Seraphim
08-10-2003, 11:05 AM
http://www.msnbc.com/news/870749.asp?vts=081020030755&cp1=1
http://a799.g.akamai.net/3/799/388/da41912371270b/www.msnbc.com/news/1979543.jpg
Soldiers from the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division, 1st Battalion, 8th Regiment, conduct a patrol early Sunday on the streets of Samar, Iraq.
Aug. 10 — The top American administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, was quoted on Sunday as saying that intelligence reports indicate that hundreds of Islamic militants who fled the country during the U.S.-led war had returned and were planning to conduct “large-scale terrorist attacks.” Bremer’s comments follow another day of violence in Iraq, during which at least four U.S. soldiers were wounded in separate attacks.
BREMER TOLD The New York Times that hundreds of fighters from Ansar al-Islam, a militant organization that the United States had sought to destroy during the war, had escaped to Iran and then slipped back into Iraq after the cessation of major combat.
The interview was conducted on Friday, the day after a car bomb killed 17 people outside the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad.
“My initial instinct was to believe that this had to be done from somebody from outside,” the Times quoted him as saying. “But I have been told we captured and spoke to some ex-regime people and that there was part of the Mukhabarat (Iraqi intelligence) that specialized in sophisticated bombing and it is possible that this kind of technique did exist.”
Bremer said it was also possible that Ansar al-Islam or another militant organization had provided expertise on making car bombs to former Baathists who then carried out the attack.
“Intelligence suggests that Ansar al-Islam is planning large-scale terrorist attacks here,” Bremer told the Times. “So as long as we have ... substantial numbers of Ansar terrorists around here, I think we have to be pretty alert to the fact that we may see more of this.”
WashPost: Depiction of threat outgrew evidence
The group is believed to have links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network, blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
The Times quoted Bremer as saying it was possible al-Qaida was in Iraq as well, although there was no conclusive evidence.
Ansar al-Islam was of particular concern, Bremer said, because of the scale of its past attacks. “They do big stuff,” he told the newspaper. “They don’t do chickenfeed-type stuff.”
The basic strategy for fending off guerrilla attacks, Bremer said, was to press for new intelligence and mount raids to pre-empt them.
So far, American authorities have said they didn’t believe terrorist groups like Ansar al-Islam or any other foreign fighters have played a major role in the guerrilla war against American occupation forces.
They believe instead that the attacks are the work of remnants of Saddam Hussein’s ousted regime — his Republican Guard, Fedayeen militia and intelligence services.
Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Ansar al-Islam was known for bombings and assassinations of Kurdish figures. But the group, which has included veterans of bin Laden’s training camps in Afghanistan, has not previously been linked to attacks on the scale of attack on Jordan’s embassy.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the group was a link between Baghdad and al-Qaida when he made his case for war to the U.N. Security Council in February. Others have questioned whether there was any connection to Saddam’s regime.
U.S. forces knocked out Ansar-al-Islam’s main headquarters in northeastern Iraq early in the war.
U.S. FORCES UNDER RENEWED ATTACKS
In the latest violence against U.S. forces in Iraq, soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade on patrol in the northern city of Kirkuk were fired on with a rocket-propelled grenade and small arms early Saturday, said Lt. Col. Bill McDonald, spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division operating in the area.
Two soldiers were wounded in the explosion and were in stable condition, McDonald said. The troops returned fire, he said.
Also Saturday, soldiers west of Kirkuk opened fire on a car that ran a military checkpoint, wounding two Iraqis, McDonald said. The victims were evacuated to a Kirkuk hospital in stable condition, he said.
In south-central Baghdad, two soldiers were wounded in a roadside bomb attack on their armored Humvee vehicle, said Maj. Todd Mercer of the 82nd Airborne Division.
Meanwhile, fewer than a dozen FBI agents were dispatched to secure and analyze evidence from the bombing of Jordan’s embassy. They also will train Iraqi investigators. It was not clear when the team would begin work or how long it would stay.
The Bush administration fears Iraqi police don’t have the techniques or tools to properly investigate the deadly attack, according to a senior Justice Department official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity from Washington.
BUSH REMAINS UPBEAT
Despite the almost daily attacks which have killed at least 55 American troops since May 1, President Bush offered an upbeat assessment of conditions in the country.
Marking 100 days since he donned a flight suit, landed on an aircraft carrier off the California coast and announced major combat operations over in Iraq, Bush vowed a “long-term undertaking” to bring democracy and economic prosperity to Iraq and across the Middle East.
He said Iraq was more secure with 6,000 Iraqi police patrolling Baghdad and about 20,000 more on duty in other towns; banks had opened and the Iraqi economy was being rebuilt; 1 million barrels of crude oil were being produced daily; more than 150 newspapers were being published regularly; and local councils were up and running.
“One hundred days is not enough time to undo the terrible legacy of Saddam Hussein,” Bush said in his weekly radio address on Saturday. “There is difficult and dangerous work ahead that requires time and patience.”
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
British troops fired warning shots as hundreds of locals rioted in the southern city of Basra for a second day, attacking vehicles and burning tires in protest at power and fuel shortages.
British armored vehicles patrolled the streets, with troops in body armor, as crowds hurled chunks of concrete at passing cars. “There is a larger presence just to be sure that people understand that we take security very seriously,” spokesman for British forces in the city, Maj. Charlie Mayo, said.
The U.S.-led coalition reported that an American soldier from the 3rd Corps Support Command died of heat stroke while traveling in a convoy near the southern city of Diwaniyah on Saturday.
The military announced that Saddam’s former interior minister — No. 29 on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis — is in U.S. custody.
Mahmud Dhiyab Al-Ahmad surrendered to coalition forces Friday, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
The military had announced his capture in July, but on Saturday said that was an error. “It was bad information, that’s all,” said Lt. Cmdr. Nick Balice, a Central Command spokesman. “We thought it was correct, but it wasn’t. But he surrendered yesterday and is in coalition custody now. He was never in coalition custody before.”
http://a799.g.akamai.net/3/799/388/da41912371270b/www.msnbc.com/news/1979543.jpg
Soldiers from the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division, 1st Battalion, 8th Regiment, conduct a patrol early Sunday on the streets of Samar, Iraq.
Aug. 10 — The top American administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, was quoted on Sunday as saying that intelligence reports indicate that hundreds of Islamic militants who fled the country during the U.S.-led war had returned and were planning to conduct “large-scale terrorist attacks.” Bremer’s comments follow another day of violence in Iraq, during which at least four U.S. soldiers were wounded in separate attacks.
BREMER TOLD The New York Times that hundreds of fighters from Ansar al-Islam, a militant organization that the United States had sought to destroy during the war, had escaped to Iran and then slipped back into Iraq after the cessation of major combat.
The interview was conducted on Friday, the day after a car bomb killed 17 people outside the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad.
“My initial instinct was to believe that this had to be done from somebody from outside,” the Times quoted him as saying. “But I have been told we captured and spoke to some ex-regime people and that there was part of the Mukhabarat (Iraqi intelligence) that specialized in sophisticated bombing and it is possible that this kind of technique did exist.”
Bremer said it was also possible that Ansar al-Islam or another militant organization had provided expertise on making car bombs to former Baathists who then carried out the attack.
“Intelligence suggests that Ansar al-Islam is planning large-scale terrorist attacks here,” Bremer told the Times. “So as long as we have ... substantial numbers of Ansar terrorists around here, I think we have to be pretty alert to the fact that we may see more of this.”
WashPost: Depiction of threat outgrew evidence
The group is believed to have links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network, blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
The Times quoted Bremer as saying it was possible al-Qaida was in Iraq as well, although there was no conclusive evidence.
Ansar al-Islam was of particular concern, Bremer said, because of the scale of its past attacks. “They do big stuff,” he told the newspaper. “They don’t do chickenfeed-type stuff.”
The basic strategy for fending off guerrilla attacks, Bremer said, was to press for new intelligence and mount raids to pre-empt them.
So far, American authorities have said they didn’t believe terrorist groups like Ansar al-Islam or any other foreign fighters have played a major role in the guerrilla war against American occupation forces.
They believe instead that the attacks are the work of remnants of Saddam Hussein’s ousted regime — his Republican Guard, Fedayeen militia and intelligence services.
Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Ansar al-Islam was known for bombings and assassinations of Kurdish figures. But the group, which has included veterans of bin Laden’s training camps in Afghanistan, has not previously been linked to attacks on the scale of attack on Jordan’s embassy.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the group was a link between Baghdad and al-Qaida when he made his case for war to the U.N. Security Council in February. Others have questioned whether there was any connection to Saddam’s regime.
U.S. forces knocked out Ansar-al-Islam’s main headquarters in northeastern Iraq early in the war.
U.S. FORCES UNDER RENEWED ATTACKS
In the latest violence against U.S. forces in Iraq, soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade on patrol in the northern city of Kirkuk were fired on with a rocket-propelled grenade and small arms early Saturday, said Lt. Col. Bill McDonald, spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division operating in the area.
Two soldiers were wounded in the explosion and were in stable condition, McDonald said. The troops returned fire, he said.
Also Saturday, soldiers west of Kirkuk opened fire on a car that ran a military checkpoint, wounding two Iraqis, McDonald said. The victims were evacuated to a Kirkuk hospital in stable condition, he said.
In south-central Baghdad, two soldiers were wounded in a roadside bomb attack on their armored Humvee vehicle, said Maj. Todd Mercer of the 82nd Airborne Division.
Meanwhile, fewer than a dozen FBI agents were dispatched to secure and analyze evidence from the bombing of Jordan’s embassy. They also will train Iraqi investigators. It was not clear when the team would begin work or how long it would stay.
The Bush administration fears Iraqi police don’t have the techniques or tools to properly investigate the deadly attack, according to a senior Justice Department official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity from Washington.
BUSH REMAINS UPBEAT
Despite the almost daily attacks which have killed at least 55 American troops since May 1, President Bush offered an upbeat assessment of conditions in the country.
Marking 100 days since he donned a flight suit, landed on an aircraft carrier off the California coast and announced major combat operations over in Iraq, Bush vowed a “long-term undertaking” to bring democracy and economic prosperity to Iraq and across the Middle East.
He said Iraq was more secure with 6,000 Iraqi police patrolling Baghdad and about 20,000 more on duty in other towns; banks had opened and the Iraqi economy was being rebuilt; 1 million barrels of crude oil were being produced daily; more than 150 newspapers were being published regularly; and local councils were up and running.
“One hundred days is not enough time to undo the terrible legacy of Saddam Hussein,” Bush said in his weekly radio address on Saturday. “There is difficult and dangerous work ahead that requires time and patience.”
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
British troops fired warning shots as hundreds of locals rioted in the southern city of Basra for a second day, attacking vehicles and burning tires in protest at power and fuel shortages.
British armored vehicles patrolled the streets, with troops in body armor, as crowds hurled chunks of concrete at passing cars. “There is a larger presence just to be sure that people understand that we take security very seriously,” spokesman for British forces in the city, Maj. Charlie Mayo, said.
The U.S.-led coalition reported that an American soldier from the 3rd Corps Support Command died of heat stroke while traveling in a convoy near the southern city of Diwaniyah on Saturday.
The military announced that Saddam’s former interior minister — No. 29 on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis — is in U.S. custody.
Mahmud Dhiyab Al-Ahmad surrendered to coalition forces Friday, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
The military had announced his capture in July, but on Saturday said that was an error. “It was bad information, that’s all,” said Lt. Cmdr. Nick Balice, a Central Command spokesman. “We thought it was correct, but it wasn’t. But he surrendered yesterday and is in coalition custody now. He was never in coalition custody before.”