Saddam Reportedly Opens Suicide Camp

Post-9/11 Era Forum

Why - this wouldn't be a showing of support for terrorist ideology - would it? My guess is that the first few "volunteers" for Camp Saddam have been opposing Iraqi politicians and Iraqi scientists who have spent a little too much time with the local UN representative.

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Saddam Hussein has opened a training camp for Arab volunteers willing to carry out suicide bombings against U.S. forces in case they invade Iraq, Arab media and Iraqi dissidents said Tuesday.

The dissidents, speaking by telephone from Jordan, said scores of Arab volunteers have gone to a special camp run by the Iraqi intelligence service near the town of al-Khalis, 40 miles northeast of Baghdad.

Most of the volunteers are Islamic activists who belong to pan-Arab groups that maintain close ties with Saddam's regime, the dissidents said on condition of anonymity.

The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite television station reported Saturday that a group of Arab volunteers was being trained in urban warfare in a camp near Baghdad.

The station said its Baghdad-based reporter had visited a camp, some 15 miles northeast of the Iraqi capital, and interviewed several Arab trainees, who said they were ready for "martyrdom," a euphemism for suicide attacks.

Many Muslims believe that participating with Iraqis in a possible war against invading U.S. forces is a religious duty, but such a camp is believed to be unprecedented in Iraq.

An Egyptian volunteer who identified himself only as Abu Abd al-Rahman said he traveled to Iraq secretly, leaving behind his wife and children, to join the camp. He told Al-Jazeera his venture was a "God-blessed martyrdom-seeking mission."

"We seek God's satisfaction. We seek victory first, and martyrdom in the cause of God second. You are well aware of what is happening against Iraq. This is clearly an injustice against an Arab, Muslim country," he said.

Asked about his three children, Abu Abd al-Rahman said: "God will take care of them, and anyone who is taken care of by God will not be forgotten."

Another volunteer identified as a Libyan called al-Sunusi told Al-Jazeera the volunteers hate the Bush administration, which he says, represents evil.

"I am not afraid. I am not afraid. I came here to carry out jihad (holy war) against the U.S. arrogance," he said.

A Syrian mosque preacher who gave his name as Abu Izz al-Din said he came to Iraq to attain his "goal of martyrdom."

"No nation can attain the weapon of martyrdom seekers, regardless of the technological and scientific advancement they might have," he said. "The weapon of martyrdom-seekers is special to the Muslim nation. We will be able to confront them with this weapon, God willing."

Diyar al-Umari, an Al-Jazeera reporter who said he visited the camp on a tour organized by the Iraqi government, described the volunteers as coming from a number of countries and political movements.

"The fighters here say that the weapons of the United States and Britain may be lethal, but they are martyrdom-seekers. In this case, they say, the U.S. forces may confront a case that is very unusual to them," al-Umari reported. "Those martyrdom-seekers aspire to change the shape of the looming war."

U.S. officials accuse Saddam of harboring weapons of mass destruction and have threatened to forcefully disarm him. The Bush administration also claims that Iraq maintains ties with radical organizations including groups with links to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network al-Qaida.

Saddam rejects the accusations and any link with bin Laden, al-Qaida or a Kurdish extremist group believed connected to the terror network.

On Monday, the highest authority in the Sunni Islamic world, the Islamic Research Center at Cairo's Al-Azhar University, declared that war against Iraq will be a "new crusade" compelling every Muslim to perform "jihad."

While opposition to a war against Iraq is strong in the Arab world, many Muslim scholars say suicide is against Islamic teachings.

Source: AP

Maybe they will react like dominos. Shoot one and he explodes, then the next, and so forth. Would be an interesting line of traffic to say the least.

Certainly a potential means to apply to building demolition as well. Oh wait, we're sending the US Air Force over there to do that.

Yeah, place them onto catapults and launch away - Good way to save money. shouldn't cost too much since it isn't our artiliary shells.

I honestly don't understand where they're going with this, unless they think they can get close by using their copycat U.S. fatigues. Because for a suicide bomber to be any use.. he HAS to "get close". And generally in combat, you want to shoot the enemy from afar, not be embroiled in hand-to-hand combat. So ultimately, they can't just coming hurtling bodies at our troops as they'll never make it - much like the suicide bombers in the game Serious Sam.

So they'll have to rely on their "art of deception". And they're probably going to have it rough doing that, even WITH identical uniforms. This is because even in the Gulf War of Bush Sr. Iraq had such similarly equipped troops to U.S. forces (right down to the types of jeeps, etc) that the U.S. forces had to make additional distinguishing marks on their gear, marks that can be seen from afar through a long range, high power rifle scope.

Simply said: With the introduction of suicide bombers, Saddam has made all Iraqi's potential enemies (including its citizens).

I guess that's true, but it still comes down to thorn-in-the-ass tactics - it's not something that's going to win the war by taking out all our forces 5-10 troops at a time with suicide bombers.

I really do not get it either. If they did end up getting close enough and just so happened to take some of our troops with them - it would piss the live ones off even more.

In fact.. this thread just reminded me of a GREAT damn foreign film I watched about a year ago, can't even remember the name of it. It was all about the early life of a young girl brought up in what I think was India, trained from birth to be a suicide bomber. They mentally and physically conditioned her her whole life (amongst a group of others) to be the perfect assasin. Towards the end when she is finally given her mission, torn between her commitments and her emotional struggles with carrying an unborn child, she weakens and does not complete her assignment. It's a fascinating story, all subtitled in English.

In the context of this discussion, the film illustrates that even those with the finest training in suicide assasination face great personal struggles when it comes to actual moment of killing themselves for their cause.

Ever seen "Broken promises?"
it's a documentary about the Palestinians and jews. Well, to make it short - this Palestine girl becomes friends with two jewish boys. they are around 11 - 13. A year goes by.
Then half a year and by the end of the third year she wants to blow her friends up.
She says "Each time I hear of a suicide bombing, I wish that was me." She was 14 when she said that.
They do condition their children -
Dogs have puppies
Cats have Kittens
Terrorists have terrorists.

My parents tried to send me to suicide camp one summer and I was like "no f@ckin' way man!".

LMAO
Think of how much you would have learned though.

And again - 60 known Al-Quada terrorists are helping them. I've said that before and that more then likely IS a link to terrorists.
Saddam has always been known to host them when in trouble.

A friend of mine was reading this while on break and here's what he had to say:
I think we should have our own training camps to help them out. We can offer first hand experience. Of course all of the training bombs will be live and handled in a secluded area.

Going on a suicide mission is not terrorism. The kamikazes did it and were honored for it. How else is a underdeveloped country supposed to defend itself against our technology?

Who honored the Japanese for performing suicide missions? The Japanese? Wow - there's justification. I suppose if I jumped off a bridge to protest this war - I'd be a hero. Of course, I'd expect you to do the same thing. After all, I've made it honorable and acceptable.

What you're saying then is that you do not consider the act of strapping bombs to one's body and blowing up innocent women and children a form of terrorism?

So, in a sense, you are justifying this as a conventional means to finding a solution. Something, while violent, does not inflict harm in a manner that could be misconstrued as terrifying, terrible, or an action that might instill terror in one.

Furthermore, that would be to imply that these same women and children are the true enemy of the suicide bomber. They are the frontline. They are the barrier which must be broken down. It is by killing these innocent people that the rest of the world will suddenly see that suicide bombers were right all along. As a result, if what you say is true, the frontline ranks (filled with women and children) have no need to walk to the store with any sort of feeling remotely resembling terror - because it is not terror that is killing them: the true enemy. They are merely soldiers, told to expect that they will be killed while shopping at the mall. Right?

I guess there's no point in us continuing any sort of conversation on this topic until we can agree WHAT IS and WHAT IS NOT terrorism.

Clearly, the Japanese define this for you.

Kuwait was the people that came up with the information about Saddam soldiers dressing up as ours from what the news said. They also claimed to have found Iraqi "Assassians" not for from stationed troops and on the news the Van they were in had the windows blown out of it and holes through the doors.
Only saw this on a couple news stations.