IRAQ: Tape Shows Attacks On U.S. Troops

(CBS) The people who produced a tape obtained by CBS News say it shows the real thing: attacks on U.S. forces videotaped by the men who carried them out. As CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey reports, they are members of a previously unheard-of Islamic fundamentalist group that calls itself Jaish Ansar al-Sunni.

The group appears to be an offshoot of another organization operating here that the U.S. says has ties to al Qaeda. Their stated aim is to kill Americans and set up an Islamic state in Iraq.

"The tape is certainly not only authentic but highly well-produced," says M.J. Gohel, a terrorism expert with the Asia-Pacific Foundation. "This is strong evidence. This only confirms what we have always suspected. That there is a foreign Islamic presence in Iraq."

The video showcases the group's arsenal and a deadly track record.

Spanish officials confirmed Tuesday night that identity cards shown on the tape belong to members of a group of seven Spanish intelligence officers killed in an ambush on Nov. 30. Until now, no one knew who did it. Other cards appear to be from a Canadian killed Jan. 5 while working for a U.S. contractor.

But the most chilling sequence comes halfway through the 35-minute presentation. It features statements by six young men alleged to have subsequently carried out suicide missions.

The accents of at least three are non-Iraqi, and one speaks Kurdish.

The tape does not appear to have been made as propaganda for a wide audience but rather to be shown in secret; a tool to recruit young Iraqi men for suicide missions. If it succeeds it could raise the insurgency to a new level.

The journalist who obtained the videotape was told by the guerrillas that foreign fighters have carried out 70 percent of the attacks so far.

"They are supplying one single guide to the foreign fighters on the border and leading that foreign fighter, suicide bomber to his target as soon as possible," says journalist Phillip Smucker.

But Iraqi suicide bombers could blend into the crowd. American military officials admit that so far they have not identified a single bomber.

It is impossible to verify that these men actually carried out attacks, but claims made in the video match details of six bombing, including one in which six people died.

U.S. officials say they expect more of the same, which the Jaish al-Sunni video promises to deliver.

The journalist who obtained the videotape was told by the guerrillas that foreign
fighters have carried out 70 percent of the attacks so far.

"They are supplying one single guide to the foreign fighters on the border and
leading that foreign fighter, suicide bomber to his target as soon as possible,"
says journalist Phillip Smucker.

"Welcome to Iraq, Islamic brother. Hope you enjoy your detonation during your stay!"

Too bad Gen. Patton isn't around to give his take on this "letting the other poor
dumb bastard die for his (the host's!) country"!

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