Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2004. Page 4
U.S. Sees Chechen Hand in Iraq Attacks
By Jim Krane
The Associated Press CAMP ANACONDA, Iraq -- Iraqi guerrillas blasting U.S.
military convoys with improvised bombs hidden at roadsides may have learned
tactics by talking to Chechen rebels and Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in
Afghanistan, a U.S. Army intelligence officer said.
Iraqi rebels have been communicating with such outsiders through e-mail,
telephone and personal visits, said Major Thomas Sirois, chief intelligence
officer of the U.S. Army's 3rd Corps Support Command, which occupies this
sprawling base north of Baghdad. He declined to identify the types of
communication U.S. intelligence officers have intercepted.
"I think they share information," Sirois said. "Individuals here who are
fighting against us I'm sure are reaching out to see what has been successful
in other locations, and probably trying to adapt those procedures here."
Some ambush techniques observed in Chechnya against the Russians and in
Afghanistan against U.S. forces by al-Qaida and former Taliban militants "we've
seen employed here" in Iraq, Sirois said.
Like Iraq, recent conflicts in Chechnya and Afghanistan saw Islamic guerrillas
hiding at roadsides to ambush military convoys with booby-trapped bombs and
rocket-propelled grenades.
One Middle East military analyst said information being shared from Afghan and
Chechen sources is probably technical assistance with fuses, remote-control
detonators -- like cellphones -- and assembling the complex daisy-chained bombs
that began appearing in Iraq in late summer.
Since the beginning of military operations in Iraq, with the March invasion,
494 U.S. troops have died, according to the Defense Department. Most of those
died as a result of hostile action.
The British military has reported 52 deaths; Italy, 17; Spain, eight; Bulgaria,
five; Thailand, two; Denmark, Ukraine and Poland have reported one each.
Suicide bombings blamed on Chechen separatists have killed more than 275 people
in and around Chechnya and in Moscow in the past year. Russian troops in
Chechnya suffer daily losses in rebel attacks and land-mine explosions.
"There will be people out there with the expertise who will be very happy to
share it, because they want to see the U.S. project in Iraq fail," said Jeremy
Binnie, with Jane's Sentinel Security Assessments in London. "With the
technical things, there is some level of cooperation because they can get quite
sophisticated."
Sirois monitors intelligence on Iraq's roads for the Army's 16,000-member 3rd
Coscom, which operates the thousands of truck convoys traveling across Iraq
each day, supplying U.S. military with fuel, food, water and other supplies.
Attacks on the convoys grew more complex in the late summer and fall, with the
number of attacks rising each month from May to November.
The number of highway ambushes -- usually involving roadside bombs -- began
dropping in late November and through December, Sirois said.
U.S. military and intelligence officials have long said they believe members of
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network have migrated to Iraq, but little
evidence has been released to support their assertions. Sirois said he and
other intelligence officers believe al-Qaida members are in Iraq but have seen
no signs of Chechens or Afghans launching attacks alongside Iraqi guerrillas.
Some tactics used to attack U.S. convoys were homegrown as well, Sirois said,
noting there is plenty of expertise among disaffected members of the disbanded
Iraqi army.
The effectiveness of the roadside bombs, which the U.S. military calls IEDs or
"improvised explosive devices," depends on them being carefully hidden on the
edges of the convoy routes and detonated when an unsuspecting convoy passes.
The U.S. Army has found bombs disguised as curbs. Others have been hidden in
lampposts, animal carcasses and the U.S. Army's ubiquitous brown plastic ration
bags.
"We've seen some pretty ingenious disguises," Sirois said in an interview. "You
name it, they hide IEDs in just about anything -- tires at the sides of roads,
trash piles."
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| User: "WH" |
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| Title: Re: U.S. Sees Chechen Hand in Iraq Attacks |
16 Jan 2004 12:45:00 PM |
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"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> skrev i meddelandet
news:20040113073208.15398.00003258@mb-m04.aol.com...
Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2004. Page 4
U.S. Sees Chechen Hand in Iraq Attacks
By Jim Krane
The Associated Press CAMP ANACONDA, Iraq -- Iraqi guerrillas blasting U.S.
military convoys with improvised bombs hidden at roadsides may have
learned
tactics by talking to Chechen rebels and Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in
Afghanistan, a U.S. Army intelligence officer said.
A US army "intelligence" officer?
LOL!
WH
.
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| User: "TonyZ2001" |
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| Title: Re: U.S. Sees Chechen Hand in Iraq Attacks |
18 Jan 2004 07:23:27 AM |
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"WH"
wrote:
"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> skrev i meddelandet
news:20040113073208.15398.00003258@mb-m04.aol.com...
Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2004. Page 4
U.S. Sees Chechen Hand in Iraq Attacks
By Jim Krane
The Associated Press CAMP ANACONDA, Iraq -- Iraqi guerrillas blasting U.S.
military convoys with improvised bombs hidden at roadsides may have
learned
tactics by talking to Chechen rebels and Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in
Afghanistan, a U.S. Army intelligence >>officer said.
A US army "intelligence" officer?
LOL!
WH
You're a clown.
Tony
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