Al Qaida has recruited hundreds of Islamic agents from such countries as Jordan, Saudi
Arabia and Syria to fight the U.S. in Iraq by offering young men far more than they could earn at home.
The salaries and benefits, U.S. officials said, amount to hundreds of dollars
per month, up to 10 times that of the average salary in their home countries.. The offer has resulted in a stream of young men being
recruited in Jordan, Syria and Yemen.
[On Monday, U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces staged their largest
joint operation against suspected Sunni insurgents north of Baghdad, Middle East Newsline reported. The
operation in Tikrit included more than 200 U.S.-trained Iraqi officers.]
U.S. administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, said the U.S. military has
captured 19 Al Qaida agents in Iraq as well as about 250 Islamic
volunteers.
"Some of them may just be terrorists-for-hire," Bremer said in
a Defense Department briefing on Friday. "We're not entirely sure."
But other U.S. officials said some of the Al Qaida insurgents have
reported recruitment by the organization in several Arab countries that
border Iraq. The officials said those captured reported Al Qaida promises of
attractive salaries and other benefits to gain recruits.
The officials said the interrogation of about a score of Al Qaida
insurgents in Iraq has yielded information on the recruitment efforts and
aims of the Islamic group. They said those recruited to fight in Iraq come
from Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Syrian nationals comprise 123 of those captured in Iraq, the largest
number of foreign nationals in that country, officials said. Iranians and
Yemenis comprise
the next two largest groups.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said many of those who came from Iran
were recruited by the Al Qaida-aligned Ansar Al Islam group. Ansar was based
in northern Iraq, but returned to Iran in the first week of the U.S.-led war in
Iraq in April.
"A large number of Ansar Al Islam terrorist moved from Iran back into
Iraq and are there now and are undoubtedly involved in a attacks that are
taking place so we're working on it," Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld said Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey
were cooperating with the United States to stop the flow of Islamic
insurgents into Iraq. But the defense secretary said Syria continues to
allow insurgents to use its border to join the Sunni war in Iraq.
"Syria has been a problem; the flow of people down through the Syrian
border into Iraq has been a problem," Rumsfeld said on Thursday. "The
situation in Iran
is different, in a sense, but one of the biggest problems is the Ansar Al
Islam terrorist group that was in Iran has moved back into Iraq and that is
notably unhelpful, so we're not getting the kind of cooperation from either
of those countries that is notable at the moment."
