Iraq Camp Used to Train Foreign Terrorists, U.S. Says
washingtonpost.com
Reuters
Sunday, April 6, 2003; 10:56 AM
AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Sunday it had captured or killed fighters from Sudan, Egypt and other countries in Iraq, and some of those captured had led it to a terrorist training camp.
Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks told a briefing at Central Command in Qatar that the camp, found at Salman Pak southeast of Baghdad, demonstrated "a linkage between this regime and terrorism." But he said there was nothing to tie the camp to specific organizations.
The United States, Britain and their allies went to war against Iraq on March 20, accusing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of hiding chemical and other weapons of mass destruction and vowing to topple him.
Before the conflict, Washington sought to convince doubters in the United Nations that there were links between Baghdad and al Qaeda, the network it accuses of carrying out the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide attacks on America.
Since invading, U.S. military officials have accused Iraq of using "terrorist" tactics.
"Some of these fighters come from Sudan, some from Egypt, some from other places," Brooks said of the foreigners.
"We've killed a number of them and we've captured a number of them, and that's where some of this information came from. It does say an awful lot about the approach the regime is taking to what's going on the battlefield right now."
Baghdad had appealed to sympathizers in other countries to join its forces in the battle against U.S.-led forces and in recent days there have been reports of many people from Arab countries traveling to Iraq to do just that.
Brooks gave sketchy details of what convinced the U.S. forces they had uncovered a terrorist camp, referring only the work being done by those captured and "inferences to the type of training they received."
He said some tanks, a small number of personnel carriers plus buildings used for command, control, morale and welfare were all destroyed at the camp.
"All of that -- when you roll together the reports, where they're from, why they might be here -- tells us that there's still a linkage clearly between this regime and terrorism, and that's something we want to make sure we break."
© 2003 Reuters |
