Telegraph

Saddam running training camps for terrorists, say defectors By Philip Delves Broughton in New York (Filed: 09/11/2001)

TWO former Iraqi intelligence agents have told the CIA that Saddam Hussein has fostered training camps to produce scores of highly trained terrorists for attacks in the Middle East and the West.

If confirmed, their statements will strengthen the case of those in Washington advising President Bush that the only way to crush Arab terrorism is to topple Saddam.

That case received a further boost on Wednesday when Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, regarded as the least hawkish member of Mr Bush's inner circle, said America would turn its focus to Iraq once it had dealt with the al-Qa'eda network and Afghanistan.

After defeating al-Qa'eda, said Mr Powell: "We will turn our attention to terrorism throughout the world, and nations such as Iraq, which have tried to pursue weapons of mass destruction."

The two Iraqi defectors, who were debriefed by the CIA and then put in touch with The New York Times by exile groups opposed to Saddam, said there was no evidence that the men being trained at Salman Pak, a camp south of Baghdad, were linked to Osama bin Laden.

But their claims contradict Iraq's official denials of United Nations weapons inspectors' allegations that Salman Pak was a terrorist training camp. One of the defectors is a lieutenant general who served in the highest ranks of Iraq's intelligence service, the Mukhabarat.

As well as the training camp, he said there was also a strongly-guarded compound where a German scientist led a team of Iraqis developing biological weapons.

"There is a lot we do not know," said the general, who asked for anonymity. "We were forbidden to speak about our activities among each other, even off duty. But over the years you see and hear things.

"These Islamic radicals were a scruffy lot. They needed a lot of training, especially physical training. But from speaking with them, it was clear they came from a lot of countries, including Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Algeria, Egypt and Morocco.

"We were training these people to attack installations important to the United States. The Gulf war never ended for Saddam Hussein. He is at war with the United States. We were repeatedly told this."

His claims tallied with those made by Sabah Khalifa Khodada Alami, a former captain in the Iraqi army who worked for eight years at Salman Pak before fleeing to America in May. According to both men, Islamic militants at Salman Pak were taught how to hijack a plane using the fuselage of a Boeing 707.

-- Anonymous, November 09, 2001

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http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/08/international/middleeast/08IRAQ.html ?searchpv=past7days

-- Anonymous, November 09, 2001