THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HARRIS: You know, a message that we are sure to hear repeated quite often in the wake of last week's attacks is America's new war is a fight against terrorism.
Well, to help us understand just what that does mean we're joined by Steve Simon from London. He's the Assistant Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. We thank you for your time this morning, sir. Good morning.
STEVE SIMON, ASST. DIR., INTL. INST. FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: Good morning.
HARRIS: Now moments ago - I don't know if you heard it but our Mark Potter reporting from the Pentagon said the word that he's getting there is that this war against terrorism is going to be years long and it's going to be an unconventional war. What does that mean to you?
SIMON: Well, the U.S. government has said that Osama bin Laden's organization, Al Kaida, has operatives in as many as 50 or 60 countries. These cells all pose a danger. They'll have to be rolled up over time. It's going to taking quite awhile to develop the intelligence and the law enforcement relationships with some of the countries where these cells reside to take them down.
HARRIS: So it sounds like you're expecting this to take a long time before we see any first evidence of it. And if that is the case, is that - how critical is the timing in regard to that?
SIMON: Well, there's a long term and a short-term dimension to this problem. In the short term there is leadership in Afghanistan - we believe in Afghanistan - who planned this attack, ordered it in all likelihood against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and perhaps other targets - it looks like other targets. He still represents a danger. He hasn't somehow gotten in all out of his system by attacking these particular targets. It was probably part of a larger conspiracy - some of which is yet to play out as the Attorney General was saying the other day back in the United States.
So in the short term he will have to be taken care of somehow. And some of his cells who were immediately involved in these conspiracies will have to be rolled up. That's already happening in the wake of the attack as you can see from all of the arrests that have taken place not only in the United States but in other countries as well.
The longer-term dimension will be the systematic take down of the rest of bin Laden's Al Kiada infrastructure in other countries in the world. But, again, that will take months if not years.
HARRIS: Well, what is your thinking about whether or not right now the Taliban is actually even in position to round him up and to hand him over if they were of such a mind?
SIMON: Well, my belief is the Taliban could do this if they wanted to. But the Taliban and - well, at least the faction - the ruling faction of the Taliban - perhaps not the entire movement - feels a close affinity to bin Laden. There's a mutual affinity. They share an ideology. They share a common hatred or alienation for the West. It's rumored that bin Laden himself is related by marriage now to the ruler of the Taliban, Mulla Omar, so I would think that it's unlikely that the Taliban would be motivated to surrender him.
HARRIS: With that in mind, then, finally, let me ask you this. From what we know right now that has been put on the table with all of the countries that are being accused of sponsoring or at lest harboring terrorists and terrorism, are there incentives right now for them to participate and cooperate? Are those incentive potent enough yet?
SIMON: Well, I imagine that the administration will be putting together on a case by case basis packages of carrots and sticks, if you will, to encourage the cooperation of many of these countries. But you need to bear in mind that many of these countries will themselves be motivated to get rid of these cells - this Al Kiada - bin Laden presence because these cells pose a danger to them.
HARRIS: Well, if we could get them to understand that we could be over the biggest hurdle here. Steven Simon is of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. We thank you very much for your time and your insight this morning. Take care.
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