The Scotsman October 29, 2003
Coalition Aims To Plug Gaps In Security
By Gethin Chamberlain
COALTION leaders in Iraq are today reviewing security, after another day of murderous attacks.
Intelligence officials are convinced that terrorists who entered Iraq from neighbouring countries are to blame for some of the most serious recent bombings.
However, the US president, George Bush, yesterday stopped short of pointing the finger directly at other countries in the region. He said the United States was working closely with Iran and Syria, adding: "We expect them to enforce borders, prevent people from coming across borders if in fact we catch them doing that."
One of the bombers captured on Monday before he could detonate his explosives was found to have a Syrian passport, and Mr Bush said it appeared that foreign terrorists were at least partly to blame for recent attacks.
"We're trying to determine ... who these people were, but I would assume that they're either or and probably both Baathists and foreign terrorists," he said.
The Baathists, those loyal to the ousted Iraqi leader, "try to create chaos and fear because they realise that a free Iraq will deny them the excessive privilege they had under Saddam Hussein", Mr Bush said.
He added: "The foreign terrorists are trying to create conditions of fear and retreat because they fear a free and peaceful state in the midst of a part of the world where terror has found recruits. That freedom is exactly what terrorists fear the most."
Today's security review will be chaired by the British ambassador, Sir Jeremy Greenstock. Coalition sources say there is a growing acceptance that more needs to be done to tighten security and that Iraq's neighbours, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Syria, are better placed to police the country's huge borders than Iraq's own fledgling post-Saddam police force.
One senior official said: "Iraq's old security organisations were instruments of terror and had to be got rid of, and that has left a vacuum. You can't expect their replacements to have the full effectiveness of those in a developed country."
US military commanders fear an unholy alliance between former Saddam loyalists and foreign fighters of various persuasions entering the country.
Monday's attacks bore the hallmarks of a well-organised terrorist organisation, such as al-Qaeda, rather than the home-grown terrorism that is generally targeted at US troops out on patrol. The fear is that the 130,000 US troops in Iraq may also act as a magnet to factions across the Middle East who hate the US for its support of Israel and invasion of Iraq, and who now have the opportunity to wage a jihad against it.
As if to underline the general hatred of US policy in the region, Lebanon's Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, voiced regret that the Baghdad hotel attack had failed to kill the US deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz.
Experts in the field of global terrorism say there is no shortage of organisations willing to take up the fight against the US in Iraq. John Pike, head of the think-tank GlobalSecurity.org, said: "There is a super-abundance of external actors, including Syria, including Iran, including al-Qaeda, who have both the means and the motive to use proxies in Iraq to bedevil America."
But despite private suspicions about the role played by Syria and Iran, there are suggestions that both countries are wary of being seen to openly back attacks on the US. Neither wants to become the next target in Mr Bush's war on terrorism, even if behind the scenes they are happy to give intelligence assistance to groups operating inside Iraq.
Asked yesterday about US charges of cross-border subversion, Sir Jeremy said Syria and Iran had been "quite co-operative", while urging them to support US -led efforts more openly.
What will concern those meeting today to review security is the quality of the intelligence available to the terrorists, and the speed at which they can react to events. Sunday's attack on the Rashid Hotel, where Mr Wolfowitz was staying, proved the guerrillas can mount strikes on even the most heavily protected targets.
© Copyright 2003, The Scotsman Publications Ltd.
