‘Clampdown on Iraq militants will drive them to neighbouring countries’

"KUWAIT CITY: A military clampdown on terrorists in Iraq would push them to instead attack neighbouring countries, the spokesman of the Iraqi government warned in remarks published on Sunday."

Laith Kubba told Al Qabas newspaper that Iraq was now a “big school” for terrorism, and militant battles with the US military would only make them export their activities. “And certainly, neighbouring countries would be the closest for those terrorists to spread in,” he was quoted as saying. Kubba told the newspaper in a telephone interview that terrorists were still crossing into Iraq from Syria and Saudi Arabia, despite claims from both countries that they were doing their best to control their borders.

Daily attacks by insurgents, mainly members of the toppled Baath regime, and Muslim fundamentalists, have killed more than 1,500 people in violence in Iraq since April 28 this year, when Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced the makeup of his Shiite- and Kurd-dominated government. US forces and Iraqi security forces have been fighting insurgents across Sunni-dominated provinces in recent military offensives. Their latest effort Operation Scimitar is currently underway.

“We are all in the circle of danger, and all countries have to help so that Iraq can get out of this terror quagmire that poses a threat to everybody,” Kubba said. Iraq has not complained about its border with Kuwait, the small oil-rich Washington ally that supported the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 and occupied it for seven months before US-led troops routed his forces out. ap"
Daily Times