|
Saddam
Ordered
Training
of
Al-Qa'ida
Members
(From
My
Archives)
[Translated
by
MEMRI
The
independent
Iraqi
weekly
Al-Yawm
Al-Aakher
reveals
details
on
the
training
of
Al-Qa'ida
members
operating
under
the
orders
of
Saddam's
Presidential
Palace
two
months
before
the
September
11
attacks.
The
following
are
excerpts
from
the
article:
[1]
Training
At
Nahrawan
and
Salman
Pak
"An
Iraqi
officer
(L)
[only
identified
by
initial]
tells
us
that
one
day
a
Land
Cruiser
belonging
to
the
Personal
Security
Force
(Al-Amn
Al-Khass,
responsible
for
the
protection
of
Saddam
Hussein)
arrived
and
a
senior
officer
from
the
Presidential
Palace
stepped
out
of
it.
He
was
one
of
those
officers
who
used
to
stand
behind
Saddam,
which
means
that
he
was
one
of
[his]
personal
bodyguards.
After
a
two-hour
meeting
with
a
select
group
of
officers
at
the
Special
Forces
School,
we
were
informed
that
we
would
have
dear
guests,
and
that
we
should
train
them
very
well
in
a
high
level
of
secrecy
-
not
to
allow
anyone
to
approach
them
or
to
talk
to
them
in
any
way,
shape,
or
form.
"A
few
days
later,
about
100
trainees
arrived.
They
were
a
mixture
of
Arabs,
Arabs
from
the
Peninsula
[Saudi
Arabia],
Muslim
Afghans,
and
other
Muslims
from
various
parts
of
the
world.
They
were
divided
into
two
groups,
the
first
one
went
to
Al-Nahrawan
and
the
second
to
Salman
Pak,
and
this
was
the
group
that
was
trained
to
hijack
airplanes.
The
training
was
under
the
direct
supervision
of
major
general
(M.
DH.
L)
[only
identified
by
initials]
who
now
serves
as
a
police
commander
in
one
of
the
provinces.
Upon
the
completion
of
the
training
most
of
them
left
Iraq,
while
the
others
stayed
in
the
country
through
the
last
battle
in
Baghdad
against
the
coalition
forces."
Al-Qa'ida
Group
Headed
by
a
Saudi
Cleric
"I
remember
that
the
leader
of
the
group
was
a
Saudi
cleric
called
[Muhammad],
who
was
a
fervent
and
audacious
individual
and
did
not
require
much
training.
He
was
highly
skilled,
and
could
fire
accurately
at
a
target
while
riding
a
motorcycle.
Additionally,
he
used
to
deliver
fiery
sermons
calling
for
Jihad
and
for
fighting
the
Americans
anywhere
in
the
world.
Surprisingly,
this
man's
picture,
alongside
the
commander
of
the
Special
Forces
School,
was
televised
several
times
before
the
beginning
of
the
war
and
the
fall
of
the
former
regime."
Training
Supervised
by
the
Fedayeen
Command
"...The
Fedayeen
command
[Fedayeen
Saddam
under
Uday's
command]
supervised
the
100
Al-Qa'ida
fighters
directly,
to
the
extent
that
senior
Fedayeen
officers
visited
them
constantly
and
inspected
them
almost
daily,
especially
during
the
final
days
when
they
transferred
them,
late
at
night
in
two
red
trucks
that
belonged
to
the
Ministry
of
Transportation,
to
an
undisclosed
destination.
I
witnessed
that
with
my
own
eyes
because
on
that
day
I
was
the
duty
officer."
Al-Qa'ida
Members
Participated
in
Battles
Against
U.S.
Forces
"A
few
days
before
the
beginning
of
the
last
war,
we
were
surprised
to
see
the
same
people
whom
we
had
trained
return
to
the
Special
Forces
School
and
with
them
100
additional
individuals.
The
high
command
asked
us
to
re-train
them
and
to
divide
them
into
several
groups
to
be
deployed
in
various
areas
in
Iraq.
"Truth
be
told,
most
of
these
individuals
competed
to
go
to
war
and
to
the
front
lines.
[2]
Therefore,
under
pressure
they
participated
immediately
in
extremely
fierce
battles
that
astonished
the
Iraqis
and
the
Americans."
With
the
11th
Division
in
the
Area
of
Al-Kifl
"On
April
5,
2003
orders
were
issued
to
send
these
individuals
to
the
battle
front
immediately.
About
100
of
them
were
sent
to
the
11th
company
division
in
Nasiriya.
And
for
the
sake
of
history
I
will
say
that
this
division's
endurance
was
due
to
some
formidable
fighters,
the
commanding
officer
and
members
of
Al-Qa'ida
who
fought
with
intensity
and
brutality
that
are
seldom
matched,
while
they
were
praising
Allah:
Allahu
Akbar.
Allahu
Akbar.
What
I
mean
by
that
are
the
violent
battles
that
took
place
along
the
rapid
highway
for
seventeen
consecutive
days
and
forced
the
Americans
to
withdraw
and
re-enter
from
the
industrial
area
of
Nasiriya
.
As
for
the
groups
which
went
to
Al-Kifl,
they
participated
in
extremely
brutal
battles.
Not
many
of
them
retreated
and
they
sacrificed
their
lives
to
Apache
[helicopter]
fire,
amid
the
admiration
of
the
Iraqis
and
the
Americans
themselves.
The
proof
is
that
some
of
them
blew
themselves
up
in
the
midst
of
American
forces."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1]
Al-Yawm
Al-Aakher
(Iraq),
October
16,
2003.
[2]
According
to
the
article,
a
number
of
the
individuals
also
fought
in
Afghanistan:
"Most
of
[the
people]
I
talked
to
confirmed
to
me
that
they
had
come
from
Afghanistan
and
the
Pakistani
mountains,
and
that
they
were
the
ones
who
fought
the
Americans
in
Mazar
Al-Sharif
and
Kabul.
This
was
a
true
experience
that
they
translated
into
the
reality
of
the
fierce
battles
in
Iraq."
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