Saddam told his militia to avoid al Qaeda [View All]

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Saddam told his militia to avoid al Qaeda

IAN BRUCE and MICHAEL SETTLE
January 15 2004

SADDAM Hussein warned his fedayeen militia against throwing in their lot with the Islamic militants flocking to Iraq to fight US forces, according to a document found with the deposed dictator when he was captured.

The ousted leader told Iraqi militants that Muslim extremists had a different agenda to the Ba'ath party because they wanted to launch a religious war and establish an Islamic state in Iraq. In contrast, the aims of Saddam's supporters were limited to the expulsion of US-led coalition invaders and a return to secular power in Baghdad.

Following the end of the main military campaign last year, it had been feared thousands of foreign fighters would flood Iraq seeking an Islamic jihad similar to the way in which Arabs rushed to Afghanistan in the 1980s to resist the Soviet occupation.

However, US military and intelligence agencies now believe the number of foreign fighters inside Iraq is in the low hundreds. Only 300 non-Iraqis are in American custody while another 150 to 200 are known to have been killed.

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The document, which officials say is genuine, also throws more doubt on earlier claims by Washington and London that Saddam had links with al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

More: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/8030.html

TYY