President Bush, said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday that attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq are partly the work of "mujaheddin types" and fighters seeking "revenge for getting whipped in Afghanistan."
In an interview to be shown on BBC, Bush said that the deadly attacks on occupation forces were "nothing more than a power grab," primarily by devotees of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
"Now, there are some foreign fighters -- mujaheddin types or al Qaeda, or al Qaeda affiliates, involved, as well," said Bush. "They've got a different mission. They want to install a Taliban-type government in Iraq, or they want to seek revenge for getting whipped in Afghanistan. But, nevertheless, they all have now found common ground for a brief period of time."
Bush has said the United States has no evidence Iraq was involved with the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Bush said in a separate roundtable interview with British editors that some of the guerrillas in Iraq "would like to see a Taliban-type government -- that would be the mujaheddin-type people."
"Some want to revenge the loss, the defeat in Afghanistan," he said. "They would be your al Qaeda types."
Bush told the BBC he was not sure whether Saddam was personally behind the attacks. "We did the Iraqi people a great favor by removing him, and so I wouldn't be surprised that any kind of violence is promoted by him," he said. "But I don't know. I don't know. All I know is we're after him." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
