U.S. Foresees Threat From Iraqi Agents

The United States has “credible information” that Baghdad has dispatched agents to many parts of the world to commit terrorist acts in the event of a U.S. invasion of Iraq, a well-placed Western diplomat said here Tuesday. The agents are poised to strike targets in the Middle East and Europe, raising concerns among Western officials that the U.S. will be unable to confine a war with Iraq to the battlefield of its choice, according to the diplomat, who spoke on condition that neither he nor his country be identified. “We have credible information that this is something the Iraqis have planned and are ready to carry out — not just in Saudi Arabia,” said the diplomat, who has many years of experience in the Middle East. “We think it’s very serious, not just here, but worldwide as well.” If Iraqi agents are indeed waiting in different corners of the globe, organized in sleeper cells that will be activated when a war starts, it would be another example of Baghdad preparing to fight a war on its own terms, hoping to counter the United States’ far superior conventional military strength. Iraqi officials have already said, for instance, that they would try to lure attacking forces into urban areas, where Iraqis might have a fighting chance. Terrorism would provide another front for Iraq. Full Story