WASHINGTON - U.S. intelligence officials now believe that some foreign Islamic fighters are cooperating with remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime, surviving members of a Kurdish Islamic militant group, a new crop of foreign Islamic militants and a smattering of Iraqi nationalists and angry Shiite Muslims to mount terrorist attacks in Iraq.
In his Saturday radio address, parts of which reflected the intelligence analysts' latest assessment, President Bush acknowledged that the groups "have different long-term goals," but he said they "share a near-term strategy: to intimidate Iraqis from building a free government and to cause America and our allies to flee our responsibilities. … The terrorists grew to believe that if they hit America hard - as in Lebanon and Somalia - America would retreat and back down."
The intelligence officials, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity because intelligence assessments are classified, said they have no evidence that the attacks are centrally directed. They said many of the attacks appear to be carried out independently by small groups using improvised explosive devices, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms.
But they said the groups have begun to lend what one official called "some significant support" to one another:
_ Local Iraqis, the officials said, are providing near real-time intelligence by watching U.S. troop movements, roads and defenses, as an August 18 U.S. Army War College study reported the Iraqis did as American forces drove toward Baghdad in March and April.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7159770.htm
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