Bush Administration Considering Strategies Regarding U.N. Bombing
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And for more now on that deadly terrorist attack in Baghdad and the effects it's having here in Washington, as well as in Texas, for that matter, we're joined by CNN's Barbara Starr. She's over at the Pentagon. Our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux is near the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas. And retired U.S. Army Colonel Pat Lang, he's a former U.S. Defense Department intelligence official, he's here with me in Washington. Barbara, what's the latest on who might have been responsible for this bombing at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad?</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, officials here say of course they do not know who is responsible, but they certainly are developing a list of suspects. And topping that list of suspects is the radical Islamic group Ansar al-Islam, which operated in Iraq before the war. They believe it is continuing to operate there. A group that has links and ties to the al Qaeda. Now the reason that Ansar al-Islam is topping the list of suspects at the moment is, number one, the sophistication of the attack. The FBI now believes thousands of pounds of military explosives were packed into that cement truck. They are going to be looking very carefully to see if they can find the detonator. They want to see if it is something called a shaped charge. That would have been a detonator that would have forced the blast pressure in a single direction towards the building, causing this very extensive damage. And shaped charges are a hallmark, at least of al Qaeda or al Qaeda-trained operatives in some of the recent terrorist attacks seen around the world. The embassy bombings in Africa, the Cole attack in Yemen. So that is one reason Ansar al-Islam is a suspect. But another reason, Wolf, there had been intelligence reports in the last couple of weeks since the early August bombing of the Jordanian embassy that Ansar al-Islam was operating in Baghdad and was planning another major terrorist attack. So they are not sure yet; it tops their list of suspects. But they also warn that they do know there were members of Saddam Hussein's intelligence bureau that also had sophisticated explosives expertise -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right. That's all fascinating information. Barbara, stand by. I want to get back to you. I want to bring in Suzanne Malveaux, our White House correspondent. She's covering the president's so-called vacation. Not much of a vacation, he's got a lot of headaches on his agenda down there. What's the laysest as far as White House officials with the president, Suzanne? What are they saying?</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the president has been very busy, you're absolutely right. He's been on the phone. He called the president of Brazil yesterday to offer condolences about de Mello's death. He also was on the phone with British Prime Minister Tony Blair to try to assess where the United States, where the coalition is in all of this. He put in a call to the U.S. civil administrator, Paul Bremer, inside of Iraq, as well as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to offer some assistance. But essentially the Bush administration has a number of choices, some strategies here. First of all, whether or not U.S. troops should be increased in number inside of Iraq or whether or not the troops should be fortified, perhaps even transformed into lighter, more flexible type of units. This is something that senior administration officials say has not yet been decided. Also, of course, is the consideration of giving the United Nations a larger role in the security matters. Inside of Iraq, I spoke with a senior White House official this morning who says that he believes U.N. Resolution 1483 is sufficient. That is the one that essentially gives structure for countries to contribute inside of Iraq for reconstruction and humanitarian assistance. Bottom line is that the security would still be under the auspices of the United States. And finally, the third strategy, which we've already begun to see play out here, is putting more responsibility on the Iraqi people. Perhaps even trying to fortify some sort of civil defense group that would take on other security measures and security responsibilities. It was just yesterday that President Bush framed this attack as one against the Iraqi people and he called on their help.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Iraqi people face a challenge and they face a choice. The terrorists want to return to the days of torture chambers and mass graves. The Iraqis who want peace and freedom must reject them and fight terror. And the United States and many in the world will be there to help them.</s>MALVEAUX: The senior White House official I spoke with this morning says he hopes that the bombing, of course, is really a way to rally support. That if you note the people, the victims of that bombing, Brazilian and American, as well as Iraqis -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux, stand by as well. We're going to be getting back to you. I want to bring Pat Lang in, the former Defense Department intelligence analyst. He's joining us here in Washington. We have a caller who has a question for you, Pat. Kieran, in Kentucky, go ahead.</s>KIERAN: Yes, I was wondering if the United Nations was primary in their role and the United States were primary in bringing down Saddam Hussein's regime, why would they not consider the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad as a primary target?</s>PAT LANG, FMR. DEFENSE DEPT. INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: I gather the question is why aren't people thinking this was a natural target. Well, actually, I think they did think it was a natural target. In fact, the guerrillas and the insurgents in general on the other side, see this, I'm sure, as kind of unified target set in which some things are subject to sabotage and others to guerrilla attacks against our forces, other things to terrorism. And the U.N. target is an excellent target from their point of view, because it sends a very clear signal that no one is safe, that the populous can't be protected by the coalition forces, and that foreigners, whether they are non-governmental organizations, the U.N., the World Bank, they're not safe either. So this tends to impede the consolidation of the new government. So from their point of view, it was a very logical target.</s>BLITZER: All right. We're going to continue this conversation. We want to take a quick break. Pat, stand by. We have an e-mailer who says maybe exactly the same point. Joan, who wrote to us, "I would think that the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad would be the first place protected with high security. How could something like this happen?" Joan, a lot of people are asking that exact question. We're going to take more of your calls, your e-mail, with our roundtable. That's coming up. E-mail us once again at wolf@cnn.com, or call us, you see the number, 1-888-CNN-0561. Also this hour, Israeli leaders debating right now their response to yesterday's deadly suicide bombing in Jerusalem. In the words of one official, their "patience is running out." We'll go live to Jerusalem for the latest.</s>BLITZER: Let's get back now to our roundtable discussion. Once again, CNN's Barbara Starr, she's joining us. She's over at the Pentagon. Our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, is near the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas. Retired U.S. Army Colonel Pat Lang, former U.S. Defense Department intelligence analyst, he's here with me in Washington. Barbara, when your sources suggest that Ansar al-Islam, a group loosely, I guess, affiliated with al Qaeda, may have been responsible, are they saying just for the U.N. bombing yesterday, but also for the Jordanian embassy bombing the other day?</s>STARR: Well, Wolf, they clearly don't know for sure. In the Jordanian bombing, they're of course still investigating, and it's very early on in the U.N. compound bombing. But it is one of the groups that they suspect may be involved. And one of the reasons is they say that they know there were a couple of dozen operatives in the Baghdad area under the control of the leader that is affiliated with al Qaeda, a man named Zakwari (ph). They say there were a couple of dozen of his operatives in Baghdad during the war. And, as one official said, no one has called in every morning with a role call on those guys, but "we have every reason," he says, "to believe they are still in the Baghdad area." This bombing is going to prove to be quite interesting to them if, in fact, the cement truck was packed with a number of Iraqi military explosives. The question will be, who had access to that material, how did they know how to pack it? How did they know how to detonate it? Ansar al-Islam is a group they believe knows how to do that, but certainly not the only group.</s>BLITZER: All right. Barbara stand by. We have a caller. Ovi, in California, you're on the air.</s>OVI: Thank you for taking my call. According to your report yesterday on your Web site, you mentioned that apparently Syrians and Saudi Arabians are involved in some of the terrorist attacks. Does the administration have a political will to put further pressure on those two countries?</s>BLITZER: Well, let me ask Pat Lang. Is there any solid evidence that Syrians or Saudis, or other non-Iraqis, not necessarily with any state sponsorship, have infiltrated into Iraq, are part of</s>LANG: I don't really think there is any real firm evidence of that. There's a lot of sort of inductive reasoning from the fact that there are good reasons. For example, the Syrian government to want to cause us problems in Iraq and tie us up there. And that there are lots and lot lots of Wahabi jihad types in Saudi Arabia. But I don't think there is any really firm evidence of that as yet. So I -- and as for putting pressure on them, the Saudi government is under quite a lot of pressure as it is. And large parts of it are trying to reform themselves against considerable internal opposition. And Syrians are playing their usual complicated game.</s>BLITZER: All right. Suzanne, we've got a question about the United Nations for you. One of our e-mailers sent us this. Easton (ph) in Toronto. "America has marginalized the U.N.," he writes. "This has damaged the credibility of the U.N. and made it a target of terrorists." Suzanne, what exactly is the Bush administration's position as far as the role of the U.N. in Iraq is concerned?</s>MALVEAUX: Well, here's the problem that they face. It was just last week that the administration rejected a U.N. mandate that would essentially give its blessing to an international peacekeeping force. And there are countries like France, Germany and India that say we are not going to send in troops inside of Iraq unless we have this type of U.N. mandate. But the administration has rejected that because it really means that they would have to give up some of their power, their control over the security inside of that country. That the coalition would have to give up that, and that is not something that they are willing to do given that it is a dangerous situation. That they really do not want to have to make security decisions by committee here. So that is something they have rejected so far. It is going to be very interesting to see whether or not this changes. I did speak with a White House official and asked him just that question, are they considering expanding the role of the United Nations, and he said that right now this U.N. Security Council Resolution 1483, which essentially defines the role of all of these other countries that are involved and inside of Iraq, he said is sufficient, but hat's not to say that that won't change at another time. We'll just have to wait and see how this plays out in the international community.</s>BLITZER: Here's an e-mail we got from Dave in Illinois. Let me put it on the screen. "George Herbert Walker Bush is starting to look like a genius for not going all the way to Baghdad in the first Iraq war. Perhaps we should turn this whole mess we made in Iraq over to the Arab League and bring our troops home." That's obviously a very passionate point of view from Dave. But Barbara, over at the Pentagon, as far as the number of U.S. troops involved, I think it's hovering around 140,000 right now; another 20,000 or so British forces and a handful of other non-British, non- U.S. forces. What is the number that analysts at the Pentagon are telling you they think they really need to try to bring some sort of stability to the situation in Iraq?</s>STARR: I have to tell you, Wolf, we have heard no change in policy in the very quick 24 hours or so since this attack happened. There's just no indication that they plan to send more troops. The view prior to this attack, even as the security situation was very difficult in Iraq, is that more troops would not solve the problem, that you could not put enough boots on the ground as it were to protect every building, every square inch, every mile of oil pipeline, every water treatment plant. It can't be done. They do not feel that more troops are the answer, or at least that's every indication that we have. They plan to stick with the strategy of having -- turning as much of the government as they can over to the Iraqi people, trying to get the Iraqi police force up and running, trying to get some capability of the Iraqis to provide security for key infrastructure. They think that is the way to go.</s>BLITZER: All right. We've got another e-mail from Y.B. in Atlanta. This is for you, Pat. "The lack of security in Iraq has allowed all kinds of terrorists to go in. Instead of reducing terrorism, the war in Iraq has increased it, giving the terrorists a new place to operate and target Americans." What is your assessment? Ansar al-Islam, al Qaeda, Fedayeen Saddam, these incidents, these terrorist attacks at the Jordanian Embassy and at the U.N. headquarters, are they part of the same operation or are they separate, very distinct different kinds of terror attacks?</s>LANG: Well, it seems to me that what has emerged here is almost a kind of tacit agreement, you know? That we have told all the ultra- nationalists and Islamic extremist forces in the world that, if you wish to come to Iraq at the center of the Islamic world, we are there. And they're responding to that. So I think you're going to see an emerging mixture of nationalists and Islamic forces who will come to Iraq to fight it out with us there. If it's our intention to do battle decisively against these forces somewhere in the Middle East, we're going to have the opportunity, I think.</s>BLITZER: All right. We're going to have to leave it unfortunately right there. Pat Lang, as usual, thanks very much for joining us. Barbara Starr over at the Pentagon doing an outstanding job for all of us, as usual, as is Suzanne Malveaux, our White House correspondent. She's covering the president's working vacation. I think it's fair to call it a working vacation down in Crawford, Texas. Thanks very much to all of you. Coming up next: what happens now as far as the Israeli- Palestinian peace process is concerned, if we can call it that? One Israeli official says it may have reached the end of the road. We'll be live in Jerusalem, the site of yesterday's deadly suicide bus bombing. Bombing>