CIA, Allied Services Prepare Clampdown on Suspected Iraqi Agents

The CIA and the security services of several U.S. allies around the world are prepared to arrest Iraqi agents, their associates and known anti-American terrorists to prevent possible attacks on U.S. citizens, embassies or other facilities if the United States launches a war against Iraq, according to senior Bush administration officials.
Foreign intelligence services already are tracking individuals known to be in touch with Iraqi agents, and they have interrogated some of these individuals as well as some Iraqi expatriates, an official said. U.S. allies also are on alert for signs that President Saddam Hussein has sent agents abroad to arm Iraqis or terrorist groups with conventional, chemical or biological weapons, officials said. They said some of the weapons may already be in place outside Iraq’s borders.
Administration officials said the campaign is underway in countries across the Middle East and Europe as well as in parts of Asia and Africa where Iraqis or anti-Western terrorist groups are believed to be active. They said the operation is not in response to any specific threats but is based on U.S. intelligence estimates that Saddam might respond to a U.S. invasion by ordering attacks against U.S. targets in either the United States or in foreign countries.
In the run-up to war, the FBI has been searching for several thousand illegal Iraqi immigrants who have gone missing while visiting the United States, officials said last month. Although the majority of Iraqi immigrants are viewed as being sympathetic to the United States, federal authorities are concerned that others are more likely to be Iraqi agents or to be allied with terrorist groups.