THE REVELATION that Saddam Hussein's Iraq trained thousands of Islamic terrorists has important ramifications for European counterterrorism efforts. According to officials, one of the groups trained in Iraq prior to the war was al Qaeda's Algerian affiliate, the Algerian Salafist Group for Call and Combat ("GSPC"). The GSPC and its predecessor, the Armed Islamic Group ("GIA"), are well-known to European counterterrorism officials: Within the last several months, in fact, the GSPC has been at the center of several substantive terrorist plots.
Just last week, Spain arrested 20 suspected terrorists who are alleged to have been recruiting and funding suicide bombers to send to Iraq. The New York Times covered the arrests, noting that according to a statement from the Spanish Interior Ministry the group included 15 Moroccans, 3 Spaniards, a Turk, and an Algerian. The suspects were "detained in Madrid and Barcelona, and in the Basque region, and had ties to two Islamic militant organizations . . . the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat [GSPC], based in Algeria, and the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group."
The Interior Ministry did not indicate how many suicide bombers were ultimately recruited and sent to Iraq by the cell. But officials "determined that one of the recruits was responsible for a suicide attack in November 2003 in Nasiriya, Iraq, that killed 19 Italians and 9 Iraqis." The Times noted that at the time, "it was the most lethal attack by insurgents since the removal of Saddam Hussein from power in April
2003."
The group's efforts were not limited to aiding al Qaeda's assault on Iraq, however. The Times reported that according to Spain's Interior Minister José Antonio Alonso, "one of the network's missions . . . was harboring veterans of the Iraqi conflict who had returned home to scout for possible terrorist targets in Europe and help identify promising recruits."
THE RECENTLY-ARRESTED CELL in Madrid and Barcelona is just the latest incarnation of the GSPC to be detected on Spanish soil. Spanish authorities have arrested numerous GSPC suspects over the last several years. In December of last year, for example, a Spanish judge remanded three Algerians from another terror cell to prison. According to one Spanish daily, the judge's writ stated that the GSPC has "a vast financing activity based on a constant labor of common crime," which includes "drug retailing, offences against property" as well as "forgery of documents and credit or phone cards." The judge's writ also noted the close ties between the GSPC and bin Laden's al Qaeda.
Italy--a crossroads for Islamists seeking access to Europe from the Middle East--has also been recently targeted by the GSPC. In November 2005, Italian authorities arrested three Algerians affiliated with the group. Authorities had been eavesdropping on the suspects for some time. Through intercepted phone conversations and bugging devices they learned of the Algerian's plans for a massive terror attack.
According to published reports, the intercepts revealed that the Algerians were discussing plans to kill "at least 10,000 people" and the possibility of packing a Titanic-sized ship with explosives. The three were being recorded as they cheered on video footage of the July 7, 2005 bombings in London and openly discussed their desire to dwarf the carnage of September 11, 2001.
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