TERRORISTS IN IRAQ
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James Joyner | Friday, September 26, 2003 |
YahooNews reports something I hadn’t seen until just now:
U.S. forces in Iraq are holding 19 suspected members of the al-Qaida terrorist network, the American civilian administrator said Friday.The suspected al-Qaida members are among 248 non-Iraqi fighters being held by the Americans in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer said in a Pentagon news conference.
Bremer said authorities determined the suspects’ al-Qaida links through interrogations and documents the suspects were carrying. He said he did not know what countries they came from.
The largest number of foreign fighters–123 of the 248–came from Syria, Bremer said. The next-highest numbers came from Iran and Yemen, he said, adding he did not have precise figures for those countries.
The flow of terrorist fighters into Iraq is the biggest obstacle to the peaceful reconstruction of the country, Bremer said. The fighting between anti-American elements and U.S. forces hasn’t hampered the reconstruction effort so far, though, he said.
Reconstruction of Iraq is critical to the global war on terrorism, he added.
“We don’t want Iraq to become a breeding ground for terrorism in the future,” Bremer said.
Hmm.
(Hat tip: Steven Taylor)
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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