One of the benefits of the recent release of millions of documents from Saddam Hussein’s tenure as president of Iraq is corroborating evidence of Saddam’s ties to terrorist groups all over the world. For example, the documents discuss how Saddam financially supported Palestinian terrorist groups,  as well as the Filipino terror organization Abu Sayyaf. And, one of the more interesting passages discussed terrorist training camps in Iraq where Arabs from all over the Middle East flocked to hone their “skills”.

More evidence of Saddam’s ties to terrorist groups has already emerged from these releases. One of the docs from Saddam’s intel stash apparently points toward funding of Abu Sayyaf, the Filippino-based terrorist group. One paragraph on page 54 of the IPR has drawn attention to Saddam’s possible ties and cooperation with Islamic terrorist groups, especially those with a Palestinian focus. We already knew that Saddam had funded Palestinian suicide bombers through an account in Rafidain Bank in Jordan, but this paragraph extends the possible range of such assistance. Even those in the CT community (official and otherwise) and the “terrorism press” who are highly skeptical of claims of the value of the intel docs are intrigued by the following paragraph:

Beginning in 1994, the Fedayeen Saddam opened its own paramilitary training camps for volunteers, graduating more than 7,200 “good men racing full with courage and enthusiasm” in the first year. Beginning in 1998, these camps began hosting “Arab volunteers from Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, ‘the Gulf,’ and Syria.” It is not clear from available evidence where all of these non-Iraqi volunteers who were “sacrificing for the cause” went to ply their newfound skills. Before the summer of 2002, most volunteers went home upon the completion of training. But these camps were humming with frenzied activity in the months immediately prior to the war. As late as January 2003, the volunteers participated in a special training event called the “Heroes Attack.” This training event was designed in part to prepare regional Fedayeen Saddam commands to “obstruct the enemy from achieving his goal and to support keeping peace and stability in the province.