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Joining us here, CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen. He witnessed the voting in Riyadh. He was there for the last week or so, just back in the United States.What’s your bottom-line assessment? Is this just window- dressing, if you will, you know, wallpaper? Or is there something really going on in Saudi Arabia that we […]

  Letter from Riyadh in National Review Online February 14, 2005, 7:50 a.m.Letter From RiyadhAre we witnessing a Saudi glasnost? By Peter Bergen In the sprawling desert city where Osama bin Laden was born almost half a century ago, last week the Saudis held their first international counterterrorism conference. A couple of days after the […]

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: Thank you, Dr. Rice, for agreeing to stay as long as it takes, because some of us do have a lot of questions….

One of the things that matters most to my people in California and the people in America is this war in Iraq. Now, it took you to Page 3 of your testimony to mention the word “Iraq.” You said very little really about it, and only in the questioning have we been able to get into some areas….

AROUND the Islamic world it is common currency that Muslims are perpetual victims of Western and Zionist conspiracies. The bill of particulars includes the handling of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Israel’s inequitable treatment of the Palestinians, and the deaths of thousands of civilians in Iraq – as a result first of United Nations sanctions after the Persian Gulf war, and more recently of the American occupation. The most articulate spokesman of such views is, of course, Osama bin Laden.

COLLINS: For this week’s “On Terror’s Trail,” we go to Washington where the FBI and Department of Homeland Security sent a new intelligence bulletin this week to the nation’s police agencies. It outlined new details about al Qaeda surveillance inside the United States.An al Qaeda operative, known as Al-Britani, is believed to have cased particular […]

WALLACE: The authenticity of the tape aired by the Arabic language network Al-Jazeera could not be immediately verified. But for more, let’s bring in CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen. Peter, always great to see you. Anything from your initial listening to the tape to give you a sense if it’s authentic or not? PETER BERGEN, […]

On Thursday, Condoleezza Rice, President Bushs national security adviser, is scheduled to testify under oath before the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. The Op-Ed page invited two people with expertise in terrorism and national security to suggest questions for Dr. Rice. 1. A search of all your public statements and writings reveals that you apparently mentioned Osama bin Laden only once and never mentioned Al Qaeda at all as a threat to the United States before 9/11. Why?

For some additional insight, we turn to CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen. He’s here in Washington. And also Nail al-Jubeir. He’s director of information for the embassy of Saudi Arabia here in Washington, as well. Nail, let me begin with you. You obviously speak Arabic. Have you heard this tape? NAIL AL-JUBEIR, DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION, […]

Let’s talk about all this now with CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen. He is in Washington this morning.Peter, first your take of the significance of this particular — or this latest bin Laden tape? PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, three things. This is the fastest turnaround that I can call from any bin Laden […]

Is Al Qaeda capable of carrying out another Sept. 11 attack in the United States?

The terrorist organization doesn’t appear to have sleeper cells in the country able to perform such a mission, or even capable of launching a smaller-scale operation against a “soft” target such as a mall. If Al Qaeda had this capability, its cells would have attacked either at the beginning of the Iraq war in spring 2003 or during the recent presidential election. Almost without exception, the “terrorism” cases in this country since 9/11 have involved wannabes and malcontents accused of “material support” for terrorism, not planners of terrorist acts. Moreover, to its enormous credit, the Muslim American community since 9/11 has rejected Osama bin Laden’s ideas.