Saddam loyalists directing insurgency from Syria: report
Iraqi insurgents are being directed to a greater degree than previously suspected by loyalists of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein living in Syria, according to a Washington Post report.
A handful of senior Iraqi Baathists are collecting money from private sources in Saudi Arabia and Europe for the Iraqi insurgents and are managing some of their operations from Syria, the newspaper quoted intelligence sources as saying.
The intelligence officials said their suspicions were based on information gathered during recent fighting in the Sunni Triangle.
They say a US military summary of operations in the Fallujah said a global positioning receiver found in a bomb factory there "contained waypoints originating in western Syria".
In separate interviews with the Washington Post, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Iraqi President Ghazi Yawar also raised concerns about Syria's role in Iraq.
"There are people in Syria who are bad guys, who are fugitives of the law and who are Saddam remnants who are trying to bring the vicious dictatorship of Saddam back," Sheikh Yawar said.
King Abdullah noted that the governments of both the United States and Iraq believe that "foreign fighters are coming across the Syrian border that have been trained in Syria".
The Syrian ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, rejected the accusations as unfounded.
"There is a sinister campaign to create an atmosphere of hostility against Syria," he told the Post.
The envoy said his Government "categorically" denied that Iraqi Baathists were taking refuge in Syria.
"We don't allow this to happen," he said. "Iraqi officials were never welcome."
One defence official told the paper that the new intelligence also suggested US operations in Iraq, especially in the Green Zone in central Baghdad, have been heavily infiltrated by Iraqi insurgents.
The official said cell phone calls increased after major convoys left the Green Zone.
-AFP
Results mixed on Iraqi troop training - Bush
December 08 2004 at 07:50AM By Adam Entous
Camp Pendleton, California - President George Bush sought on Tuesday to boost the morale of US troops facing extended deployments in Iraq, but acknowledged mixed results so far in training Iraqi forces to replace them.
As the US combat death toll in Iraq reached 1 000 since last year's invasion with a record monthly toll in November of 136, Bush said he expected a tough road ahead.
While a recent offensive in Fallujah "dealt the enemy a severe blow," Bush said the insurgents who used the city as their stronghold would "keep on fighting" and offered a more cautious assessment of the readiness of Iraqi troops than he had in the past.
He touted a new Nato training programme
Classified CIA assessments, disclosed on Tuesday, said the situation was deteriorating and unlikely to improve any time soon.
"Some Iraqi units have performed better than others," Bush told thousands of camouflage-clad Marines flanked by giant American flags and heavily armed Humvees. "Some Iraqis have been intimidated enough by the insurgents to leave the service to their country."
But Bush said "a great many are standing firm," and the United States would continue training Iraqi security forces "so the Iraqi people can eventually take responsibility for their own security."
He touted a new Nato training programme and said efforts were underway to "develop a core of well-trained senior and mid-level Iraqi officers" to lead the new forces.
Bush did not repeat his assertions from September about nearly 100 000 "fully trained and equipped" Iraqi soldiers, police officers and other security personnel being on the job.
Citing the temporary increase in troop strength
Bush said his goal was to "help the Iraqi government build a force that no longer needs coalition support so they can defend their own nation. And then American soldiers and Marines can come home."
But Bush offered no timetables one day after Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he hoped US troops would be pulled out of Iraq in the next four years.
The White House said Bush's California visit was part of an effort to boost US troop morale. He flew more than nine hours round-trip from Washington to give a 30-minute speech at Camp Pendleton, which has had one of the highest casualty rates in Iraq of any US military base.
After his speech, Bush sat down to a lunch of pasta, rice and beef in the mess hall, and met with more than 50 families of fallen soldiers.
The Pentagon announced last week it would increase the number of American troops in Iraq to 150 000, from 138 000, to try to improve security for elections at the end of January.
The move will extend the promised year-long Iraq tours of 8 100 Army soldiers to 14 months and the seven-month tours of 2 300 Marines to nine months.
In a sign of growing tension, eight US soldiers serving in Iraq and Kuwait filed a lawsuit this week over a military policy that forces them to serve beyond their enlistment contracts.
Citing the temporary increase in troop strength, Bush said he had "a strategy in place to aid the rise of a stable democracy in Iraq, to help the Iraqi government provide security during the election period."
Bush has vowed to press ahead with January 30 elections in Iraq despite the surge in violence.
"As election day approaches, we can expect further violence from the terrorists," Bush said, adding: "Free elections will proceed as planned."
He said the elections would undercut the insurgency because "when Iraqis choose new leaders in free elections, it will destroy the myth that the terrorists are fighting a foreign occupation and make clear that what the terrorists are really fighting is the will of the Iraqi people."
(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan)