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Barham Salih: Saddam Agents, Foreign Militants Behind Poll Attacks
The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister says today that Saddamites are funding a “sophisticated alliance” with foreign Islamist terror forces to coordinate attacks on polling stations:
Barham Salih said intelligence gathered from dozens of Saddam’s former intelligence and army officers and foreign fighters arrested in the past week points to a major offensive during the polls.
Members of Saddam’s toppled Baath Party and foreign militants inspired by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and his key ally in Iraq, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, may have suffered setbacks but have plenty of cash.
“We do have, I think, some good ideas about what they are planning to do as a way of attacking polling stations and creating an insecure environment to prevent the population from going to the polling stations,” he told Reuters in an interview.
“They have vicious plans to derail the process. Bin Laden recently came out with a very clear statement that he does not want elections to be held in Iraq.”
%between%Salih said that Saddam loyalists escaped the 2003 invasion with large amounts of cash now beingused to bankroll the terror war.
“In Iraq we have a lethal alliance between former Saddamists and these global Jihadists. Saddam Hussein’s people have taken a lot of money from the Iraqi treasury. We know of the existence of many of these leaders from the former regime in countries like Syria,” he said.
“The former regime elements and these global Jihadists are working together, coordinating attacks and helping each other to instigate terrorist activities across the country.”
Zarqawi, the man blamed for many of the worst bombings, is still on the run. Salih said Zarqawi was working with Saddam’s former henchmen in a highly structured organization that includes former Iraqi special forces.
“We do see a high level of coordination between the former regime loyalists and Zarqawi and the surrogate organizations as part of a coordinated campaign of cooperation, intelligence, providing logistics back and forth,” he said.
“The picture that is emerging is that there is a high command for these terrorist activities. The bulk of the terrorist operations that we have to deal with come from the former regime loyalists.”
This article should be required reading for those who still believe that the US and the Iraqi government are fighting a “popular” “insurgency.”
The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister says today that Saddamites are funding a “sophisticated alliance” with foreign Islamist terror forces to coordinate attacks on polling stations:
Barham Salih said intelligence gathered from dozens of Saddam’s former intelligence and army officers and foreign fighters arrested in the past week points to a major offensive during the polls.
Members of Saddam’s toppled Baath Party and foreign militants inspired by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and his key ally in Iraq, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, may have suffered setbacks but have plenty of cash.
“We do have, I think, some good ideas about what they are planning to do as a way of attacking polling stations and creating an insecure environment to prevent the population from going to the polling stations,” he told Reuters in an interview.
“They have vicious plans to derail the process. Bin Laden recently came out with a very clear statement that he does not want elections to be held in Iraq.”
%between%Salih said that Saddam loyalists escaped the 2003 invasion with large amounts of cash now beingused to bankroll the terror war.
“In Iraq we have a lethal alliance between former Saddamists and these global Jihadists. Saddam Hussein’s people have taken a lot of money from the Iraqi treasury. We know of the existence of many of these leaders from the former regime in countries like Syria,” he said.
“The former regime elements and these global Jihadists are working together, coordinating attacks and helping each other to instigate terrorist activities across the country.”
Zarqawi, the man blamed for many of the worst bombings, is still on the run. Salih said Zarqawi was working with Saddam’s former henchmen in a highly structured organization that includes former Iraqi special forces.
“We do see a high level of coordination between the former regime loyalists and Zarqawi and the surrogate organizations as part of a coordinated campaign of cooperation, intelligence, providing logistics back and forth,” he said.
“The picture that is emerging is that there is a high command for these terrorist activities. The bulk of the terrorist operations that we have to deal with come from the former regime loyalists.”
This article should be required reading for those who still believe that the US and the Iraqi government are fighting a “popular” “insurgency.”
