TIME: Inside an Insurgent
Camp
Monday, May 09, 2005
By MICHAEL WARE
How sophisticated is the insurgency in Iraq? While
U.S. commanders believe the insurgents are growing
desperate, a recent wave of coordinated large-scale
attacks--such as the series of bombings that killed
at least 30 Iraqis in Baghdad in one day last
week--suggests that some rebel groups have become
more organized. Videotapes obtained by TIME from
sources close to the insurgency appear to confirm the
existence of makeshift training camps inside Iraq to
teach recruits guerrilla warfare. The camps are
tucked inside villages and conduct weapons-handling
drills in remote fields. One tape shows four men in
uniforms gathered in a dilapidated barracks facility
in western Iraq and receiving instruction on how to
fire a modified missile launcher. "We ask God to make
this weak weapon strong by his strength," the
instructor says. "God save Iraq from the Jews and the
infidel." The second tape shows a group of 15
uniformed men practicing advancing under fire in a
lush grove of trees and tall grass. In another scene,
recruits navigate an obstacle course that requires
them to climb stairs, crawl under barbed wire and
dive through a flaming hoop.
Are such activities real? A top commander of the
group shown in the first tape says the training camps
are crucial to the insurgency, given that most
recruits lack basic knowledge of the weaponry used
against U.S. forces. The commander, who asked to be
identified by his nom de guerre, Abu Lina, says the
training video was made "to show the other resistance
groups in Iraq that we have grown and developed." He
says training camps are located in "places in Iraq
the Americans do not control, nor can they see"--an
assertion a Pentagon official does not dispute. "I
know of no actual training camps," the official says.
"But it's not outside the realm of possibility that
they are there. We cannot be everywhere in the
country."
--By
Michael Ware. With reporting by Sally B.
Donnelly