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CNN Live Sunday
Kenya's President Moi to Visit Washington This Week
Aired December 01, 2002 - 18:01 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The war on terror is the top priority in Washington. It could get even hotter this week when Kenya's President Daniel Arap Moi visits the White House. Some senators say the Kenya attacks signal al Qaeda is regrouping. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House with more -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello. President Bush returned here to the White House earlier this evening after a long Thanksgiving break with his family at his Crawford ranch. As you mentioned before, he faces a number of challenges, first and foremost the war on terror, those twin attacks in Kenya against the Israelis, as well as the State Department's warning that perhaps Americans would face the same fate both in Yemen as well as East Africa.
This week, President Bush will be meeting with the President of Kenya Daniel Arap Moi, as well as the leaders of Ethiopia, possibly Djibouti as well. It was a previously scheduled meeting that was set up to talk about issues about development, economic as well as Democratic reform, but a senior administration official saying of course the top priority to talk about combating terrorism.
Now today, the State Department said it did not know who was responsible for those Kenyan terrorist attacks but leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee today said that they believe, U.S. officials believe, that it is a group that is loosely tied to al Qaeda. A local group, a Somali-Kenyan group, that have been there for about ten years and lawmakers express concern now that Kenya has not only become a place, a target for terrorists but a home as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: Well, it certainly fits their modus operandi, Wolf. They've operated in Kenya before with the attack on our embassy. They have a history of attacking soft targets, the Bali attack for example, and this was relatively sophisticated.
You had the hotel bombing and the missiles being shot at the airline virtually simultaneously, so and their objective is to cause mass casualties and to inflict economic damage, and this is another blow to our airline industry. So, if you add all that up together, that's a lot of smoke. We don't have proof yet but certainly there are signs pointing in that direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Administration officials are also concerned that perhaps al Qaeda is working in concert with other groups that are sympathetic to the Palestinian uprise like Hezbollah. They say that this would only complicate matters. It would be a very dangerous strategy by Osama bin Laden because it would simply complicate the United States being able to maintain those Arab allies in the war on terror. That is another great concern of the administration -- Anderson.
COOPER: Suzanne, you said President Moi of Kenya and some others are going to be at the White House later this week. It would seem that they are going to be asking for some money in order to try to fight terrorism better. Any sense whether the White House is preparing to pay up, to try to improve terrorist resources there?
MALVEAUX: Well, not in any type of specific numbers but the White House has already indicated that they're going to be offering resources for the investigation, intelligence as well as law enforcement that they'll contribute to that. And already the administration staying very concerned about that particular area that they're going to be working with Israeli officials as well, Kenyan officials. As you had mentioned before already seems to be a rift when it comes to the investigation but the administration certainly prepared to say yes we will offer resources, really no amounts at this time.
COOPER: All right, Suzanne Malveaux at the White House thanks very much.
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 December 1, 2002 - 18:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The war on terror is the top priority in Washington. It could get even hotter this week when Kenya's President Daniel Arap Moi visits the White House. Some senators say the Kenya attacks signal al Qaeda is regrouping. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House with more -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello. President Bush returned here to the White House earlier this evening after a long Thanksgiving break with his family at his Crawford ranch. As you mentioned before, he faces a number of challenges, first and foremost the war on terror, those twin attacks in Kenya against the Israelis, as well as the State Department's warning that perhaps Americans would face the same fate both in Yemen as well as East Africa.
This week, President Bush will be meeting with the President of Kenya Daniel Arap Moi, as well as the leaders of Ethiopia, possibly Djibouti as well. It was a previously scheduled meeting that was set up to talk about issues about development, economic as well as Democratic reform, but a senior administration official saying of course the top priority to talk about combating terrorism.
Now today, the State Department said it did not know who was responsible for those Kenyan terrorist attacks but leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee today said that they believe, U.S. officials believe, that it is a group that is loosely tied to al Qaeda. A local group, a Somali-Kenyan group, that have been there for about ten years and lawmakers express concern now that Kenya has not only become a place, a target for terrorists but a home as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: Well, it certainly fits their modus operandi, Wolf. They've operated in Kenya before with the attack on our embassy. They have a history of attacking soft targets, the Bali attack for example, and this was relatively sophisticated.
You had the hotel bombing and the missiles being shot at the airline virtually simultaneously, so and their objective is to cause mass casualties and to inflict economic damage, and this is another blow to our airline industry. So, if you add all that up together, that's a lot of smoke. We don't have proof yet but certainly there are signs pointing in that direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Administration officials are also concerned that perhaps al Qaeda is working in concert with other groups that are sympathetic to the Palestinian uprise like Hezbollah. They say that this would only complicate matters. It would be a very dangerous strategy by Osama bin Laden because it would simply complicate the United States being able to maintain those Arab allies in the war on terror. That is another great concern of the administration -- Anderson.
COOPER: Suzanne, you said President Moi of Kenya and some others are going to be at the White House later this week. It would seem that they are going to be asking for some money in order to try to fight terrorism better. Any sense whether the White House is preparing to pay up, to try to improve terrorist resources there?
MALVEAUX: Well, not in any type of specific numbers but the White House has already indicated that they're going to be offering resources for the investigation, intelligence as well as law enforcement that they'll contribute to that. And already the administration staying very concerned about that particular area that they're going to be working with Israeli officials as well, Kenyan officials. As you had mentioned before already seems to be a rift when it comes to the investigation but the administration certainly prepared to say yes we will offer resources, really no amounts at this time.
COOPER: All right, Suzanne Malveaux at the White House thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
