Transcript: Pat Roberts on 'FOX News Sunday' (part 1 of 4)
Sunday, November 09, 2003
The following is a transcribed excerpt from FOX News Sunday, Nov. 9, 2003.
TONY SNOW, FOX NEWS: Joining us now to discuss the terror attack in Saudi Arabia and other intelligence-related issues, Senator Pat Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Senator Roberts, first the Saudi bombing. It is suspected to be an Al Qaeda action. Look like Al Qaeda to you?
PAT ROBERTS, U.S. SENATOR (R-Kan.): Oh, very much so. We had a briefing in the Intelligence Committee warning about this about a week ago, that Saudi Arabia could very well be the subject of an attack. That's happened.
It signals to that family over there, the Saud family, that they are part -- or, they are a target of terrorism. We have had much better cooperation with the Saudis since the first attack in Riyadh.
It also indicates that terrorists really don't care who they attack. It's just another example of the global war on terrorism and why this is going to be a long effort.
SNOW: Do you expect other attacks in the near future?
ROBERTS: I don't think there's any question about it that, you know, they're going to be very global in nature. We had an indication that something could happen in this country, in -- I think it was Great Britain, and then also, obviously, Saudi Arabia. And that's why we withdrew our people from the embassy.
SNOW: Now, the fear in the United States is somebody would hijack cargo planes, either from America or from neighboring countries, and try to crash them. Is that the nature of the threat we're worried about right now from the...
ROBERTS: No, it wasn't that specific, in terms of a cargo plane or whether it was a biological attack or a dirty bomb or just bombs and explosives, which is what they normally use. It was just the fact that we were entering into Ramadan and we heard a lot of reporting, a lot of chatter, and so we were very much on alert.
SNOW: You mentioned dirty bombs and biological attacks. Do you believe Al Qaeda has the capability to do one or both?
ROBERTS: I don't think there's any question about that. But I do think they do resort to bombs and explosives. That's their favorite mode of attack, and I think that would be the number-one priority issue. Of course, if you and I sat down with a tablet and we listed 10 things that we thought that they would do, they'd probably do number 11.
SNOW: So don't count on that, in other words?
ROBERTS: Yes, indeed.
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