Times Online Saddam's secret foreign legion
From Daniel McGrory in Basra
Recruits for jihad came from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Yemen
PRESIDENT Saddam Hussein imported hundreds of well-trained Islamic guerrillas before the war to spearhead his fight against American and British forces, The Times has learnt.
Documents and captives seized by British troops in Basra reveal that the recruits were arriving in Baghdad from Muslim countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Yemen as little as ten days before the war began.
They came to wage jihad against the Western military, and provided some of the fiercest resistance as the coalition advanced northwards. Survivors are still mounting occasional attacks in Baghdad and other cities.
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US officials are seizing on the guerrillas� presence as evidence of links between Saddam and Osama bin Laden�s al-Qaeda terrorist organisation � links that the Bush Administration has long cited as a justification for the war.
The foreign fighters provide a �direct tie between Saddam Hussein and terrorist organisations�, a Pentagon spokeswoman said last night.
British investigators are more cautious, but one officer involved in questioning the survivors told The Times: �These are not just zealots who grabbed a gun and went to the front line. They know how to employ guerrilla tactics so someone had to have trained them. They are certainly organised, and if it�s not bin Laden�s people, its al-Qaeda by another name. But they certainly came here to fight the West.�
The �foreign legion� stunned British troops with their skills and fanaticism.
The commander of a tank squadron described how four hours after they had smashed their way past the militants� last stronghold in Basra University last week, two men who had laid among their dead colleagues for all that time suddenly jumped up and ran towards him with a grenade in their hands, trying to reach the British crew 50 yards away.
�I have never seen such fanatical behaviour. It was truly chilling,� the commander said. �Our machinegun was pointed right at them. They knew they were going to die, but they just kept running at us and shouting, determined not to throw the grenade but to jump on to the tank and detonate it while still holding it.�
Yeah, their skills. They got mad skills! Don't throw the grenade, charge the tank with it!
From Daniel McGrory in Basra
Recruits for jihad came from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Yemen
PRESIDENT Saddam Hussein imported hundreds of well-trained Islamic guerrillas before the war to spearhead his fight against American and British forces, The Times has learnt.
Documents and captives seized by British troops in Basra reveal that the recruits were arriving in Baghdad from Muslim countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Yemen as little as ten days before the war began.
They came to wage jihad against the Western military, and provided some of the fiercest resistance as the coalition advanced northwards. Survivors are still mounting occasional attacks in Baghdad and other cities.
>>
US officials are seizing on the guerrillas� presence as evidence of links between Saddam and Osama bin Laden�s al-Qaeda terrorist organisation � links that the Bush Administration has long cited as a justification for the war.
The foreign fighters provide a �direct tie between Saddam Hussein and terrorist organisations�, a Pentagon spokeswoman said last night.
British investigators are more cautious, but one officer involved in questioning the survivors told The Times: �These are not just zealots who grabbed a gun and went to the front line. They know how to employ guerrilla tactics so someone had to have trained them. They are certainly organised, and if it�s not bin Laden�s people, its al-Qaeda by another name. But they certainly came here to fight the West.�
The �foreign legion� stunned British troops with their skills and fanaticism.
The commander of a tank squadron described how four hours after they had smashed their way past the militants� last stronghold in Basra University last week, two men who had laid among their dead colleagues for all that time suddenly jumped up and ran towards him with a grenade in their hands, trying to reach the British crew 50 yards away.
�I have never seen such fanatical behaviour. It was truly chilling,� the commander said. �Our machinegun was pointed right at them. They knew they were going to die, but they just kept running at us and shouting, determined not to throw the grenade but to jump on to the tank and detonate it while still holding it.�
Yeah, their skills. They got mad skills! Don't throw the grenade, charge the tank with it!
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