Posted on 10/29/2003 6:25:49 PM PST by TexKat
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A former Iraqi general, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, is reported to be coordinating attacks in Iraq by foreign fighters and Iraqi regime loyalists, a US defense official said.
"There are reports that the al-Douri is coordinating the attacks," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The reports in military channels fingering al-Douri as the coordinator of the attacks probably came from the recent capture in Mosul of a former secretary of al-Douri and two senior members of Ansar al-Islam who were close to the general, the official said.
Number six on the US list of 55 most wanted Iraqis, Al-Douri is the highest ranking former Iraqi leader still at large other than Saddam Hussein.
He was vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, commander of Iraq's northern region and deputy commander of the armed forces.
He has tribal connections in Mosul through his daughter-in-law's family. Kurdish officials also have said he has an extensive network of contacts with former Iraqi military officers, many of whom were from the Mosul region, and the Saddam Fedayeen paramilitary group.
It was unclear whether al-Douri directed the wave of suicide car bombings Monday in Baghdad, which killed 43 people.
President George W. Bush on Tuesday said "both Baathists and foreign terrorists" were probably behind the attacks.
General Ricardo Sanchez, the US commander on the ground, told NBC television in an interview Tuesday that the US military has suspected a relationship between former regime loyalists and foreign fighters.
"There are some clear indicators that now they have begun to work together," he said.
In the first direct evidence of possible outside participation in the attacks, a man who was apprehended after one of the suicide bombings failed was carrying a Syrian passport, officials said. Iraqi interim Health Minister Khodair Abbas said Wednesday he was a Yemeni.
General John Abizaid, the head of the US Central Command, meanwhile is pressing for more intelligence resources to deal with the increasingly sophisticated attacks and the Pentagon is considering using a group whose primary mission has been the hunt for weapons of mass destruction, a spokesman said.
Larry DiRita, the acting Pentagon spokesman, told reporters earlier that Abizaid already had moved intelligence people within his theater of operations to counter-terrorism work but was looking for other ways to beef up the effort.
"Abizaid feels very strongly he needs more counter-terrorism resources and he's going to get it," DiRita said.
The spokesman insisted, however, that whatever is decided the 1,400 member Iraq Survey Group would still have weapons of mass destruction as its principle mission.
Leni
Wait a minute, this can't be right. There's no connection between the Saddam regime and terrorism. None whatsoever.
Leni
The only reason I can think of for the administration not to be making this a large issue, is they don't want to admit there is organization at some level. Easier to pretend there are 33 random terrorist attacks against our troops day in and day out, than to admit they've got some high-level Iraqis running around that need to be removed from the deck.
General Ricardo Sanchez, the US commander on the ground, told NBC television in an interview Tuesday that the US military has suspected a relationship between former regime loyalists and foreign fighters.
"There are some clear indicators that now they have begun to work together," he said.
In the first direct evidence of possible outside participation in the attacks, a man who was apprehended after one of the suicide bombings failed was carrying a Syrian passport, officials said. Iraqi interim Health Minister Khodair Abbas said Wednesday he was a Yemeni.
General John Abizaid, the head of the US Central Command, meanwhile is pressing for more intelligence resources to deal with the increasingly sophisticated attacks and the Pentagon is considering using a group whose primary mission has been the hunt for weapons of mass destruction, a spokesman said.
Larry DiRita, the acting Pentagon spokesman, told reporters earlier that Abizaid already had moved intelligence people within his theater of operations to counter-terrorism work but was looking for other ways to beef up the effort.
"Abizaid feels very strongly he needs more counter-terrorism resources and he's going to get it," DiRita said(/snip)
Wonder when the Dems frist produced their "no WMD" meme?
Shites...Sunnis...whatever. Let them kill each other off not our soldiers.
Stumbled on that link just above for a new webpage coming soon but can’t read Arabic, can anyone make heads or tails of it and tell me what this is? For all I can tell it’s going to be a site selling perfume; on the other hand it might be something more.
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