It's true, folks - Saddam had deep ties to terrorism

Lansing State Journal ^ | Published January 19, 2006 | Keith Kelly

[april15Bendovr]

Published January 19, 2006

Keith Kelly: It's true, folks - Saddam had deep ties to terrorism

Intelligence review reveals terrorist training inside Iraq

Last week it was reported in the Weekly Standard magazine that Saddam Hussein had trained thousands of radical Islamic terrorists in the four years preceding the invasion by the U.S. and our allies.

Don't look for this one in the "mainstream" media, sports fans.

How is this possible? Germany, France, Russia, et al, assured us Saddam was a reasonable man; a man who could be negotiated with. Sanctions would work.

First the facts.

Saddam trained up to 2,000 terrorists a year between 1999 and 2002, at camps in Samarra, Ramadi and Salman Pak. (You may have heard of Ramadi, site of some of the bloodiest battles of the war, and home to countless terrorists. The 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines suffered the highest casualty rate of any battalion in theater while there.)

This information was gleaned from some 2 million pieces of intelligence found by the U.S. military, known as "exploitable items," captured in Iraq and Afghanistan. To date only 2.5 percent of this material has been thoroughly examined.

And who were these terrorists? Mainly they hailed from northern Africa with ties to the Algerian GSPC and the Sudanese Islamic Army. Nice fellas.

It has been opined by those "opposed to the war" (read that as "opposed to Bush") that Saddam would never align himself with Islamic fundamentalists, being the secularist that he is. One would do well to remember that Saddam is a firm believer in the old adage, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

One would also do well to remember Saddam is not new to the terrorist game and vehemently hates the U.S.

Six months after deploying for Desert Storm, I was redeployed to Kuwait. While there, I operated with the Kuwaiti Special Forces and received numerous briefs from the Kuwaiti military. It was there that I learned that Saddam had placed a large number of sleeper cells within Kuwait City years before the war.

Once the battle commenced, they donned their uniforms, and began the "cleansing" process, whereby the Kuwaiti intelligentsia was systematically murdered, along with countless other innocents. The plan worked flawlessly, as the sleepers acted as guides for the advancing army.

Now the Jihadists have 8,000 more terrorists ready, willing and able to act as sleeper cells. Or merely to act as foot soldiers in the ongoing war.

The fact that more than 80 percent of the terrorists now being killed by coalition forces are not Iraqis is germane to this discussion. This also raises the question regarding Saddam's supposed non-involvement in 9/11.

But I'm not worried. Sens. John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, as well as Howard Dean, have assured me Saddam had no ties to Islamic extremists.

What do you think? Keith Kelly of Grand Ledge served for 20 years in the Marine Corps. He's a member of the State Journal's Community Advisory Board. Write to him c/o Lansing State Journal, 120 E. Lenawee St., Lansing, MI 48919.

[rock_lobsta]

Saddam and terrorists? gitouttaheeeere! [/sarc]

[TigersEye]

Don't look for this one in the "mainstream" media, sports fans.

Gettin' mighty sick of traitors ... bump.

[EagleUSA]

I support Bush on Iraq but it seems he has not sold it well.
-----
GWB has done a very poor job of working with the public.