"Special Interests"

clipped from pajamasmedia.com Iran had also facilitated Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s flight from Afghanistan, across Iran, and guiding him to the al Qaeda camp in northern Iraq. Why would avowedly secular Iraq help an affiliate of al Qaeda? “These relations with al Qaeda started after the Kuwait invasion in 1991 because of special interests between Iraqi and al Qaeda organization.” By “Kuwaiti invasion,” he does not mean Saddam’s illegal annexation in August 1990, but the American liberation of that oil kingdom in 1991. His other phrase—“special interests”—lingers in the air. I wonder if it is simply an artifact of translation. Special interests? I ask. He smiles, then exhales smoke. “Fighting against Americans.” How did Iraq help? “We helped them by building military camps in Salman Pak, in Khos, Khalis, Yusafiya. Iraq is expert in chemical weapons. We trained them in chemical weapons. We trained them about ground fighting, too.” Apparently, they learned well.