Al Qaeda Operatives Heading to Iraq

The latest edition of Newsweek magazine reported that the Al Qaeda terrorist network, headed by Osama bin Laden, would shift its focus to Iraq and dispatch a large number of fighters to the country.

Newsweek went on to say that more than one third of the 1,000 Al Qaeda fighters, military trainers and advisers who work with the Afghan resistance are being sent to the Iraq via Iran.

The Taliban reportedly was told about bin Laden’s Iraq plans at a secret meeting, which took place in Taliban-controlled mountains of Khowst province during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Three senior Al Qaeda representatives allegedly informed two representatives of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the fugitive leader of Afghanistan’s ousted fundamentalist regime, that “Al Qaeda would be diverting a large number of fighters from Afghanistan to Iraq.”

According to a Taliban participant at the meeting, bin Laden believes that Iraq is becoming a perfect battlefield to fight the “American crusaders,” and said that the Iraqi insurgency has been “100 percent successful so far.”

The Al Qaeda representatives quoted bin Laden as saying, “The spilling of American blood is easy in Iraq. The Americans are drowning in deep, rising water. Many Qaeda men are keen to go to Iraq, and I am giving men who are thirsty a chance to drink deeply.”

Al Qaeda also planned to reduce its monthly payment to the Afghan resistance from $3 million to $1.5 million as it transferred its focus to Iraq.

A source calling himself Sharafullah tells Newsweek that prior to 9/11, he was Mullah Omar’s official translator in face-to-face meetings with bin Laden. He also acted as a translator at the secret meeting between Al Qaeda and the Taliban last month.

Until now, the Iraqi insurgency has mainly come from local Saddam loyalists rather than an influx of foreign jihadists. But if the Taliban sources are correct, Newsweek added, bin Laden’s shift of focus could be unsettling news for George W. Bush, who is eager to quell the Iraqi insurgency as he heads into the 2004 reelection campaign.

Kwan-Hee Hong konihong@donga.com