Iraq News Wire

I. In the Wake of Iraq's Announcement That It Will Accept International Arms Inspectors:

1. Retired Egyptian Military Officers in Iraq to Advise on Defense Plans
Jordanian intelligence sources have revealed that four retired senior Egyptian military officers spent two weeks in Baghdad (September 7-22) on a secret mission to put together a defensive plan for the Iraqi army, in anticipation of any American military action against Iraq.

Having reviewed the various military scenarios prepared by the Iraqi military high command, the Egyptian officers concluded that the city of Mosul in northern Iraq up to Hamareen mountain range north of Tikrit and Saddam Lake represent the weakest arch in the defense scheme of Iraq. This area is in range of U.S. air power stationed in Incirlik Base in Turkey. They have also concluded that the city of Kirkuk, with its vast oil wells, cannot be defended (they speculated that the Iraqis might destroy the area and blame the Americans for the act, as they did in Kuwait). According to these sources, the Egyptian officers advised the Iraqis to build a defensive line for Baghdad in the center of Iraq south of the Hamareen mountain range.

These sources also indicated that the plans for the defense of Baghdad were not revealed to the Egyptians because they include secret airports and underground tunnels designed for the movement of Saddam Hussein. The Egyptians recommended a tunnel under the Tigris River for moving military equipment in the event that the 12 bridges connecting the capital with the hinterland are destroyed.

The Egyptian officers found gaping holes in the defense of the southern part of Iraq. Following the Egyptian recommendations, the Iraqis have moved their emergency facilities to open areas which can be easily defended. The Iraqis have also moved the first brigade from the Zahraa area (behind the Traffic Department) to the Tareq area behind the railway station. They have also moved the second brigade from Garmat Ali to Al-Ma'qal, behind the Port Sporting Club. Finally, they have moved the Martyrs of Saddam unit from the Hindiya area to a building close to the old airport in Najibiyya.

These sources also indicated that the Egyptian team recommended a second line of defense for Baghdad south of the city extending between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, south of Al-Amara and east of Diwaniyya. The team further recommended the construction of new fortifications for missile launchers. With all these preparations, the Egyptian team speculated that Basra cannot be defended for more than 3 days.[1]

2. Iraq Continues to Prepare for War
Iraq's decision to accept international inspection was so sudden, that while the Iraqi people heard news about it from various sources, Iraqi newspapers continued to publish articles and dispatches about the 'Spy Panels' and Baghdad's determination to refuse their return to Iraq unless it was within a comprehensive solution to the Iraqi and Middle East problems.[2]

The Kuwaiti daily Al-Watan cited a Kurdish source as stating that "Saddam decided to assign the responsibility for southern Iraq to lieutenant general Ali Hassan Al-Majid (Ali Keemawi, meaning "Ali the Chemist")… and authorized him to use chemical weapons against any popular insurrection there." According to the same source "Al-Majid installed his headquarters in Al-Nassiriya city, met with southern clan leaders, warned them against making any attempts against the regime, demanded their participation in fighting back the attack, and informed them that the decision was made to immediately place anti-aircraft artillery on the roofs of the buildings..." The report concluded by saying that "Saddam instructed his administration and party organizations to impose a curfew across Iraq immediately after the start of the war to prevent any popular insurrection…"[3]

Al-Hayat's reporter in Baghdad described the military training for women in Iraq and said that the citizens of Baghdad are now used to seeing women carrying rifles on their way to or from the training camps. According to the dispatch, the women represent a cross-section Iraqi society "from physicians, to academicians, to engineers and housewives… The women undergo strict military training, including survival tactics such as eating grass and animals of the wild such as rabbits and snakes…"[4]

Quoting recent travelers from Baghdad to Amman, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily wrote that some "courageous Iraqis wrote the slogan 'End to Saddam' in bold letters on walls in the Baghdad Al-Jadida neighborhood [New Baghdad], and that the reaction was fearsome. The secret service descended on the area at night, searched the houses and arrested tens of people who had thick pencils in their possession, and since then no one knows their fate..." According to another traveler "[the authorities] threatened heads of families that they would be executed with other family members if any one of them tried to rebel…"[5]

In a statement to Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Iraq's foreign minister Naji Sabri Al-Hadithi said that the U.S. would not be able to topple Saddam Hussein the way it overthrows leaders in a 'Banana Republic.' He warned the rest of the Arab world that "the U.S. is capable of freezing the assets of Arab countries, therefore the Arabs should reject its policies…" He added: "We should not wait until we are asked to change our education system and excise from the Koran all the texts that refer to Jews…"[6]

3. Saddam Threatens to Destroy Qatar
Al-Gumhuriya daily [Egypt] reported that: "Iraq's president threatened to destroy Qatar completely if the U.S. uses [the Qatari] Al-Udeid base to launch its anticipated military strike. Saddam issued this threat in a meeting with Qatar's foreign minister in Baghdad… The Qatari official was taken by surprise at Saddam's fierce admonition... Iraqi sources said that Saddam was very emotional, and talked loudly so that even people who were outside the room could hear him, which was a rarity. The sources added that the Qatari official left the meeting sullenly and headed directly to the airport…"[7]

4. Iraq's VP Warns Turkey
In a news conference attended by a visiting Turkish delegation, Iraq's VP Taha Yassin Ramadhan stated that "Iraq refuses any Turkish and foreign presence on its territories, regardless of its nature, and will consider [any foreign or Turkish presence] a hostile act, an interference in its domestic affairs and a threat to its security and national sovereignty…"[8]

5. Kuwait Braces Itself for a Chemical Attack
The Kuwaiti daily Al-Watan announced that authorities would distribute 100,000 gas masks among members of the public sector, while the private sector will sell them at varying prices. The paper reported that informational booklets on preventive procedures would be distributed in Kuwait to educate the public on how to act in case of an Iraqi attack with conventional, chemical, or biological weapons. The paper also published a list of instructions to the public "in case you hear a siren, or you find out that the enemy is using chemical weapons..." In a news dispatch, the paper quoted "a reliable unidentified source in the Kuwaiti civil defense," who stressed the quality and integrity of the procedures that were instated and said that defensive counter-measures will be taken by the National Guard and the Civil Defense Forces.[9]

The following day, the newspaper reported that: "The [Kuwaiti] ministry of health purchased tents… to isolate and treat victims of chemical attacks, and to avoid contamination of the hospitals themselves. The minister of health met with hospital administrators in the Al-Sabbah area to discuss the issue, and he encouraged them to carry out emergency drills."[10]

In an article in the Arabic London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, columnist Ahmad Al-Rub'i reported that a large cross section of Kuwaitis, including parliamentarians, academicians, actors, war-widows, etc., signed an open letter to the Iraqi people calling for the removal of the Iraqi regime and its replacement with a democratic system; the letter was sent to several Arabic newspapers for publication. The signatories complained that "several newspapers refused to publish the letter, claiming that they do not publish political advertisements, regardless of content…" The article concluded by stating that "those who keep silent regarding the tragedy of the Iraqi people will turn around 180 degrees when they feel that change is at hand, and will revert back to their hypocritical ways, thinking that people have short memories…"[11]

II. Al Watan: Saudi Arabia-Iraq Border Crossing to Open in Two Weeks
The chairman of the Saudi exports promotion center, Abdul Rahman al-Zamel, has announced that the "Jdedit Ar'ar" crossing which links Saudi Arabia to Iraq will open after two weeks. In a statement reported on Friday by the Saudi daily al-Watan, al-Zamel said that the Saudi was ready a year ago to inaugurate the crossing which is used by pilgrims in every al-Haj season.

He called for the signing of a free trade agreement with Iraq because it will result in several benefits for both sides, especially the Saudi exporters, namely exemption from taxes already paid, estimated at 30% on products which are exported to Iraq. The Saudi official expressed his satisfaction with UN consent to the opening of Ar'ar crossing for Saudi exports. Al-Zamel also expressed hope that some 100 Saudi businessmen, among those who will take part at Baghdad's International Fair in November, will use the crossing to go to Baghdad. He stressed that opening the border crossing will increase the volume of Saudi exports and trade exchange which he described as witnessing accelerated progress.

III. Islamic and Arab Cyber-Terrorists: "Take Your Dirty Hands Off of Iraq"
The Saudi daily newspaper Al-Jazeera reported from its office in Cairo that "Arab and Muslim hackers carried out a surprise and coordinated attack on several American, Israeli, and British [Internet] sites under the slogan 'Take your dirty hands off of Iraq'..." According to the report, the attack "coincided with 9/11, and targeted more than 155 governmental and commercial sites in the three countries, and resulted in partial destruction of portal pages, replacing them with slogans condemning the strike against Iraq, or paralyzing the site for a few hours…" According to the report, some of the sites that were effected by the hackers included U.S. Online, U.S. Banking Group, the library of the University of Texas, the Naval Service Center, Queen Mary's College, Israel Forever, and more. The report went on to state that: "Initial information indicates that more than 20 Islamic and Arabic hacker groups participated in the attack, led by a group known as 'Unix Guards- USG'… in addition to two other groups known as 'Egyptian Fighter' and 'LinuxLover'…" Other participating groups were from Morocco, Pakistan, Kashmir, and other nations.[12]

IV. Ansar Al-Islam, Al-Qa'ida, and the Iraqi Connection
In a report issued by its correspondent in Washington, D.C., the Saudi daily Al-Jazeera claimed that the "American administration is trying now [July] to underscore what it describes as strong ties between Ansar Al-Islam and the Iraqi intelligence services. [By doing so] the American administration is trying to find a link between Baghdad and Al-Qa'ida."

The report briefly described the origins of Ansar Al-Islam, and its fierce clashes with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [PUK], and went on to say that the confrontations between the two sides flared up again last July and that "the PUK accused the organization of breaching the agreements between them, while the organization said that Washington told the PUK to sever its contacts with the organization and to try to crush it before it consolidates its positions in northern Iraq."

Meanwhile, "The PUK arrested several members of Ansar Al-Islam, and said that among them was one called 'Abu Iman Al-Baghdadi' who worked for the Iraqi intelligence and that Baghdadi' was sent to check on the welfare of a senior intelligence officer nicknamed 'Abu Wail' who has been a member of Ansar Al-Islam leadership since early this year."

The report went on to say that the U.S. administration believes that "there is enough evidence for a strong 'case' linking Baghdad to Al-Qa'ida… to convince the American public to support the war against Iraq… [In the past] American military sources had said that Ansar Al-Islam did not pose a significant problem for the American military preparations against Iraq because of its very small size. Lately, however, the same sources changed their tune about the organization."

V. Iraqis Can Reclaim Their Iraqi Citizenship
A cabinet meeting headed by Saddam Hussein approved the decision that "any Iraqi who drops his foreign citizenship has the right to reclaim his Iraqi citizenship as soon as he completes a self-criticism process. However, anyone who obtains foreign citizenship for the second time will have no right to obtain an Iraqi citizenship ever… the decision is retroactive…"[13]

VI. The Kurds in Northern Iraq: News and Opinions

1. Furthering the Reconciliation between the Two Main Kurdish Parties
The leaders of the two main Kurdish parties in northern Iraq, Al-Barazani and Al-Talabani, held a joint news conference following the official reconciliation between them. They talked about the historical significance of the agreement, its main issues and its 'hopeful contribution to establishing peace in Iraqi Kurdistan.'

In evaluating the significance of the agreement, Al-Talabani said: "…The Kurds were able to put their house in order and will be able to fight together, with one voice and one opinion … to attain our political goals..." He pointed out that "the [Iraqi] opposition is striving to achieve a parliamentary, democratic, and federal system in Iraq…" and said that "most of the Iraqi people today consider a federal system their main goal…"

Responding to a question about the Kurds' relations with Turkey and other neighboring countries, Al-Barazani replied: "… We have always strived for friendly and cooperative relations with neighboring countries… based on mutual respect and deference to the interests of both sides…" As for the role of the Kurds in the Iraqi opposition he said that: "…The two parties are pivotal in the Iraqi opposition, and I don't exaggerate when I say that they play a semi-leadership role in [opposition] meetings, they are active in directing them and forging their decisions…"[14]

The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet (Sept. 21) reported that the two Kurdish leaders agreed secretly to form a united army and that both parties are trying to recruit additional young fighters. The paper also quoted Turkish intelligence sources as stating that the U.S. recently sent advanced weapons to northern Iraq, which were distributed among the Kurdish fighters.[15]

2. Al-Barazani: Acts Committed in the Name of Islam Are Alien to It
Without mentioning Ansar Al-Islam by name, the Kurdish leader sharply criticized "the acts of violence, murder and evil that are committed by individuals and groups who claim to be acting in the name of Islam… those who do so do not understand the essence of Islam. Worse than that, they made religion a false excuse to achieve their political goals.… We, in Iraqi Kurdistan, consider any disregard of religion, faith, or doctrine an unforgivable major crime."

3. Turkey May Reopen Its Consulate in Mosul
A spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry announced [September 13, 2002] that Turkey "is getting ready to reopen its consulate in Mosul [located in the self-ruled Kurdish region in northern Iraq], where ethnic Turkmen constitute a majority…" In response to a question about the KDP's efforts to mend the strained relationship with Turkey, the spokesman said that "Turkey has taken a close note of the KDP's statements in support of Iraq's territorial integrity and the establishment of a democratic administrative structure in a possible post-Saddam Iraq."[16]