Arab Volunteers Reportedly Trained For Suicide Attacks In Iraq

Saddam Hussein has opened a training camp for Arab volunteers willing to carry out suicide bombings against U.S. forces in case they invade Iraq, Arab media and Iraqi dissidents said Tuesday. The dissidents, speaking by telephone from Jordan, said scores of Arab volunteers have gone to a special camp run by the Iraqi intelligence service near the town of al-Khalis, 40 miles northeast of Baghdad. Most of the volunteers are Islamic activists who belong to pan-Arab groups that maintain close ties with Saddam’s regime, the dissidents said on condition of anonymity. The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite television station reported Saturday that a group of Arab volunteers was being trained in urban warfare in a camp near Baghdad. Al-Jazeera said its Baghdad-based reporter had visited a camp, some 15 miles northeast of the Iraqi capital, and interviewed several Arab trainees, who said they were ready for “martyrdom,” a euphemism for suicide attacks. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States has no information that would corroborate reports of Iraqi intelligence training suicide bombers at camps northeast of Baghdad, or anywhere else. Many Muslims believe that participating with Iraqis in a possible war against invading U.S. forces is a religious duty. However, many Muslim scholars say suicide is against Islamic teachings. Full Story