Explosions rocked Istanbul again today. More than two dozen people were killed and more than 300 injured in bombings that hit the British consulate and an international bank.
Coming on the heels of the weekend synagogue bombings, many are saying both these attacks carry the fingerprints of Al-Qaeda. In Britain, President Bush and Prime Minister Blair said as much in a news conference just hours ago. Both leaders linked today’s bombings to the worldwide war on terror and more reason to stay the course in Iraq.
But while Bush and Blair steel their political spines, others point to recent attacks against journalists in Afghanistan, and bombings in Saudi Arabia as evidence that Al-Qaeda is getting what it wants, a clash of civilizations with the West.
Guests:
Ilene Prusher, Istanbul Bureau Chief, Christian Science Monitor
Stephen Larrabee, senior political scientist, RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy
Bulent Aliriza, director of the Turkey Project Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC
Jason Burke, Middle East correspondent for the London Observer and author of “Al-Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror”