U.S. officials credited close cooperation between American and Kuwaiti intelligence services for the capture Tuesday of six al Qaeda operatives who were planning attacks on a U.S. military base and other targets in the country.
The plotters had made martyrdom videos claiming responsibility for the attacks, which were disrupted by a joint investigation, the officials told The Washington Times.
U.S. military officials said the plot was first discussed in July at a monthly intelligence sharing meeting attended by the CIA, U.S. military and State Department along with their Kuwaiti counterparts.
One intelligence official familiar with the exchange said the U.S. and Kuwait had independently discovered different elements of the operation.
“This is an example of how intelligence sharing is supposed to work,” said a U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the nature of their work.
The American and Kuwaiti intelligence services determined that the group was planning to attack Camp Arifjan, the largest U.S. base in the country, located about 38 miles from the capital, Kuwait City.
Another military official with knowledge of the operation told The Times that the plot was taken seriously and that information gathered revealed that the men intended to attack “not only the base but other facilities in Kuwait, in what was to be a grand al Qaeda attack.”
The military official added, “We can assume al Qaeda is continuing to plot against U.S. interests both in the U.S. and overseas.”
Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Pat Ryder said the arrests by Kuwaiti security forces illustrated the benefits of working jointly with partners and “demonstrate the importance of our partner and the positive relationship we’ve developed with Kuwait.”
Col. Ryder said he could not talk about any measures to step up security at U.S. military installations in Kuwait or elsewhere as a result of the plot.
“We can’t get into security details, but force protection is always a top priority and our commanders have the latitude to implement appropriate measures to ensure the security and safety of our forces where ever they are stationed,” he said.
Camp Arifjan, which was being watched by the six plotters, is also visible to the public on a Google satellite Web map.
Col. Ryder said the Defense Department takes the exposure “into account when we implement force protection measures at the base.”
The Kuwaiti men gave “detailed confessions” listing their plans to attack Camp Arifjan, which is used as a staging area for operations in Iraq. Kuwait’s Alrai daily newspaper quoted anonymous security sources saying that the group had confessed to purchasing a truck that it was planning to load with fertilizer and other chemicals to use as a weapon against the base.
Kuwait has been a close U.S. ally since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, which liberated it from a seven-month Iraqi occupation under Saddam Hussein. Although Kuwait is not noted as a safe haven for al Qaeda, there are many pockets of dissent throughout the country and region.
“Throughout the 1990s and particularly after 9/11, a very large number of Kuwaitis have been radicalized,” said Mary Habeck, a specialist on radical Islam at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. “Unlike Jordan, which suffered an attack which showed them just how bad these guys are, [Kuwaitis] have been spared an experience that may have spurred the government to be more vigilant against recruitment.
“That said, Kuwait’s intelligence and security services have been excellent partners in the war against terror.”
A U.S. counterterrorism official said U.S. allies in the Middle East — notably Saudi Arabia and Kuwait — “have clamped down hard on terrorists operating within their borders [but] no one should let their guard down.”
“Al Qaeda continues to try to attract recruits from the region,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “This is a determined and patient terrorist group, so it’s key to keep up the pressure on them.”
Judith Yaphe, a former CIA analyst and Middle East specialist with the National Defense University, suggested two motivations for the plot.
“This could be Kuwaitis who are set on al Qaeda-like movements to get rid of the American presence in their country. Or we could have been an indirect target. This plot could have been a way to undermine the regime and get at the royal family, which has been remarkably close to the United States and very willing to support whatever we have asked them to support.”
U.S. military officials said any attempt to attack the American logistics supply facility would not have been successful since the base has high security and the truck could not have reached the interior areas of the base.
In June, The Times reported that U.S. counterterrorism officials authenticated a video of a Kuwaiti dissident, Abdullah al-Nafisi, telling a roomful of supporters in Bahrain that al Qaeda was monitoring the U.S. border with Mexico to determine how to send terrorists and weapons into the U.S.
The recruiter told the group that al Qaeda was capable of smuggling a biological weapon into the United States via tunnels under the Mexico border, the latest sign of the group’s determination to stage another mass-casualty attack on the U.S. homeland.
The officials stressed that there was no credible information that al Qaeda has acquired the capabilities to carry out a mass biological attack, although its members have clearly sought the expertise.
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