New York Times: CIA contacts in north Iraq
Iraq-USA, Politics, 12/23/2002

The New York Times said yesterday that members of the CIA are in contacts with Kurdish officials working since several weeks in Northern Iraq, in preparations for any American military attack against Iraq The paper added quoting Kurdish and western sources that any American military forces have not yet taken positions in this area which is out of the control of the central leadership in Baghdad since the Gulf war in 1990.

The paper added that the American intelligence teams are working in the region since two weeks with the two main Kurdish groups who control northern Iraq, the Kurdistani National Federation which is positioned in the east and the Kurdistani Democratic Party in the west.

The paper said that the Kurdish citizens become familiar, with having CIA members accompanying the moves of armed Kurdish guards, noting that those Americans are studying the positions in which American military bases can be installed and are choosing escorts and translators that will accompany Americans when Iraq will be invaded.

On the other hand, Kurdish officials said that the Americans interrogated members in the Islamic group Ansar al-Islam (Islam partisans) who were detained by the Kurdish security forces to find out whether they have links to al-Qaida organization.

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