| Iraq has established an intelligence unit to fight Al Qaida insurgents near the Syrian border. The Iraqi Defense Ministry has formed a unit termed "Desert Protectors." The unit was meant to maintain order and fight Sunni insurgents in the Anbar province in western Iraq. Desert Protectors has become part of the Iraq Army, Iraqi and U.S. officials said. They said the unit was designed to gather and respond to intelligence on insurgency cells. "They've got amazing access to intelligence," U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, spokesman for the Multinational Force-Iraq, said. |