| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| Freed prisoners now fighting against US |
| 2004-06-27 |
| INMATES released from the US-controlled Abu Ghraib prison had joined anti-US rebels in Iraq, along with officers of former leader Saddam Hussein, Time magazine said today. Militants were turning anti-US resistance into an international jihad, or holy war, the weekly news magazine said in its latest issue. Time interviewed insurgents, tribal and religious leaders as well as US intelligence officials. Officers of Saddam’s feared intelligence service and of his Republican Guard, who founded the Battalions of Islamic Holy War, told Time that some of their members had once been detained at Abu Ghraib prison. Former military officer Abu Mustafa told Time that the jail had effectively become a religious school. "We studied hard every day and often into the night," he said. "There was one man who didn’t even know how to pray. When he got out he was like an imam, and is one of our most ferocious fighters on the front line." The United States released hundreds of inmates after determining they posed no danger. But some of the former detainees and former Saddam security forces had joined forces with Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, Time said. The United States blames Zarqawi for many of the bloodiest attacks in Iraq. Commanders told Time that Zarqawi did not personally direct the attacks, but set long-term strategy. The recruited former regime officers, once known for their wayward behaviour, were no longer drinking or smoking, they told Time. They said they wanted to turn Iraq into another Afghanistan, as it was before the 2001 US invasion - a place for groups like al-Qaeda to flourish. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #7 Les, I was thinking only of things under their control. The media problem is, uh, a home-grown one. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2004-06-27 11:56:33 PM |
| #6 V- "The only tactics they have that work at all involve concealment and avoidance of combat." ...I would add their most important tactic of all: an anti-America press corps, both here and abroad. Vietnam-type coverage, times ten. |
| Posted by: Les Nessman 2004-06-27 11:15:40 PM |
| #5 (dusting himself off) Well, they'll need more than "ferocious fighters" if they want to turn Iraq into Afghanistan under the Taliban. There are about 23 million Iraqis who might not be real wild about the idea. And recall that if they "fight ferociously," it'll be over quicker. The only tactics they have that work at all involve concealment and avoidance of combat. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2004-06-27 11:01:48 PM |
| #4 It's time for The United States, to "release the dogs". These filthy muslim sons-of-bitches, need to be hit like something out of their nightmares. TOTAL WAR!! Make them BEG for peace. KILL everything that moves......bomb 'em back to the stone age.....FUCK 'EM! Destroy 'em, and they'll not be back. If they want to die so damn bad....KILL 'EM ALL. |
| Posted by: Halfass Pete 2004-06-27 10:34:07 PM |
| #3 Quelle surprise. Whooda thunk it? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-06-27 10:29:08 PM |
| #2 Former military officer Abu Mustafa told Time that the jail had effectively become a religious school. "We studied hard every day and often into the night," he said."There was one man who didn’t even know how to pray."When he got out he was like an imam, and is one of our most ferocious fighters on the front line." a. Call me a crazy but why were POW's allowed to have access to Islamic religious studies in Abu Prison, when our troops were fighting Islamic extremists outside Abu? b. Here's a perfect lesson that demonstrates the perils of the Koran - it appears to lend itself too easily to mis-interpretation. Example: Saddam's secular intelligence/military officers came into Abu as dissolute ho-hum slobs and a few months later after religious studies became transformed into ferocious fighters. 3. I wonder who determined or what was used to determine that a POW "posed no danger" and therefore, qualified for release. |
| Posted by: rex 2004-06-27 10:28:41 PM |
| #1 I hope real hard lession has been learned in terms of allowing any further 'releases' of killers of American & allied troops no matter where. |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-06-27 10:04:50 PM |