Al Qaeda And Iraq
The arrest in Iraq of top al Qaeda operative Hassan Ghul shows that the international terrorist network is seeking to establish a foothold in this country, the commander of coalition forces said Thursday.
Ghul was arrested by Kurdish forces in northern Iraq as he attempted to enter the country, U.S. officials said in Washington last weekend. The officials said Ghul was a senior facilitator for al Qaeda and reported directly to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, one of the architects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks who was captured in March near Islamabad, Pakistan.
"The capture of Ghul is pretty strong proof that al Qaeda is trying to gain a foothold here to continue their murderous campaigns," Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told reporters. "Ghul's capture is great news for both the Iraqis the coalition and the international community's war against terrorism."
Sanchez said U.S. officials had noted tactics similar to those employed by al Qaeda - especially the string of vehicle bombs which have occurred in recent months. He also said officials have been unable to identify the nationality of any of the bombers except for a Yemeni who was arrested Oct. 27 after his vehicle failed to explode.
He refused to say whether U.S. intelligence knew of any active al Qaeda cells in Baghdad or elsewhere in the country.
In other recent developments:
The International Olympic Committee suspended the Iraqi NOC on May 17, 2003 after the fall of Saddam's regime in April in line with the Olympic Charter to allow its restructuring.
The comments by U.S. officials on al Qaeda's suspected ambitions for Iraq came on the same day of yet another bomb explosion.
This one - a roadside bomb - blew up in Baqouba, in central Iraq, wounding 10 Iraqis.
Wednesday, a suicide bomber sped through a security barrier in the heart of Baghdad and blew up a van disguised as an ambulance in front of a hotel, killing three people - including a South African - and wounding 17.
Also Wednesday, some 10,000 people in the town of Nasiriyah staged a protest to demand the resignation of the U.S.-appointed provincial governor.
The demonstration is seen as the latest sign of the growing empowerment of Iraq's majority Shiites who were repressed for decades by Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime.
Sunni insurgents loyal to the captured dictator are blamed for much of the ongoing violence in the country, such as Wednesday's suicide van bombing in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood.
Thursday's bomb in Baqouba exploded during the morning rush hour.
Capt. Sabri Salar Hussein of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps said eight corps members were injured in the blast along with two civilians.
"I accuse criminal and terrorist elements from the remnants of the former regime and terrorists who came from overseas for this act," Hussein said. "This act will never terrorize us and we will keep persuing those terrorists."
One of the injured, corps member Younis Ali, said the bomb was placed in an abandoned cart. "When we got closer to the cart, the explosion took place," he said. "I could only see the smoke then."
The violence and the wider Shiite demands for early general elections have become the biggest headaches for the U.S.-led coalition administration as it nears a self-imposed deadline to hand over power to an unelected Iraqi government on July 1.
"No to Israel! No to imperialism! No to America!" the crowd chanted in Nasiriyah, about 215 miles southeast of Baghdad, demanding that provincial governor Sabri al-Roumaith step down.
Coalition officials said the governor left his office to defuse tensions after failing to placate the crowd but did not resign.
Tens of thousands of Shiites have held protests in various cities in Iraq this month to support al-Sistani's refusal to accept a U.S. plan to select a transitional government through an interim legislature chosen in regional caucuses before the planned July 1 hand over of power.
He is demanding direct elections but Washington cites the ongoing violence and the lack of electoral roles as a reason to delay elections until 2005.
A United Nations team arrived Tuesday in Baghdad to determine whether it was safe for another U.N. team to come to Iraq to study prospects for an early elections.
It is hoped that the team's decision would end the deadlock between Washington and the Shiites. Al-Sistani has indicated that he will respect a U.N. decision.
U.S. officials have warned that attacks by insurgents will increase in the run-up to the July handover. This was demonstrated by the Baghdad suicide bombing, the second in the capital less than two weeks.