Iraqi Weekly: Saddam Ordered Training of Al-Qa'ida Members
MEMRI SPECIAL DISPACH
http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=3DSD59203
The independent Iraqi weekly Al-Yawm Al-Aakher reveals details on the
training of Al-Qa'ida members operating under the orders of Saddam's
Presidential Palace two months before the September 11 attacks. The
following are excerpts from the article: [1]
Training At Nahrawan and Salman Pak
"An Iraqi officer (L) [only identified by initial] tells us that one day
a Land Cruiser belonging to the Personal Security Force (Al-Amn
Al-Khass, responsible for the protection of Saddam Hussein) arrived and
a senior officer from the Presidential Palace stepped out of it. He was
one of those officers who used to stand behind Saddam, which means that
he was one of [his] personal bodyguards. After a two-hour meeting with a
select group of officers at the Special Forces School, we were informed
that we would have dear guests, and that we should train them very well
in a high level of secrecy - not to allow anyone to approach them or to
talk to them in any way, shape, or form.
"A few days later, about 100 trainees arrived. They were a mixture of
Arabs, Arabs from the Peninsula [Saudi Arabia], Muslim Afghans, and
other Muslims from various parts of the world.
They were divided into two groups, the first one went to Al-Nahrawan and
the second to Salman Pak, and this was the group that was trained to
hijack airplanes. The training was under the direct supervision of major
general (M. DH. L) [only identified by initials] who now serves as a
police commander in one of the provinces.
Upon the completion of the training most of them left Iraq, while the
others stayed in the country through the last battle in Baghdad against
the coalition forces."
Al-Qa'ida Group Headed by a Saudi Cleric
"I remember that the leader of the group was a Saudi cleric called
[Muhammad], who was a fervent and audacious individual and did not
require much training. He was highly skilled, and could fire accurately
at a target while riding a motorcycle. Additionally, he used to deliver
fiery sermons calling for Jihad and for fighting the Americans anywhere
in the world.
Surprisingly, this man's picture, alongside the commander of the Special
Forces School, was televised several times before the beginning of the
war and the fall of the former regime."
Training Supervised by the Fedayeen Command
"...The Fedayeen command [Fedayeen Saddam under Uday's command]
supervised the 100 Al-Qa'ida fighters directly, to the extent that
senior Fedayeen officers visited them constantly and inspected them
almost daily, especially during the final days when they transferred
them, late at night in two red trucks that belonged to the Ministry of
Transportation, to an undisclosed destination. I witnessed that with my
own eyes because on that day I was the duty officer."
Al-Qa'ida Members Participated in Battles Against U.S. Forces
"A few days before the beginning of the last war, we were surprised to
see the same people whom we had trained return to the Special Forces
School and with them 100 additional individuals.
The high command asked us to re-train them and to divide them into
several groups to be deployed in various areas in Iraq.
"Truth be told, most of these individuals competed to go to war and to
the front lines. [2] Therefore, under pressure they participated
immediately in extremely fierce battles that astonished the Iraqis and
the Americans."
With the 11th Division in the Area of Al-Kifl
"On April 5, 2003 orders were issued to send these individuals to the
battle front immediately. About 100 of them were sent to the 11th
company division in Nasiriya.
And for the sake of history I will say that this division's endurance
was due to some formidable fighters, the commanding officer and members
of Al-Qa'ida who fought with intensity and brutality that are seldom
matched, while they were praising Allah: Allahu Akbar=85 Allahu Akbar=85
What I mean by that are the violent battles that took place along the
rapid highway for seventeen consecutive days and forced the Americans to
withdraw and re-enter from the industrial area of Nasiriya =85
As for the groups which went to Al-Kifl, they participated in extremely
brutal battles. Not many of them retreated and they sacrificed their
lives to Apache [helicopter] fire, amid the admiration of the Iraqis and
the Americans themselves. The proof is that some of them blew themselves
up in the midst of American forces."
[1] Al-Yawm Al-Aakher (Iraq), October 16, 2003.
[2] According to the article, a number of the individuals also fought in
Afghanistan: "Most of [the people] I talked to confirmed to me that they
had come from Afghanistan and the Pakistani mountains, and that they
were the ones who fought the Americans in Mazar Al-Sharif and Kabul.
This was a true experience that they translated into the reality of the
fierce battles in Iraq."
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