"Aussies" join Terror

Aussies join terrorists
By MARK DUNN
February 18, 2005
http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1258&storyid=2681533
FEDERAL authorities are investigating several Australians they believe have gone to Iraq to join the insurgency or link up with terrorists trying to oust coalition forces.

A senior government source confirmed intelligence agencies were aware of a limited number of Australians thought to have joined insurgent fighters.
Two Australians have been jailed in Iraq as suspected security risks, including Sydney man Ahmad Jamal, 22, and Adelaide resident Ahmed Aziz Rafiq, 26. Neither has been charged with any offence.
The source said that "several, not dozens" of Australians were suspected of involvement.
Information about the suspected recruitment of fighters had come from concerned members of Islamic communities in Melbourne and Sydney, security sources said.
Mr Rafiq, an Iraqi Kurd with Australian citizenship, is due for release from the US-run Camp Bucca prison in coming days after spending a year in custody without charge. His family has protested his innocence.
One analyst familiar with the case said Australian authorities believe Mr Rafiq was picked up in a security sweep following suicide bombings in Kurdish-Iraq in late 2003, and may not have any link to insurgents.
Mr Jamal, an Australian of Lebanese extraction, had not told authorities of any reason for being in Iraq when arrested by Patriotic Union of Kurdistan forces in mid-November last year.
Mr Jamal's brother, Saleh Jamal, is currently in prison in Lebanon facing terrorism offences after fleeing bail in Australia on charges of shooting at Lakemba police station in 1998.
Lebanese officials claim Saleh Jamal has links with Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq.
"There may be a legitimate, justifiable reason for Rafiq being there . . . we know for a fact they (US forces) haven't got it right all the time," a source said.
Lebanese Muslim Association president Keysar Trad said although Ahmad Jamal's presence in Iraq remained a mystery, there was no evidence he was seeking to join insurgents.
Neil Fergus, chief executive of the security firm Intelligent Risks, said members of Australia's Islamic community believed some Australians, under the premise of travelling to Mecca for the hajj pilgrimage, might have gone to Iraq to join the insurgency.