Posted on 12/23/2001 5:33:35 AM PST by blam
Defector says Saddam has death squad
An Iraqi defector says Saddam Hussein has a squad of 30 terrorists scattered around the world ready to strike at any time.
The secret squad specialises in sabotage, urban warfare and hijacking.
Vanity Fair magazine says it is the cream of a secret 1,200-strong commando force called al Qarea, or the Strikers.
The unit was commissioned by Saddam's son Uday and presented to his father as "a birthday present".
The 30 men have been given new identities and United Arab Emirates passports, after a minister in the Gulf state was bribed by Iraqi spies.
According to the defector Abu Zeinab al-Quarairy, a former brigadier-general in Saddam's feared Mukhabarat intelligence service, the death squad has a link to the September 11 terror attacks.
He told the magazine: "When I saw the World Trade Centre attack on television, I turned to a friend and said 'that's ours'."
The 41-year-old defector, who fled Iraq in August, said the 30 soldiers could be anywhere in the world, waiting for a secret message from Baghdad to spring into action.
A senior CIA analyst told the magazine that as far as the agency is concerned, al-Quarairy is speaking the truth.
The unit of killers was formed in 2000, but its roots go back far into Saddam's murky history as dictator of Iraq when he established an elite commando brigade.
Abu Zeinab al-Quarairy said: "It's got a long-established history and we're proud to be associated with it, because it's trained the elite - the people who carried out operations abroad, who are on the Interpol wanted lists.
"By the time a trainee leaves our school, he can protect any VIP or assassinate any VIP. In 1979, when Saddam Hussein executed half his cabinet, they had the honour of executing them at the camp."
Story filed: 00:18 Saturday 22nd December 2001
Well, I guess we now know what not to get Saddam for Christmas...
The fact that we are now playing by their rules makes it easier and easier to justify killing the terrorists and their sponsors. The only thing the tin horn dictators understand is raw power. A wipe out of SH should be the next example.
Its either them or us. So be it.
Time to check out people in the West with UAE passports.
By the way, I just looked for an article on this in the January Vanity Fair and couldn't find one. Am I missing something? Or will it be in the February issue?
I would prefer Saddam die, wouldn't you?
Sorry. Can't answer your question.
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