U.S. FORCES IN IRAQ trying to lock down security in Iraq's "Sunni
Triangle" are battling enemies beyond disgruntled Baathist and
unemployed Fedayeen. The triangle--the region around Baghdad and west
to Ramadhi, then north to Saddam Hussein's ancestral hometown of
Tikrit (and sometimes as far north as Mosul)--has become a hotbed for
foreign fighters eager to spill American blood.
President Bush stated in a September 7 speech to the nation that Iraq
has become the central front in the war on terrorism and that
terrorists aligned with Osama bin Laden and others like al Qaeda have
crossed Iraq's borders.
Paul Bremer, the chief of the Coalition Provisional Authority that
oversees reconstruction in Iraq, buttressed Bush's claims, saying at a
September 26 Pentagon briefing that "we do have almost 300
foreign--non-Iraqi detainees--third-country nationals in detention
now, some of whom are terrorists, some of whom maybe just came as
mercenaries."
While the influence of foreign fighters has become a problem during
America's occupation of Iraq, it's not a new one. One of the Bush
team's arguments for invading Iraq and deposing Saddam Hussein was the
presence of the Ansar al Islam group, who dominated a region in
northeastern Iraq near the town of Halabja, by the Iranian border. And
Ansar was a problem. During the war, teams from the 3rd Army Special
Forces group fought pitched battles against Ansar, destroying their
terrorist training camp after four days of fighting.
But this wasn't the only group of terrorists lurking in Iraq. From
early April until mid-May, coalition special operations forces
operated out of a compound called H-1 on the grounds of a captured
Iraqi air base in western Iraq. The base was captured early in the war
by Army Rangers who parachuted onto its runways and wiped out Iraqi
resistance. Once secured, the commandos swept in and turned the base
into an outpost, using H-1 as a resupply point and staging a quick
reaction force there to fly in and pull the commando teams out of a
pinch if things got too hot.
They also turned H-1 into a POW camp. For one month, commando teams
from the 5th Special Forces group, British and Australian Special Air
Service, and CIA special tactics teams went out on raids designed to
capture high-value human targets in the western desert along
Highway12, the main road between Baghdad and Syria. And they didn't
come back empty handed. According to Army soldiers who administered
the camp for the commandos, the prison held as many as 250
captives--nearly all of them foreign terrorists. They came from Iran,
Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries and hailed from groups
including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad. The soldiers even
reported capturing al Qaeda members.
INITIALLY, some observers believed that the H-1 soldiers were
mistaking Ansar captives for al Qaeda. But at the September 26
briefing, Bremer, for the first time, revealed that American forces
had indeed captured "two dozen" al Qaeda in Iraq.
During their detention at H-1, these prisoners were interrogated by
Defense Intelligence Agency operatives and then shipped out of the
country (via Saudi Arabia) to either Kuwait or Guantanamo Bay for
further questioning.
The ties between Saddam and terrorist groups can be seen all over
Iraq. One camp used by soldiers outside the northern city of Balad
displays Iraqi and Palestinian flags side by side in the arched
entrance. Inside the barracks-like buildings, Arabic writing on the
walls teaches would-be terrorists how to aim rockets at tanks and
implores them to kill infidels. This one-time training camp is set up
just yards from one of the town's biggest Sunni mosques.
Evidence that Iraq is the central battleground in the war on terrorism
is beginning to trickle out, with reports of increased infiltration
along the Syrian border and a surge in activity from a reconstituted
Ansar al Islam. But many of these groups were already well established
in Iraq before the war.
> Saddam's Al-Qaeda Connection
> By Christian Lowe
> Weekly Standard | October 1, 2003
>
So we've got some Palestinian flags, some terrorists who either came into
Iraq during the runup to the war when Saddam was asking for voulunteers or
came in after we invaded, and Al Anser which was known pre war and was not
Al Qaeda. And from this we conclude that there was a "Saddam - Al-Qaeda
Connection".
Rosemary Woods school of logic.
>Saddam's Al-Qaeda Connection...
We have No evidence that Ansar al-Islam Ever had any operational link
with Saddam. None.
Lowered Nose, we've tried to find some, but there is none to find
anywhere.
We have evidence that al Qaeda types came in After the invasion was
over.
Just none before.
>"Spread Eagle" <red...@virtualhosts.net> wrote in message
>news:7059619f.0310...@posting.google.com...
>> Saddam's Al-Qaeda Connection
>> U.S. FORCES IN IRAQ trying to lock down security in Iraq's "Sunni
>> Triangle" are battling enemies beyond disgruntled Baathist and
>> unemployed Fedayeen. The triangle--the region around Baghdad and west
>> to Ramadhi, then north to Saddam Hussein's ancestral hometown of
>> Tikrit (and sometimes as far north as Mosul)--has become a hotbed for
>> foreign fighters eager to spill American blood....
There is no evidence that Saddam had an operational link with al Qaeda
before the war.
There is evidence that al Qaeda has come into Iraq after the war.
Well, here's an interesting chain of logic for you - Saddam in control of
Iraq - no Al Qaeda; Al Qaeda says get rid of Saddam; Bush gets rid of
Saddam; Bush in control of Iraq - now Al Qaeda in Iraq; with the end
conclusion being: Bush supports terrorism! Impeach Bush and try him for
treason - or maybe Ashcroft can just stick him in one of those cages down in
Quantanamo when Ashcroft declares martial law and takes over ... yeah,
yeah, I know - rather far fetched; but does anyone really doubt that the
idea hasn't at least been considered by Ashcroft?
>Well, here's an interesting chain of logic for you - Saddam in control of
>Iraq - no Al Qaeda; Al Qaeda says get rid of Saddam; Bush gets rid of
>Saddam; Bush in control of Iraq - now Al Qaeda in Iraq; with the end
>conclusion being: Bush supports terrorism!
Heh! It's "interesting" fershur. Whether it's Logic is another
question.
>Impeach Bush and try him for treason
What Dubya's done doesn't count as Treason.
>...- or maybe Ashcroft can just stick him in one of those cages down in
>Quantanamo when Ashcroft declares martial law and takes over ... yeah,
>yeah, I know - rather far fetched; but does anyone really doubt that the
>idea hasn't at least been considered by Ashcroft?
Yes -- I really doubt that.
The only people he doesn't terrorize are the rich whom he favors.
> >Impeach Bush and try him for treason
> What Dubya's done doesn't count as Treason.
>
Lying to US about causa bellum should suffice.
Looting the US treasury. Want more?
Destorying the bill of rights with Patriot act.
The Patriot act was enacted by traitors.
Bush himself has said there was no link between Al Qaeda and Saddam. OBL -
remember him - has said there is no link. There is NO evidence
demonstrating any such link. NO evidence. Sticking your head in the sand
It was enacted by Congress and signed into law by Bush.
>
>
Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin laden were enemies.
> >
> So were the United States and the Soviet Union, but they were allies in a
> common cause against the Nazis. KM
I think the expression 'allies' is rather an exaggeration, Stalin did
not quite see either the UK or the USA as an ally. Strictly speaking
the UK was supposed to be at war with both invaders of Poland.