PHIL PONCE: There's been an arrest in connection with the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. A suspect, identified as Mohammed Sadik Howaida, was apprehended at the airport in Karachi, Pakistan after arriving on a flight from Nairobi. He was on his way to Afghanistan, according to news reports. The suspect was returned to Kenya this weekend for questioning by U.S. and Kenyan authorities. For more, we go to David Breset. Mr. Bresett is a former Secret Service-excuse me-I got lost here-Mr. Bresett is a former Secret Service chief of foreign intelligence who also worked at the CIA, and he's now with the private security company, Beckett Brown International. Welcome, Mr. Breset. First of all, your reaction to the arrest, a bit of a surprise?
DAVID BRESETT, Former Secret Service Official: I was surprised, Phil, pleasantly surprised, that the Pakistani authorities would pick up on Howaida's bogus travel documents and grab him. I think it's a great break for-if he's truly connected and only further investigation will tell-he's truly connected with the Nairobi bombing-it's a great break for the investigators down in Kenya.
PHIL PONCE: And according to reports, his itinerary was to fly from Kenya to Pakistan and then on to Afghanistan. What does that tell you?
DAVID BRESETT: Well, that's consistent with what we know about Arab Afghans. And I believe that's what we're dealing with probably here.
PHIL PONCE: Arab Afghans?
DAVID BRESETT: A rather generic expression for those individuals that were drawn together at the beginning of the Afghan conflict to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan back in 1979. As you know, that conflict's been almost a 10-year period. These are people that are now pretty much have returned to their homelands but still are able to seek refuge-safe haven, if you will, in denied areas such as Afghanistan.
PHIL PONCE: And one of the key people in that group is a gentleman by the name of Osama Bin Laden. Who is he?
DAVID BRESETT: Well, he's been described as everything from an enigma to a radical Saudi prince. I don't think--he's not either-to be honest with you. What he is is a radical Saudi financier of terrorist organizations. This is an individual that was drawn in again like Arab Afghans, as I mentioned earlier, into the Afghan conflict early on, and rose to a position of prominence. And now a lot of people consider him the godfather of the so-called Arab Afghan movement. I believe he's the heart and soul of that movement.
PHIL PONCE: And he's believed to be living in Afghanistan, is that correct?
DAVID BRESETT: Yes. In Southern Afghanistan.
PHIL PONCE: What is the source of his wealth and how much money is he supposed to have at his disposal?
DAVID BRESETT: He's from a wealthy Saudi family. His family, who are certainly backers of the current regime in Saudi Arabia, they're not radical-made their money in the construction business.
PHIL PONCE: And he's what-he's a black sheep, and the Saudi Arabian government has, what, taken away his passport?
DAVID BRESETT: Yes. They jerked his passport, I guess, a couple of years ago now, and his citizenship, and he's in no man's land in Afghanistan basically.
PHIL PONCE: Why does he hate the United States so much?
DAVID BRESETT: Well, we're the infidel. That's the short answer. He blames, as a lot of other Afghans, the United States for a lot of problems that Muslims are facing around the world. That's the slightly longer answer.
PHIL PONCE: He's not reluctant to go on record as saying these things.
DAVID BRESETT: No. He did relatively recently back in May. He was interviewed by a U.S. news team, and basically he said I'm coming to get you, U.S., and I think he's certainly followed up on his threat.
PHIL PONCE: And how does he operate? I mean, does he have-does he hire people? Does he pay people? How does it work?
DAVID BRESETT: Well, the people associated with this Arab-Afghan movement have been described in the past as a loose collection of like-minded individuals who come together for one-time operations. There are a number of organizations-the Gamada Ela Slamea-Egyptian Al-Jihad, and several others, depending on the country you're talking about, that have people available to do these type of operations. They are basically, in a manner of speaking, under Bin Laden's umbrella. That's certainly-they're subject to his influence. They need funding. He can provide that. They need an ideological leader. He can certainly provide that. He's the latter day incarnation of an individual by the name of Abdulla Hasam-who was instrumental in getting the so-called Arab-Afghan movement off the ground back in-it must have been 1978-79, rather.
PHIL PONCE: At this point there's no hard evidence that this known publicly anyway linking Mr. Bin Laden to what happened in Africa. What makes the United States so keen on him as a suspect?
DAVID BRESETT: Well, the outstanding threat, first of all. I think that the general method of operation-there are a variety of factors that leave U.S. investigators to believe that-that he's probably the one. To a great extent the process of elimination-you look at the usual suspects out there-Iraq-I don't believe they were involved. I don't think they have the reach at this point in time to pull off these relatively sophisticated type operations outside the immediate area of the Middle East that they're ensconced in. The timing is bad for Iranian support. So it comes down to a-in my mind-process of elimination, and the person that looms large in my mind at least is Bin Laden.
PHIL PONCE: And very quickly, in the time we have left, where does an investigation like this go from here?
DAVID BRESETT: Well, you got to rely to a great extent on the forensic evidence developed at the crime scene and see what comes out of that. If you're able to come up with some signature items on the devices that might point to an individual or organization, that's just a start. Intelligence organizations should lead the charge hopefully in a perfect world.
PHIL PONCE: And with that, we are out of time, Mr. Bresett. Thank you for joining us.
DAVID BRESETT: Okay, Phil, thank you.
May 25, 2012
