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| Iraq |
| Rice: Up to 2,000 foreign fighters could be in Iraq |
| 2003-09-17 |
| EFL: Up to 2,000 foreign fighters bent on harming Americans and other coalition soldiers in Iraq may have flocked to the Middle East country following its invasion by the United States and Britain, a top White House official acknowledged late Tuesday. But national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said the administration of President George W. Bush would rather face them in Iraq than in other parts of the world. "I’ve seen ... estimates of anything from several hundred - high hundreds - to a couple of thousand," said Rice in an interview with ABC’s "Nightline" program, adding that the precise numbers of foreigners fighting in Iraq remained unknown. Rice said these non-Iraqis were hard-core militants trying to get into the country because Iraq has become the central front in the war on terrorism. "They would have been fighting and committing terrorist acts someplace in the world," said the national security adviser. "They’re now drawn to Iraq, where, frankly, we are in a position to confront them and to disable them." Faced with the guerrilla infiltration problem, the United States has been stepping up pressure on Syria, seen as a key transit point for foreign fighters, accusing it of not doing enough to prevent these elements from crossing its borders. Rice drove home this point in her interview, saying that "Syria is a country with which we continue to have a number of problems." "We got some cooperation on closing the border to Iraqi figures who were trying to get out shortly as the war was ending," the national security adviser explained. "But we are constantly reminding the Syrians that they have obligations to make certain that their border is not used for terrorists to cross, that they have obligations to disclose anything that they might be doing with weapons of mass destruction." I love Condi. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 It would be cool if she gave a number like 1238 foreign fighters and then later in the interview dropped the number to 1235 after looking at her watch and smiling fetchingly. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-9-17 5:55:58 PM |
| #1 Wow. A whole 2,000? The mighty Arab street speaketh again! You what this actually means? There are a modest number of poorly trained, poorly equipped true believers who mostly took it upon themselves to cross the border, with some help from the Syrians. They have little to no leadership, because Al Queda has been ripped to shreds. They'll be about as effective as they've been so far: minimal. |
| Posted by: R. McLeod 2003-9-17 4:14:09 PM |