November 5, 2004

PRESIDENT AL-YAWER PAYS AN OFFICIAL VISIT TO KUWAIT AT THE START OF HIS GULF TOUR. THE IRAQI PRESIDENT: I AM VISITING MY BROTHERS IN KUWAIT AND THE IRAQI ELECTIONS WILL BE HELD ON TIME. PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL: IRAQ HAS BECOME A MAJOR MAGNET FOR FOREIGN TERRORISTS. RUSSIA SUMMONS A U.S. DIPLOMAT TO PROTEST AT A PENTAGON CLAIM THAT IT HAS SPIRITED AWAY HUNDREDS OF TONS OF EXPLOSIVES FROM A SITE IN IRAQ. Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad þ Al-Sabah Amir of Kuwait received at his residence in Dasman Palace the þPresident of Iraq Sheikh Ghazi Ajeel Al-Yawer and his accompanying delegation þon the occasion of their visit to the country.þ þThe reception took place in the presence of the Crown Prince þ þSheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, National Assembly Speaker Jasem þ Mohammed Al-Kharafi, Chief of National Guards Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah and the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.þ þ The Iraqi President congratulated the Amir on advent of the þ þholy month of Ramadan, praying for many happy returns of the occasion. þ þ The two leaders exchanged cordial talks and expressed brotherly feelings þ that reflect the deep ties that link the two countries and people.þIraq's interim president Ghazi al-Yawer started last Saturday a three-day official visit to Kuwait. This is the first visit to Kuwait by an Iraqi head of state in about four decades. The last Iraqi president to visit Kuwait was believed to be Abdul-Rahman Aref, in the late 1960s. Al-Yawer met with the Amir, Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, during the visit. Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem þ þAl-Sabah described Iraqi President Ghazi Ajeel Al-Yawer's visit to Kuwait as þ historic, reaffirming Kuwait's support of Iraq at international conventions.þ þ Speaking to the press upon arrival of the Iraqi President in Kuwait, Sheikh Mohammed said, "We will listen to the concerns of the Iraqi þ þPresident and we have declared our stances time and again; we will support þIraq during the difficult times that this sister country is going through."þ "We will spare no effort to re-instill stability and security in Iraq þ þthrough playing an active role at international conventions, as well as in the Sharm Al-Sheikh Conference, so as to affirm Iraq's right to determine its þpolitical future without foreign intervention and to support the interim government," he said.þ þ He went on to say that Kuwait's stances towards Iraq "are actual and not only talk," noting that the Iraqi President's visit holds with it the historic and brotherly relations that tie the two countries.þ þ "The Iraqi President made honorable stances towards Kuwait's leadership and þpeople when the former Iraqi regime invaded the country in 1990," he said.þ þ Sheikh Mohammed said that this visit is the beginning of a new era, þ þexpressing hope that Iraqis achieve their aspirations in the birth of a new þand free Iraq in accordance to the UN Security Council resolution 1546.þ þ "We aspire to elevate the status of the Arab world and the Gulf region to levels that are satisfactory to their people," he said.þ þ He added that Kuwait is looking forward to "a fruitful relationship with the Iraqi people and we welcome the Iraqi President Sheikh Ghazi Al-Yawer."þ þ Sheikh Mohammed expressed the concern of Kuwait and Gulf states as to the security situation in Iraq, saying that the killing of innocents in Iraq is þdisgraceful to humanity as a whole. On the other hand Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad þ Al-Jaber Al-Sabah expressed pleasure at the visit of Iraqi President þ Ghazi Al-Yawer and described it as fruitful.þ þ In a statement to reporters after departure of the Iraqi President, Sheikh þ Sabah said joint committees would hold meetings in the forseable future to þ discuss political, economic and social affairs.þ þ On Iraqi debts to Kuwait, the Prime Minister indicated that this issue þ was not discussed during the visit. "We have said before that we will take the þnecessary measures within the framework of the Paris Club," he said.þ þ "We have no objection to the Iraqis' choosing their ambassador to Kuwait þand we will welcome him and help him in re-establishing the embassy," Sheikh Sabah added.þ þ The Prime Minister affirmed Kuwait's support for the upcoming conference on Iraq, due to be held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. "This is not the first time we support our Iraqi brethern as we have backed them at the þquarters of the Arab League and the United Nations." Iraqi President Ghazi Ajeel Al-Yawer said þ that a coalition of loyalists to the deposed Iraqi government, radical þ groups, and agents recruited by foreign intelligence agencies and other networks were behind the terror acts against Iraqis and foreigners in the þ country.þ þ In a meeting held with Kuwait News Agency's þdirector-general and editors-in-chief of Kuwaiti dailies, Al-Yawer said he believes that the military solution would be used to root out terrorism in the þ Iraqi rebel city of Fallujah. þ þ "I think the real solution is to re-qualify the Iraqi security forces... þ þwithout such forces there will be no other solution for the security dilemma þin Iraq ... and that requires recruiting big numbers of unemployed youths and þit takes time," he said when asked on ways to restore security in Iraq.þ þ "There are views which say that trouble-making elements should be þ þre-assimilated into the political process (in Iraq) and I wonder how can we reconcile with a person who kills humans like sheep, who calls for the return of the deposed regime, and who does not believe in change?," he added. þ Al-Yawer added that he has tried, with the Iraqi Defense Minister þ þto resolve the issue in Fallujah through negotiations, but it did not work out.þ þ The Iraqi president said also that fair elections would bring a þ þdemocratically selected government to power in Iraq, noting his government þ members take short-term decisions only during the current transition.þ þ Asked about the contradictions in statements by some Iraqi ministers, he þexplained that such differences were normal as the government combines people of different political backgrounds, but he denied the presence of any disagreements amongst the interim government officials.þ þ Al-Yawer also announced he would run for the president post in the upcoming Iraqi elections.þ þ The Iraqi president praised the stances of the Iraqi Shia leader Ayatollah þAli Al-Sistani saying that he handles the Iraqi issues with absolute balance. þ þ He also hailed Sistani's calls to separate religion from politics and his þurging to people to participate in the upcoming Iraqi elections.þ þ "It is of interest to Iraq, that all (Iraqis) go to ballot boxes," Al-Yawer said as he urged Sunni clerics to push people to participate in the elections.þ þ "Regretfully, some Sunni scholars urge people to boycott the elections and for those I say that they are repeating the mistake of the Shia clerics who þboycotted the 1921 elections in Iraq... For those who want to boycott the elections I say that each Iraqi has to vote and help us keep security to þeliminate reasons for the presence of foreign troops in Iraq," he added. Al-Yawer said the presence of the multinational troops in Iraq þ þwas necessary to keep security for the elections and to maintain Iraq's þterritorial integrity.þ þ "There are terror attacks against our economy, Iraq has lost USD 900 million because of sabotage, they are wasting our national resources," he said. þ þ The president also hailed the role of the USA, saying it did what nobody þelse could do for Iraq when it deposed the Saddam Hussein regime.þ þ He said it was not true that the US wanted to seize Iraq's fortunes, noting the US balance deficits and the strategies they implement were far beyond Iraq's resources.þ He also affirmed that the coalition forces presence in Iraq would end, once þthe Iraqi security forces have become capable of keeping security in the country.þ þ "We would ask them to leave once we are confident that our security forces þare capable of keeping peace," he added.þ þ Answering a question on the role of any neighboring country in þ þdestabilizing Iraq, Al-Yawer said "the Iranian government has many influences þon this regard... these influences are not positive, they are negative ones... there are many attempts which we can not accept...I think there is an attempt þto undermine Iraq's elections experience," he said. Iraqi President Ghazi Al-Yawer said that his þ visit to Kuwait was fruitful mainly because coordination between Kuwaiti and þ Iraqi authorities were intensified in all fields.þ þ Al-Yawer told reporters before his departure after concluding a þ þthree-day visit that meetings with Kuwaiti officials were "brotherly and þfriendly".þ þ "There was no agenda nor a program...it was just to visit our family and to pay ...respect to our brothers in Kuwait," he said.þ þ Intensifying coordination between Kuwaiti and Iraqi authorities will þ þenhance bolstering relations bilateral relations and serve common interest.þ þ Al-Yawer departed from Kuwait International Airport after þ þconcluding a three-day visit during which he met with his brother the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah. þIraq's President, Ghazi Al-Yawer and his accompanying delegation concluded a three-day visit to the country þduring which he held official talks with Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad þAl-Jaber Al-Sabah.þ þ The Iraqi President was seen off at the airport by the Amir's þ þrepresentative, the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Speaker of the National Assembly Jassem Mohammed Al-Kharafi, First þDeputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, þDeputy Chief of the National Guard Sheikh Mishaal al-Ahmad al-Jaber, Minister þ of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Nasser Muhammad al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister þ þand Defense Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah.þ Khalid al-Jarallah, Undersecretary of the Foreign þMinistry, described in press statements on Monday Kuwaiti-Iraqi relations as þ þexemplary.þ þ Speaking following the departure of the Iraqi president Ghazi al-Yawer, þal-Jarallah noted that bilateral talks with the president were fruitful and þtook place in an environment of complete transparency and candidness.þ þ The Undersecretary said that the Iraqi president and his accompanying þdelegation informed Kuwaiti officials of the latest developments undergoing in þ Iraq. þ þ With regard to debts and compensations owed to Kuwait by Iraq, al-Jarallah þindicated that Kuwait would follow international norms in settling these issues.þ þ No time has been selected for the resumption of diplomatic ties between the two countries, he said, adding that president al-Yawer emphasized that the issue of the border between Kuwait and Iraq had been settled and that Iraq would abide by international resolutions in that regard. During his visit to Kuwait Iraqi President Sheikh Ghazi Ajeel þ þAl-Yawer, and his accompanying delegation, received MP þ þMohammad Jassem Al-Saqar, head of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs committee.þ The meeting took place at Bayan Palace. On the other hand Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi warned time was running out for peace in Fallujah as the US military continued to target suspected insurgents. Allawi said his government continued to seek "a peaceful solution" to the insurgency problems in Fallujah and nearby Ramadi, but he warned patience "was running thin". Iraqi security forces have arrested 167 suspected insurgents in recent days, Allawi said. Syrians, Saudis and Sudanese were among those arrested, he told a televised news conference. Meanwhile, the death toll of US Marines killed by a car bomb near Fallujah rose to nine. Allawi's warning occurred as US forces prepared for a showdown with thousands of militants holed up in Fallujah the city that has become the focal point of armed resistance to the Americans and their Iraqi allies. In Fallujah, insurgents fired mortar rounds and rockets at US Marines, who responded with artillery. US aircraft also struck suspected rebel positions, Marine officials said. Clashes were also reported between US forces and insurgents in Ramadi, west of Fallujah, killing seven Iraqis and injuring 11, hospital officials said. As night fell in the Iraqi capital, the rumble of powerful explosions could be heard coming from the western edge of the city but the cause of the blasts could not be determined. US officials say Allawi will personally issue the final order to launch any all-out assault on Fallujah and other Sunni insurgent strongholds north and west of the capital. His remarks appeared aimed at preparing the Iraqi public for an onslaught likely to unleash strong passions, especially among the country's Sunni minority. Sunni clerics have threatened to call for a nationwide civil disobedience campaign and to boycott national elections in January if the Americans attack Fallujah, 65 kilometers west of Baghdad. However, the city has become the nexus of an insurgent network that has carried out numerous car bombings and beheadings of foreign hostages since the Bush administration ordered Marines to halt an offensive against Fallujah in April. Fallujah is believed to be the headquarters of Jordanian militant Abu Mussab Zarqawi, who announced his allegiance to Al-Qaeda this month. Zarqawi's group is believed responsible for numerous beheadings of foreign hostages, including Japanese backpacker Shosei Koda, whose body was found Saturday night in Baghdad wrapped in an American flag. "The terrorists and insurgents continue to use Fallujah and the Fallujah people as a shield for their murderous acts," Allawi said. "Some of the most incredible crimes have been committed in Fallujah and out of Fallujah by these terrorists." He said he "cannot stand back and allow such attacks to continue." Allawi said he was willing to pursue contacts with tribal leaders and others to reach a settlement in Fallujah, which must include handing over foreign fighters and allow Iraqi security forces to take control of the city. "We have now entered the final phase of attempts to solve Fallujah without a major military confrontation. I hope we can achieve this, but if we cannot, I have no choice but to secure a military solution," he added. On the other hand the Iraqi Vice President Ibrahim al-Jafari has mentioned that the emergency law could be implemented without the elections being held he added that the Council of Ministers is discussing the law that could be implemented before or after the elections. He added that most of the world countries implement this law when their security situation is unstable. Seven people were injured when a booby-trapped þcar exploded last Saturday in front of the Al-Arabia Satellile TV station office in þ þAl-Mansoura district in Baghdad, station employees said.þ þ The seven injured included a cameraman, as well as the building's security guard. The explosion left the building and houses and cars in the vicinity severely damaged. The employees added that following the explosion, several others þ þwere heard in Al-Mansoura. Their origin has not yet been determined.þ þ It is still unknown whether or not the car belonged to an Al-Arabia þ þemployees or not. On the other hand in London Prince Turki Al-Faisal said a fragmented Iraq would pose a major threat to Saudi Arabia as well as other Middle East countries and eventually the rest of the world, the Saudi ambassador to Britain said last Thursday. Prince Turki Al-Faisal, said Iraq has become a major magnet for foreign terrorists since the US-led invasion last year and that there are not enough troops to cope with it. The invasion in March 2003 and the subsequent disbanding of the Iraqi security services had opened up a void into which militants are being sucked, he told Reuters in an interview in London. Iraq is a magnet for terrorists, said Prince Turki. The invasion has definitely not met the expectations of President Bush that it would be an end to terrorism in our part of the world. There are just not enough security forces on the ground to meet the needs of the situation. Centrifugal forces have increased in Iraq. Fragmentation would be detrimental not just to Saudi Arabia but first of all to the Iraqi people, secondly to all of the neighboring countries and thirdly to the world community, he said. Prince Turki Al-Faisal, said far more troops were needed in Iraq but declined to give a figure. The United States has some 130,000 troops in Iraq, while Britain with the second largest foreign contingent has just over 8,000. Prince Turki said he hoped a Saudi plan put forward in July for a multinational Arab and Muslim security force to replace the existing US and other foreign contingents would get a new lease of life after the US presidential election next week. It is still on the table. I think it has not been taken up because of the election, he said, stressing the plan had the backing of the Arab and Muslim world. Prince Turki said he did not see much difference on Middle East policy between President George W. Bush and his Democrat challenger John Kerry who are running virtually neck and neck in opinion polls. They are both saying the same thing whether it is Palestine or Iraq, he said. It is regrettable. Prince Turki said he had no fear for the future of relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States, historically strong allies. We are not concerned about our strategic interests in America, he said, although he noted many Saudi Arabians had left the United States since the Sept 11, 2001, attacks carried out by a group of mostly Saudi Al-Qaeda militants. Meanwhile after nearly a week the Pentagon broke silence about Iraqs missing 380 tons of munitions, but revealed little about the circumstances leading up to the intelligence failure or where þ þthe investigation is heading.þ þ "I caution that there is a lot that we probably do not know about, because þthis was a country, as the inspectors acknowledged, that was awash in weapons,þ " said Pentagon Spokesman Lawrence Di Rita.þ þ The missing weapons, which, according to the White House, the US was told about around two weeks ago by the International Atomic Energy Agency in þVienna, have caused a storm of controversy in the final days leading up to the Presidential elections scheduled to take place on Tuesday, November 2nd.þ þ Zigzagging across swing states in the final days of the election campaign, Democratic presidential nominee Senator John Kerry and President George Bush þhave turned the missing weapons question into a political debate.þ þ Kerry has accused the President of not admitting his mistakes while Bush þ accused Kerry of not knowing the facts and using the issue to spark political þgains.þ þ White House Spokesman Scott McClellan said earlier this week that the US þdoes not know what happened to the high explosives, but characterized the issue as an urgent matter.þ þ Di Rita tried to downplay the significance of the hundreds of tons of þ þmissing munitions saying they make up 1/1000th of the material the US has marked or destroyed in Iraq.þ þ "We have spent an enormous amount of time to find out what happened to this þ 1000/1th material we have identified for destruction or destroyed," he said.þ þ Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has suggested that the munitions went missing before the US controlled the area, but a videotape shot by a Minnesota þtelevision crew embedded with US soldiers during the invasion in April of 2003 recently revealed that when the Al-Qaqaa munitions base was first opened there appeared to be high explosives still in barrels, bearing the markings of the þ þInternational Atomic Energy Agency, suggesting that in fact the weapons were under US control before being looted. On the other hand Russia summoned a U.S. diplomat to protest at a Pentagon claim that Russian soldiers spirited away hundreds of tons of explosives from a site in Iraq just before the U.S. invasion, Interfax news agency said last Friday. The missing cache of explosives has become a political hot potato in the U.S. election race, with Democratic challenger John Kerry accusing the administration of President Bush of failing to secure the site. In a Washington Times story this week, Pentagon official John Shaw pointed the finger at Russian special forces, saying they had moved many of Iraq's weapons into Syria in the weeks before the March 2003 invasion. "The Russian Ministry of Defense summoned the U.S. military attache in Moscow to express a resolute protest in connection with the comments by John Shaw," Interfax quoted an anonymous source at a Russian defense agency as saying. A spokesman at the U.S. embassy in Moscow confirmed that a member of the embassy's defense staff had been "called in," but denied it was the chief military attache and declined to say what had been discussed at the meeting. Russia's Defense Ministry dismissed the allegation that there had been any Russian involvement in the disappearance of the explosives in Iraq. "You can't really take statements like this as anything but far-fetched rubbish," said spokesman Vyacheslav Sedov. "I can officially confirm that the Ministry of Defense and the organizations that report to it could not have taken part in the disappearance of the explosives, since Russia's servicemen and military specialists left Iraq 12 years ago." Bush and Pentagon officials have argued that Saddam Hussein's government may have moved the explosives from the Al Qaqaa storage site near Baghdad before the start of the war to protect it from U.S. attack. But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has distanced himself from the comments by Shaw, who is deputy undersecretary for defense for international technology security. Russia angrily denied allegations that Russian forces had smuggled a cache of high explosives out of Iraq prior to the U.S. invasion in March 2003. The denial followed the story that quoted a high-ranking U.S. defense official alleging that Russian special forces had "almost certainly" helped spirit out the hundreds of tons of high explosives that went missing from the al-Qaqaa base. The newspaper based its report on an interview with John Shaw, the deputy U.S. undersecretary of defense for international technology security. Two weeks ago, Iraqi officials told the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency that 377 tons of explosives had vanished as a result of "theft and looting due to lack of security." The compounds, HMX and RDX, are key components in plastic explosives, which insurgents in Iraq have used in bomb attacks. Russia' charge d'affaires in Iraq, Ilya Morgunov, also denied the report. "I didn't hear about any weapons to be taken out," Interfax quoted him as saying. "Moreover, there was nobody to take them out, because we actually evacuated all of our personnel." He said there had been no Russian special forces in Iraq, only civilian specialists working for foreign firms. The New York Times said a videotape made by a television crew with American troops when they opened bunkers at a sprawling Iraqi munitions complex south of Baghdad shows a huge supply of explosives still there nine days after the fall of Saddam Hussein, apparently including some sealed earlier by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The tape, broadcast by the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis, appeared to confirm a warning given earlier this month to the agency by Iraqi officials, who said that hundreds of tons of high-grade explosives, powerful enough to bring down buildings or detonate nuclear weapons, had vanished from the site after the invasion of Iraq. The question of whether the material was removed by Mr. Hussein's forces in the days before the invasion, or looted later because it was unguarded, has become a heated dispute on the campaign trail, with Senator John Kerry accusing President Bush of incompetence, and Mr. Bush saying it is unclear when the material disappeared and rejecting what he calls Mr. Kerry's "wild charges." Weapons experts familiar with the work of the international inspectors in Iraq say the videotape appears identical to photographs that the inspectors took of the explosives, which were put under seal before the war. One frame shows what the experts say is a seal, with narrow wires that would have to be broken if anyone entered through the main door of the bunker. The agency said that when it left Iraq in mid-March, only days before the war began, the only bunkers bearing its seals at the huge complex contained the explosive known as HMX, which the agency had monitored because it could be used in a nuclear weapons program. It is now clear that program had ground to a halt. The New York Times and CBS reported that Iraqi officials had told the agency earlier this month that the explosives were missing, and that they were looted after April 9, 2003, the day Baghdad fell. The Pentagon released a satellite image of the complex taken just two days after the inspectors left, showing a few trucks parked in front of some bunkers. It is not clear they are the bunkers with the high explosives. "All we are trying to demonstrate is that after the I.A.E.A. left, and the place was under Saddam's control, there was activity," said Lawrence DiRita, the Pentagon spokesman. It is not clear from the photo what activity, if any, was under way. A top Iraqi official said the interim government had spoken to witnesses who said the material was still at Al Qaqaa at the time Baghdad fell. The videotape , taken by KSTP-TV, an ABC affiliate in Minneapolis-St. Paul, shows troops breaking into a bunker and opening boxes and examining barrels. Many of the containers are marked "explosive." One box is marked "Al Qaqaa State Establishment," apparently a shipping label from a manufacturer. The ABC crew said the video was taken on April 18. The timing is critical to the debate in the presidential campaign. By the Pentagon's own account, units of the 101st Airborne Division were near Al Qaqaa for what Mr. DiRita said was "two to three weeks," starting April 10. Then they headed north to Baghdad, and the site was apparently left unguarded. By the time special weapons teams returned to Al Qaqaa in May, the explosives were apparently gone. In disputing claims by Mr. Kerry that the Americans had lost the explosives, a senior administration official said Thursday, "We don't know all the facts and no one should be jumping to conclusions." Al Qaqaa, the official said, "was not controlled for three weeks after the I.A.E.A. left," and added "there are a lot of dots we have to connect." The Pentagon also notes that it has destroyed 400,000 tons of munitions from thousands of sites across Iraq, and that the explosives at Al Qaqaa account for "one-tenth of 1 percent" of that amount. The Minneapolis television crew was with an Army unit that was camped near Al Qaqaa, members of the crew said. The reporter and cameraman said that although they were not told specifically that they were being taken to Al Qaqaa by the military, their videotape matches pictures of the site taken by United Nations weapons inspectors, according to weapons experts. On the other hand an official with the group Human Rights Watch said Saturday he alerted the U.S. military in May 2003 to a cache of hundreds of warheads in Iraq containing high explosives but that the weapons still hadn't been secured when he left the area 10 days later. Peter Bouckaert, who heads the New York-based group's international emergency team, told The Associated Press he was shown a room "stacked to the roof" with surface-to-surface warheads on May 9, 2003, on the grounds of the 2nd Military College in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Bouckaert said he gave U.S. officials the exact location of the warheads, but that by the time he left the area on May 19, 2003, he had seen no U.S. forces at the site, which he said was being looted daily by armed men. His comments came as the question of 377 tons of high explosives reported missing from another site - the Al-Qaqaa military installation south of Baghdad - has become a heated issue in the final days of the U.S. presidential campaign. Bouckaert said displaced people he was working with in the Baqouba area had taken him to the warheads. "They said, 'There's stocks of weapons here and we're very concerned - can you please inform the coalition?'" he said in a telephone interview from South Africa. After photographing the warheads, Bouckaert said he went straight to U.S. officials in Baghdad's Green Zone complex, where he claimed officials at first didn't seem interested in his information. "They asked mainly about chemical or biological weapons, which we hadn't seen," he said. Bouckaert said he eventually was put in touch with unidentified U.S. officials and showed them on a map where the stash was located, also giving them the exact GPS coordinates for the site. But he said he never saw U.S. forces at the site when he returned to the area for daily interviews with refugees, and that the site still was not secured when he finally left the area. "For the next 10 days I continued working near this site and going back regularly to interview displaced people, and nothing was done to secure the site," he said. "Looting was taking place by a lot of armed men with Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenades," Bouckaert said. He said each of the warheads contained an estimated 57 pounds of high explosives. "Everyone's focused on al-Qaqaa, when what was at the military college could keep a guerrilla group in business for a long time creating the kinds of bombs that are being used in suicide attacks every day," he said. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday that Iraq had reported 377 tons of high explosives missing from al-Qaqaa. Iraqi officials told the agency the explosives - which can be used to make the kind of car bombs that insurgents have used in numerous attacks on U.S.-led forces - went missing amid looting after the April 9, 2003 fall of the Iraqi capital. On the other hand the first scientific study of the human cost of the Iraq war, published in UK medical magazine The Lancet, suggests that at least 100,000 civilians have been killed since US-led forces invaded the country in March 2003. The study was carried out by the American Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. It also shows that more than half of the dead were women and children killed in violent circumstances and air strikes. Asked to explain further the Government's previous concerns and doubts about the methodology applied in the "Lancet" article about the number of Iraqi deaths, the British Prime Minister official Spokesman replied because it relied on the extrapolation technique assumed, that Iraq was uniform in terms of intensity of conflict. It wasn't. The article also assumed that bombing was general throughout Iraq, which was not the case. The Iraqi Department of Health had issued figures that showed over a 6 month period there were about 3000 deaths, which was a long way short of the figures quoted in the "Lancet". The Iraqi DOH measured those figures by the number of people who came into hospitals throughout Iraq, and it was very difficult to rely on any such figures quoted in the "Lancet" with any certainty. Asked if the PM was concerned about the numbers of senior Iraqi figures who have been assassinated, the PMOS answered that the Government always knew that this was going to be a difficult period as the insurgents would try and stop elections, and that they would mount a series of attacks during this period. The PMOS said that what all this was all about was to give ordinary Iraqis the vote, and therefore we had to see through this period and make sure it happened. Meanwhile foreign militants in Iraq pose a deadly threat to their home countries in Europe and the Muslim world, which fear returning fighters will bring the violence back with them, officials and analysts say. "We are very concerned that when the Iraq war is over, these guys will return and will continue recruiting back home, setting up terrorist cells in our own countries," said a senior European counterterrorism official who declined to be identified. "We fear a troubling repetition of Afghanistan," he said, referring to the anti-Soviet war in the 1980s that attracted tens of thousands of foreign volunteers -- including al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden -- and gave Islamic extremists a training ground and rallying cry. Counterterrorism officials say foreign fighters in Iraq come from Europe, other Western states and Muslim countries, but their number is unknown. The International Institute for Strategic Studies in London estimated this month there were about 1,000 foreign fighters in Iraq. Other analysts put the number at a few hundred. At least one analyst cautioned against jumping to conclusions about a threat that was not yet clear. But several others said there were enough foreign fighters to wreak havoc back home through recruitment, fund-raising or actual attacks -- in part because better technology, transportation and access to arms could make smaller numbers more noxious than before. "It's a different era than Afghanistan, with 24/7 satellite news channels, the Internet, the general enmity in the Muslim world that the U.S. coalition presence in Iraq has generated," said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at the RAND think tank. Highlighting the danger of recruits from abroad, U.S. television aired a videotape that showed an English-speaking man identified as "Assam the American" vowing a bloody new wave of al Qaeda attacks on the United States. "There's a reason why whoever put the tape together is trying to tell us that the guy who's speaking is an American. It makes it even scarier," said Matt Levitt, a former FBI terrorism analyst now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "At a certain point, the boys are going to go home," he said. "That's a big, big problem and we've gotten stung by the phenomenon before." Several officials and analysts agreed Europe faced a greater threat than the United States, partly because more Europe-based radicals are believed to be in Iraq and easier travel to and within the continent. While analysts stated no countries were immune, they said those at risk included Germany, Spain, France and Italy, all with sizable Muslim immigrant communities. "Europe could definitely face a flow-back threat after these foreign fighters leave Iraq again," said Kenneth Katzman, a terrorism analyst with the Congressional Research Service. A senior Arab diplomat in Washington said, "Iraq becomes a magnet for these people, and then by the nature of things some of them will go back home and take the front with them." Hoffman said there was also a danger the fighters could become "a movable feast of jihadists" moving from conflict to conflict, "constantly gaining experience and attracting new followers." Anthony Cordesman, an analyst at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, cautioned against blowing the concerns out of proportion. "We keep making all of these generalizations before the fact, and the truth is it's much more complex and dynamic than that," he said. "Much of the time it depends not on numbers but on whether you have a charismatic figure or leader who emerges with organizational skills, and that's not all that common."