Suicide Bombers Flocking To Iraq?

Iraq Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan says thousands of Muslims who say they are ready for martyrdom have flocked to Iraq since the U.S.-led war began.

Ramadan says the type of suicide attack that killed four U.S. soldiers Saturday will become "routine military policy."

Saddam Hussein handsomely rewarded the army officer who targeted the U.S. forces, honoring him with a posthumous promotion, two new medals and a huge financial windfall for his family.

Saddam's regime threatened more such attacks on Americans and Britons — even on their own soil.

The bomber, identified as Ali Jaafar al-Noamani, posing as a taxi driver, pulled up close to a roadblock north of the holy Shiite city of Najaf, waved to American troops for help, then blew up his vehicle when they approached.

Al-Noamani, a noncommissioned officer with several children — was posthumously promoted to colonel and awarded two medals — Al-Rafidin, or The Two Rivers, and the Mother of All Battles, state TV reported. His family reportedly was awarded 100 million dinars — the equivalent of $34,000, a fortune in Iraq.

Experts warn a prolonged stay of U.S. and British forces may turn the country into a magnet for militants seeking a new jihad.

Earlier this month, Iraqi officials took foreign journalists to a training camp east of Baghdad to show off about 40 of what it said were volunteers from Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

"We will use any means to kill our enemy in our land and we will follow the enemy into its land," Ramadan said at a Baghdad news conference. "This is just the beginning. You'll hear more pleasant news later."

"If there is an American occupation, then Iraq will definitely move to the top of the list of jihad for the international network of Islamists," says John Voll, an Islamic affairs expert at Georgetown University.

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has recently begun to publicly link religion to his cause, peppering speeches with quotations from the Quran and reassuring Iraqis that God was on their side.

Iraq media has also been projecting heavy religious undertones, calling army troops "soldiers of God" and Arab rulers allied with the United States "infidels and atheists."

Ramadan refused to say whether Iraq will accept assistance from Osama bin Laden, whose al Qaeda terrorist group is blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks. He asserted that Iraq would support anyone willing to stand up to U.S. and British forces until they leave.

Thousands of Arab volunteers seeking martyrdom were flocking into Iraq and more were expected, he said. He would not give exact numbers, but Iraq's state television later estimated 4,000 people had arrived.

Ramadan says Iraq would supply the volunteers with whatever they needed to help fight the thousands of U.S. and British forces in the country.

At the training camp, journalists saw men who bore all the hallmarks of Muslim militants. Most wore beards, chanted slogans glorifying holy war, voiced deep hatred for America and said they would seek martyrdom on the battlefield.

Wearing uniforms and headscarves, they prayed together, listened to a rousing sermon on jihad and chanted slogans vowing death for America and Israel.

"I came (to) offer my life for the sake of the Arab nation and Iraq," said a Palestinian who would not give his name. "We came as part of a martyrdom project against the Americans."

Thousands of Muslims from across the world joined the Afghan mujahedeen in their fight against Russia's occupation army in the 1980s. After driving the Russians out, some stayed, some returned home, while others -- emboldened by their victory over a superpower -- went on to continue the fight in other trouble spots like the Balkans and Chechnya.

More recently, the U.S. military campaign against Afghanistan's Taliban government lured a ragtag army of thousands, mainly from neighboring Pakistan, vowing jihad against the Americans.

Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, said most jihad fighters are focused on Chechnya, which he called "today's Afghanistan."

"Iraq also can become another Afghanistan, but with a huge twist because of the different regional factors," he says.

Dia'a Rashwan, a prominent expert on radical Muslim groups, views an Iraq occupied by the U.S. military as the "perfect" environment for Muslim militants seething over what they see as Washington's war against Islam.

"With so many American troops required to occupy Iraq, they'll be like hostages," he said.