trend, one that we probably don't want to see.
COLLINS: Have to talk about any way that the coalition forces could combat these type of attacks.
MCCANN: You know, when you and I talked earlier, I -- it's very difficult to put your finger on, like, the magic solution. But there is one overarching kind of solution here, and that's intelligence, better intelligence.
Right now, there are so many players in Iraq, Heidi, there are so many people from outside that are coming in, there are so many religious different kind of factions, there are so many different interests, there are criminal groups, it's very, very difficult to get good-quality intelligence.
And that really is what's going to safeguard people. Already people are -- the U.S. troops and other people that are there, contractors, et cetera, are employing good individual protective measures. There's good force protection programs going on. But in fact, remember, the purpose of these kinds of bombings is to make look ineffectual any security measures that the occupying force would institute.
So it's difficult, but the right answer is intelligence.
COLLINS: All right. CNN security analyst Kelly McCann this morning. Kelly, thanks so very much.
MCCANN: You bet, Heidi.
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 August 30, 2003 - 07:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The three major postwar bombings in Iraq have been at the Jordanian embassy and U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, and yesterday's blast at the Shi'ite mosque in Najaf.
Are the bombers getting more sophisticated? How about the bombs themselves?
Our CNN security analyst is Kelly McCann, who's joining us now from Washington to talk more about this.
Good morning to you, Kelly. Thanks for being here.
KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Heidi.
COLLINS: I want to ask you quickly about a couple of things that Ben Wedeman just reported for us, coming to us live this morning from Najaf. What do you make of a group of people from Ramadi being questioned at this time in possible relation with this bombing?
MCCANN: Well, certainly anything that now is out of the norm, if there is a norm there, is going to be subject to scrutiny, and I think that's what the security forces are doing. They're looking at strange movements, they're looking at people who may not have the appropriate cover for status, cover for action, to be in a particular place doing what they appear to be doing.
So I think that it's obvious now that there is quite a surveillance sophistication and surveillance efforts on, going on by the adversarial side there. So they're just being careful.
COLLINS: And these checkpoints as well might be stepping things up a bit too, security-wise.
But more importantly, I want to talk to you now about this particular bomb. Why was this bomb different than what we have seen in the past here?
MCCANN: Well, you know, there's still some things that are not clear. For instance, they said that when the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ayatollah was walking towards his car with his -- I believe it was his nephew, some vehicles exploded beside him. They're not sure whether it was, in fact, part of his vehicle's entourage or not.
But the initiation of the devices in question. There are some that have said that this particular device was initiated when an ignition was turned on. That goes to a little bit higher level of sophistication than what we've seen in Baghdad, typically military munitions that have been reworked in order to become an improvised explosive device using pretty standard initiation kind of military devices.
This is different. Similarly, the U.N. bombing was different in the scope and size of the bombing, and the tactic used to deliver the device.
The next weeks will tell, Heidi. If this proliferates, and if it continues in other places in Iraq, then that will be telling.
COLLINS: Too early to say this might be a trend.
MCCANN: It is too early to say. Of real concern here is that this is -- it appears, anyway, Shi'a-on-Shi'a violence. That's significantly different than what we've seen in the past directed towards the U.S.
This particular cleric, of course, had been promoting the fact that there should be a state government separate from a religious kind of entity, and I think that he fell in disfavor. But still, I think it is too early to say that it's a trend, one that we probably don't want to see.
COLLINS: Have to talk about any way that the coalition forces could combat these type of attacks.
MCCANN: You know, when you and I talked earlier, I -- it's very difficult to put your finger on, like, the magic solution. But there is one overarching kind of solution here, and that's intelligence, better intelligence.
Right now, there are so many players in Iraq, Heidi, there are so many people from outside that are coming in, there are so many religious different kind of factions, there are so many different interests, there are criminal groups, it's very, very difficult to get good-quality intelligence.
And that really is what's going to safeguard people. Already people are -- the U.S. troops and other people that are there, contractors, et cetera, are employing good individual protective measures. There's good force protection programs going on. But in fact, remember, the purpose of these kinds of bombings is to make look ineffectual any security measures that the occupying force would institute.
So it's difficult, but the right answer is intelligence.
COLLINS: All right. CNN security analyst Kelly McCann this morning. Kelly, thanks so very much.
MCCANN: You bet, Heidi.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
