Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
By SHAFIKA MATTAR
AMMAN, Jordan - (AP) Iraq's defense minister slammed Damascus on
Sunday for letting militants train on Syrian soil and warned that an
escalation of violence in Iraq will spill over into neighboring countries.
Saadoun al-Dulaimi's visit to Jordan follows Wednesday's triple
hotel suicide bombings in the Jordanian capital Amman by the al-Qaida in
Iraq terror group, which killed 57 people.
"We have more than 450 detainees who came from different Arab and
Muslim countries to train in Syria and enter with their booby-trapped
vehicles into Iraq to bring destruction and killings," al-Dulaimi said after
meeting Jordanian Prime Minister Adnan Badran.
"Let me tell the Syrians that if the Iraqi volcano explodes, no
neighboring capital will be saved," al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press.
The Iraqi minister demanded more anti-terror support from Damascus,
which is already facing intense pressure from the United States to lock down
its borders and stop extremists allied with Jordanian-born militant Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, from entering the country.
"Iraq is bordering several countries, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and
Jordan, but why is it only the Syrian borders that I have complained more
than once about?" al-Dulaimi said.
"We have a 385-mile border with this country and we have 620
problems with the Syrians," he said. "It seems our brothers in Syria won't
like what we say in this critical period for the Syrians."
A United Nations investigation team recently accused top Syrian
intelligence officials of involvement in the assassination of former
Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Earlier this month, the U.N. Security
Council passed a unanimous resolution demanding Syria cooperate fully in the
ongoing U.N. investigation into Hariri's killing.
Iraqi and U.S. forces have been trying to crush Iraq's rampant
insurgency for the past two years. But despite multiple U.S.-Iraqi
operations targeting suspected militant bases, militants led by al-Zarqawi
and Saddam Hussein loyalists continue to attack across the country.
Al-Qaida in Iraq's operation in Jordan _ its deadliest inside a
neighboring Mideast country _ has also raised fears that al-Zarqawi's terror
campaign has gained enough momentum to spread throughout the region.
Jordan's King Abdullah has said that the suicide bombers who
targeted the Radisson SAS, Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels were likely to
have been Iraqi and entered Jordan from either Syria or Iraq.
Al-Dulaimi also offered Iraq's condolences and support to Jordan to
try and find those responsible for the hotel attacks, this kingdom's
deadliest ever.
"We are partners in facing terrorism," he said.
"Amman's ordeal and Jordan's ordeal is the ordeal of all Iraqis," he
said. The terrorists' aim "is to kill tolerance and destroy coexistence in
Arab and Muslim cities."
AMMAN, Jordan - (AP) Iraq's defense minister slammed Damascus on
Sunday for letting militants train on Syrian soil and warned that an
escalation of violence in Iraq will spill over into neighboring countries.
Saadoun al-Dulaimi's visit to Jordan follows Wednesday's triple
hotel suicide bombings in the Jordanian capital Amman by the al-Qaida in
Iraq terror group, which killed 57 people.
"We have more than 450 detainees who came from different Arab and
Muslim countries to train in Syria and enter with their booby-trapped
vehicles into Iraq to bring destruction and killings," al-Dulaimi said after
meeting Jordanian Prime Minister Adnan Badran.
"Let me tell the Syrians that if the Iraqi volcano explodes, no
neighboring capital will be saved," al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press.
The Iraqi minister demanded more anti-terror support from Damascus,
which is already facing intense pressure from the United States to lock down
its borders and stop extremists allied with Jordanian-born militant Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, from entering the country.
"Iraq is bordering several countries, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and
Jordan, but why is it only the Syrian borders that I have complained more
than once about?" al-Dulaimi said.
"We have a 385-mile border with this country and we have 620
problems with the Syrians," he said. "It seems our brothers in Syria won't
like what we say in this critical period for the Syrians."
A United Nations investigation team recently accused top Syrian
intelligence officials of involvement in the assassination of former
Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Earlier this month, the U.N. Security
Council passed a unanimous resolution demanding Syria cooperate fully in the
ongoing U.N. investigation into Hariri's killing.
Iraqi and U.S. forces have been trying to crush Iraq's rampant
insurgency for the past two years. But despite multiple U.S.-Iraqi
operations targeting suspected militant bases, militants led by al-Zarqawi
and Saddam Hussein loyalists continue to attack across the country.
Al-Qaida in Iraq's operation in Jordan _ its deadliest inside a
neighboring Mideast country _ has also raised fears that al-Zarqawi's terror
campaign has gained enough momentum to spread throughout the region.
Jordan's King Abdullah has said that the suicide bombers who
targeted the Radisson SAS, Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels were likely to
have been Iraqi and entered Jordan from either Syria or Iraq.
Al-Dulaimi also offered Iraq's condolences and support to Jordan to
try and find those responsible for the hotel attacks, this kingdom's
deadliest ever.
"We are partners in facing terrorism," he said.
"Amman's ordeal and Jordan's ordeal is the ordeal of all Iraqis," he
said. The terrorists' aim "is to kill tolerance and destroy coexistence in
Arab and Muslim cities."