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Sparrowhawk
12-15-03, 09:50 PM
The connection between Saddam Hussein and the terroist incidents and attacks occuring in Iraq is clear. <br />
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Many others were arrested from documents obtained with Saddam's capture and hopfully more...

Sparrowhawk
12-17-03, 08:54 AM
having worked as a crime analyst for over 5 years, I can understand Army Brig. Gen. Dempsey's excitement at the captured documents found with Saddam that reveal a network for terrorism against our US troops.

With the capture of Saddam, anyone that continues to fight against us, must be labeled as crime terrorist willing to kill their own for money. What is amazing is that they are being paid, U.S. Currency. It's ironic that Saddam like Bin Laden who abhor America and all it stands for, use US Currency to carry out their terrorist plots.
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Hussein document exposes network
Seizure reveals structure for financing resistanceBy Bradley Graham

Updated: 12:44 a.m. ET Dec. 17, 2003BAGHDAD -

A document discovered during the capture of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein has enabled U.S. military authorities to assemble detailed knowledge of a key network behind as many as 14 clandestine insurgent cells, a senior U.S. military officer said Tuesday.


“I think this network that sits over the cells was clearly responsible for financing of the cells, and we think we’re into that network,” said Army Brig. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, commander of the 1st Armored Division.

Acting quickly after realizing the significance of the document, which Dempsey likened to minutes of a meeting, troops of the 1st Armored Division conducted raids Sunday and Monday that netted three former Iraqi generals suspected of financing and guiding insurgent operations in the Baghdad area.

Dempsey declined to name the three officers who were detained. He said none was on the Pentagon’s list of the 55 most wanted Iraqis but said their family names were familiar to U.S. authorities, suggesting that relatives of the men had come under suspicion.


Other Iraqis cited in the document are still being sought, the general added.

Dempsey said other documents found with Hussein could end up exposing other enemy networks. While cautioning that much analysis remained to be done, he said a picture of Hussein’s relationship with the insurgency was emerging that showed the former Iraqi president playing an inspirational but largely passive role, receiving reports about guerrilla operations but not guiding attacks.

“I doubt very much that he was directing daily operations. It’s just not feasible,” Dempsey said. “But he was clearly the symbolic figure, and these networks reported to him in a way that might” be characterized as “a son reporting to his parents.”

Communication by courier
Most of the communication, the general added, “seemed to be one-way, and it seemed to be by courier, not electronic.”

The view of Hussein as removed from the operational planning of insurgent attacks was endorsed by Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. and allied forces in Iraq.

“As I’ve always stated, repeatedly, our expectation was that Saddam was probably involved in intent and in financing, and so far that is still my belief,” Sanchez told reporters Tuesday at a news conference at the Baghdad airport.

Sanchez appeared with Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who visited the Iraqi capital for five hours Tuesday. Neither general would confirm the existence of the documents or be drawn into discussion of the intelligence windfall afforded by Hussein’s capture. Both voiced concern that disclosure of such information could interfere with efforts to track down additional Iraqis resisting the U.S.-led occupation.

But Dempsey, who spoke earlier in the day with reporters, could barely contain his excitement at the find. Acknowledging his own enthusiasm, he said that while U.S. intelligence analysts had been able to discern a number of insurgent cells in Baghdad, they had been stumped for weeks over what kind of structure might link them and provide financial support and broad guidance.

“Now we know,” he said.

In recent weeks, U.S. forces have broken up six cells, leaving another eight, Dempsey said. The suspected total number of cells, though, has fluctuated. Two weeks ago, during a visit by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Dempsey told reporters that U.S. forces had defeated four of a suspected 10 cells in Baghdad.

In all, Dempsey estimated Tuesday, the insurgents number about 1,000 in the capital, of whom 100 to 200 could be considered “passionate about it.” The others, he said, “are taking advantage of the situation,” possibly for money.

The large majority of insurgents, he said, are still believed to be Iraqis who served under Hussein—most of them former military officers, intelligence operatives and Baath Party members. Islamic militants from outside Iraq have played limited roles, often conducting any suicide missions. Fewer than 10 percent of those captured or killed have been non-Iraqis, Dempsey said.

Dempsey cautioned that much remains to be learned about the insurgency network in Baghdad and its links to other networks outside the capital. He also held out the possibility that another organization of financial backers could appear and take the place of the group discovered this week.

Bracing for more attacks
“It could be this was—to borrow [Hussein’s] phrase—the mother of all networks,” Dempsey said. “But we just don’t know. We’re only 48 hours into this.”

Since the announcement Sunday of Hussein’s capture, U.S. military authorities have been bracing for a possible surge in attacks. But Sanchez reported Tuesday that the level of violence against U.S. and allied forces has remained about the same as immediately before the capture, averaging fewer than 20 attacks a day.

Dempsey said that the number of attacks in the Baghdad area has actually declined, possibly reflecting a decision on the part of some insurgents “to go to ground” and hide, and see what new intelligence U.S. authorities have been able to glean.

“We’re changing some of our operations,” said Brig. Gen. Mike Scaparrotti, a deputy commander of the 1st Armored Division. He cited a shift in the tempo and location of U.S. patrols to avoid predictable patterns.

At his news conference, Myers predicted that Hussein’s capture would hurt the insurgency by undercutting its ability to recruit new members.

“When you take this leader who at one time was a popular leader in the region and find him in a hole in the ground, that is a powerful signal that you may be on the wrong team and maybe should be thinking about some other line of work,” the general said.

© 2003 The Washington Post Company

Sparrowhawk
12-17-03, 12:12 PM
FAT'S YOUR LOT! NO CASH FOR SADDAM GRASS Dec 17 2003


Bodyguard with 42-inch waist shopped Saddam ..but he won't get $25m

By Mark Ellis, Foreign Editor


SADDAM HUSSEIN was betrayed by a bodyguard from his own clan, it was revealed yesterday.

But the relative with "a very large waistline" who led US forces to the toppled dictator will not get any of the $25million reward - £16million - because he gave up his secret only under intense interrogation.

The man, named as Qusay Rassoul, is described as one of the "42-inch waist club" of henchmen who enjoyed the highlife under Saddam's rule. He is a member of the Al Tikriti clan, from which Saddam drew his most trusted aides and advisers.

Described as a "low level" bodyguard, he was arrested in Baghdad on Friday after a six-month search and several unsuccessful raids to capture him since his name appeared on a CIA list of Saddam's aides.

He was taken to the former Iraqi president's home town Tikrit, where he revealed the clues that guided soldiers to Saddam's squalid bolthole in nearby Ad Dawr.

Colonel Jim Hickey, who led the 4th Infantry Division 1st Brigade team which found Saddam, said: "We were very much interested in talking to that individual.

"Some of the officers here in Tikrit learned he had information about the whereabouts of Saddam.

"We were able to set to work on the preparations to conduct the raid."

Intelligence gleaned from Saddam's interrogation has already led to the arrests of key regime members and supporters funding guerrilla attacks on coalition forces.

Brigadier General Martin Dempsey, Commander of the US 1st Armoured Division, said: "Within 24 hours of his capture we acted on some of the information we were able to analyse and captured some high level former Ba'ath party leaders.

"We consider them to be the network providing the financial support for the cell structure in Baghdad.

"I think it will take some time to gain any intelligence value from the man himself. I mean, let's face it, he was the artful dodger and even what we get from him we probably will have to corroborate in other ways."

The CIA has been given the job of quizzing Saddam.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the intelligence agency had the expertise crucial for the job.

He said: "They know the threads that have to come up through the needlehead. To the extent that this individual can conceivably, even by accident, be helpful we need to have people doing that."

President George Bush said Saddam should face the death penalty. He said: "He is a torturer, a murderer ... and this is a disgusting tyrant who deserves justice, the ultimate justice."

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Saddam's capture should be used as the opportunity for the quick creation of an interim government, adding that it could help stem violence. He said Saddam should be held to account for "past deeds" but any trial must meet international standards - and he was against the death penalty.

Saddam's daughter Raghad said she wanted an international trial for him, "not by the Governing Council, which was put in place by occupiers".

Raghad, whose husband was murdered on Saddam's orders, said she was "proud he is my father", adding: "A lion remains a lion even in captivity. Where is the democracy, where is the immunity presidents enjoy?"

-SADDAM was treated "like a cow" after his arrest, said Cardinal Renato Martino, one of the Pope's senior advisers. He said: "I felt pity to see this man destroyed, the military looking at his teeth as if he were a cow..."