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| SAUDI REACTION TO TERROR | |
 May 16, 2003  | |
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Saudi Arabia pledged to "do whatever it takes" to combat terrorism following Monday's suicide bombings in Riyadh that killed 34 people. After this background report, experts assess Saudi reaction to terrorism.
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SPENCER MICHELS: Today's warning of possible terror attacks in Saudi Arabia came just four days after a series of suicide bombs rocked Riyadh, killing 34 people. The State Department said it could not confirm the credibility of the threat against western compounds in Jeddah, but some foreign residents were already packing up and heading to hotels.
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| Saudi official says they will pursue terrorists | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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ABDEL AL-JUBEIR: We in Saudi Arabia are partly angry, partly sad. We are sorry for not having been able to win this battle in the war against terrorism. We are determined that we will prevail in the war against terrorism. We will do whatever we need to do in order to confront and destroy the organization and the people who did this. This will not stand.
SPENCER MICHELS: Al-Jubeir was also asked about the warnings from U.S. officials. ABDEL AL-JUBEIR: To say that Saudi Arabia did not do enough, when people talk about the compounds, the image that people have of these compounds is that they are garrisons; they're not. They're gated communities. Did the U.S. give us warnings or did Ambassador Jordan talk about a threat to compounds in Saudi Arabia? Yes, he did, a few days before the attack. But to say that we didn't act on it when you have hundreds, if not thousands, of these compounds-- how can you do this? You have to assess the threat. You have to look at what's in place now. You have to assign individuals. You have to see how terrorists are going to act and penetrate those facilities. And then you have to put mechanisms in place to protect people. This is not something that can be accomplished in three days. |
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| Joint U.S.-Saudi investigation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SPENCER MICHELS: At a news conference in Berlin with the German foreign minister, Secretary of State Colin Powell had no criticism of Saudi Arabia.
SPENCER MICHELS: Saudis and Americans are working together on the investigation. Today, FBI officials praised their Saudi counterparts. |
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Meanwhile,
the Saudis continued to defend themselves against U.S. criticism that
they hadn't done enough to provide security. U.S. Ambassador Robert
Jordan said Wednesday his request for more security at foreign housing
compounds had gone unheeded. Other senior U.S. officials had also warned
of possible al-Qaida attacks in Saudi Arabia. In Washington, Adel al-Jubeir,
foreign policy adviser to the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, said today
his government was working to thwart future attacks. 
Saudi
Arabia has been a strong ally in the war against terrorism for a very
simple reason: This terrorism is directed at us. We are convinced that
the United States and Saudi Arabia are the two countries that are in
the crosshairs of this murderous organization called al-Qaida. And if
anything, this, the tragic events of Monday, have been a massive jolt
to Saudi Arabia, to the United States, to all peace-loving people around
the world, that we have to redouble our efforts, and we have to pursue
the terrorists vigorously. We have to punish them mercilessly. We owe
it to our people and we owe it to our residents. 
COLIN
POWELL: I can't answer whether or not we specifically identified those
three compounds. I do know that we had been in touch with the Saudis
a week or so earlier, maybe two weeks earlier, about an increased level
of threat. The difficulty that the Saudis would have, or that we would
have, is that there are so many facilities in Saudi Arabia that could
have been a target of an attack. And no matter how much security you
put out and how diligent you are-- and one should be as diligent as
one can be-- you always run the risk of a terrorist organization determined
to do so, able to pull off an attack that will take innocent life.