WASHINGTON, 22 August — A number of senior Al-Qaeda figures have taken refuge inside Iraq and are being sheltered by Saddam Hussein, it was claimed yesterday.
The claim came as President George W. Bush met with his senior military advisers in Texas and said that the removal of the Iraqi president "is in the interests of the world." Unnamed government officials said senior figures of Osama Bin Laden’s organization had entered the country following the US-led military operation in Afghanistan and that their presence had been detailed in a series of intelligence reports. The officials said while Iraq had long been highlighted as a refuge for fleeing Al-Qaeda fighters, what had not previously been known was their number and seniority. "There are some names you’d recognize," one defense official said, without revealing those names.
On Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, repeated claims that Al-Qaeda figures may be operating inside Iraq but declined to give details. He also said it was very unlikely that Saddam was not — at the very least — aware of their presence.
"I suppose that, at some moment, it may make sense to discuss that publicly," said Rumsfeld. "It doesn’t today. But what I have said is a fact — that there are Al-Qaeda in a number of locations in Iraq." He added: "In a vicious, repressive dictatorship that exercises near-total control over its population, it’s very hard to imagine that the government is not aware of what’s taking place in the country."
It was claimed yesterday that the reports of significant Al-Qaeda presence in Iraq would support President Bush’s case for ousting Saddam. Bush’s meetings at his Texas ranch yesterday were called to discuss military budgets, though it was widely reported that Iraq was a key element on the agenda. The president told reporters that he would consult with allies before taking any military action.
But there was also skepticism about the reports on the presence of senior Al-Qaeda figures, first made in the Washington Post, with some observers saying it smacked too much of a deliberate leak. David Mack, a vice president of the Washington-based Middle East Institute think-tank, said: "The basic information is not new. There has been attention paid to this area. I am a little skeptical...I spoke to some very knowledgeable officials within the government and they said ‘yes’, the people probably were Al-Qaeda, but doubted that they were linked to Saddam."
Prominent US lawmaker Tom DeLay yesterday chastised would-be "appeasers" for insufficient zeal in supporting the Bush administration’s goal of removing Saddam, underscoring discord within the ranks of the president’s own party. DeLay, the No. 3 Republican in the House of Representatives, said critics of military action were guilty of "wishful thinking and appeasement" and war was now inevitable.
DeLay did not identify such critics, but in recent days prominent members of the Republican Party have publicly questioned the wisdom of any proposed attack on Iraq. (The Independent & Agencies)
