Bremer: 19 al-Qaeda suspects held in Iraq ( 2003-09-27 09:54) (Agencies)
U.S. forces in Iraq are
holding 19 suspected members of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, the American
civilian administrator said Friday.
The suspected al-Qaeda members are among 248 non-Iraqi fighters being held by
the Americans in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer said in a Pentagon news conference.
Bremer said authorities determined the suspects' al-Qaeda links through
interrogations and documents the suspects were carrying. He said he did not know
what countries they came from.
The largest number of foreign fighters — 123 of the 248 — came from Syria,
Bremer said. The next-highest numbers came from Iran and Yemen, he said, adding
he did not have precise figures for those countries.
The flow of terrorist fighters into Iraq is the biggest obstacle to the
peaceful reconstruction of the country, Bremer said. The fighting between
anti-American elements and U.S. forces hasn't hampered the reconstruction effort
so far, though, he said.
Reconstruction of Iraq is critical to the global war on terrorism, he added.
"We don't want Iraq to become a breeding ground for terrorism in the future,"
Bremer said.
Most of the foreign fighters are coming into Iraq via "ratlines" from Syria,
he said.
Bremer and other Bush administration officials have repeatedly accused Syria
of being an obstacle in the Iraq conflict, first by allowing shipments of
military goods to Saddam Hussein before and during the war and now by
allowing terrorists to cross the same border.
Syrian officials deny interfering with U.S. efforts in Iraq.
Some terrorists are members of Ansar al-Islam, a militant group linked to
al-Qaida whose base in northern Iraq was wiped out by coalition forces early in
the war, Bremer indicated.
Ansar has regrouped and re-entered Iraq with perhaps several hundred members,
he said.
"They're a very dangerous group," he said.
Bremer spent most of this week testifying in Congress in favor of President
Bush's $87 billion request for spending on Iraq. About $20 billion of that
request would pay for reconstruction projects overseen by Bremer's Coalition
Provisional Authority, the civilian administration in Iraq.