| The Terrorist Training Camp at Salman Pak |
| "A whole real plane, standing in the middle of the training area" |
As Initially Reported on PBS Frontline
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/khodada.html
Confirmation April 6, 2003 (see sidebar).
Sabah Khodada was a captain in the Iraqi army from 1982 to 1992. He worked at what he
describes as a highly secret terrorist training camp at Salman Pak (see Khodada's hand-drawn
map of the camp) -- an area south of Baghdad.
(Introduction to Frontline transcript of New York Times interview, October 14, 2001.)
Q: You say that this is a secret camp. But what was it like? Was it something you drove by and
could see on the highway? . . .
The camp is huge. And the locations for the training are far from [where] anybody can see them
from the outside. But even when we have visitors, even at the level of a minister, or even higher
than a minister in the Iraqi government, they will have to drive around the camp or be driven in
the camp inside very specific type of a vehicle. They will sit on the back seat, for example, of this
vehicle and ... in addition to the shaded windows, they will have to pull down curtains and they
snap those curtains on the bottom, to make sure nobody can see anything outside this vehicle
while they're driven around.
Q: What kind of training went on, and who was being
trained?
Training is majorly on terrorism. They would be trained
on assassinations, kidnapping, hijacking of airplanes,
hijacking of buses, public buses, hijacking of trains and
all other kinds of operations related to terrorism.
Q: The people being trained were Iraqis in one group, and non-Iraqis, or foreign nationals, in
another?
Non-Iraqis were trained separately from us. There were strict orders not to meet with them and
not to talk to them. And even when they conduct their training, their training has to occur at
times different from the times when we conduct the Iraqis [in] our own training.
Q: So you were training Iraqis, Saddam's fedayeen, members of the militia in Iraq. And
someone else, other groups, were training the non-Iraqis?
They were special trainers or teachers from the Iraqi intelligence and al-Mukhabarat. And
those same trainers or teachers will train the fedayeen, the Iraqi fedayeen, and also the same
group of those teachers will train the non-Iraqis, foreigners who are in the camp. Personally, my
profession is not this kind of training. My profession is to train people on infantry, typical infantry
training, such as training on machine guns, pistols, hand grenades, rocket launchers on the
shoulder and this kind of training. The special training that I'm talking about, such as the
kidnapping and so, is conducted by those trainers who are not from the army; they are from ...
al-Mukhabarat.
Q: So did you find out what kind of training was going on?
I don't necessarily know what kind of training they do, but they were trained exactly at the same
locations, and they were trained by the same teachers who were training ... [the fighters for]
Saddam. Training includes hijacking and kidnapping of airplanes, trains, public buses, and
planting explosives in cities, sabotaging villages, sabotaging houses, assassinations.
And the training also included how to prepare for suicidal operations. For example, they will train
them how to belt themselves around with explosives, and jump in a place and explode themselves
out as part of the suicidal training. I think the trainings of the Arabs was much harsher, and much
stricter, than the training of the Iraqis.
Q: And they trained people to hijack airplanes?
Yes.
Q: For what purpose?
... It has been said openly in the media and even to us, from the highest command, that the
purpose of establishing Saddam's fighters is to attack American targets and American interests.
This is known. There's no doubt about it.
All this training is directed towards attacking American targets, and American interests.
The training does not only include hijacking of planes and sabotage. ... Some other people were
trained to do parachuting. Some other areas were training on how to penetrate enemy lines and
get information from behind enemy lines. But it's all for the general concept of hitting and
attacking American targets and American interests.
Q: What was your reaction on September 11 -- that some of these people might be involved?
I assure you, this operation was conducted by people who were trained by Saddam. And I'm going
to keep assuring the world this is what happened. Osama bin Laden has no such capabilities.
Why? Because this kind of attacks must be, and has to be, organized by a capable state, such as
Iraq; a state where they can provide high level of training, and they can provide high level of
intelligence to do such training.
How could Osama bin Laden -- who's hiding in the middle of nowhere in Afghanistan in small caves
and valleys -- train people and gather information and send people to do such high-level
operation? We all know this is a high-level operation. This cannot be done by a person who
does not even own a plane in Afghanistan, who cannot offer such training in
Afghanistan. This is definitely done by a mastermind like Saddam.
Q: And the camp has a 707 that they train on?
Yes, there's a real whole 707 plane, a whole real plane, standing in the middle of the training area
in this camp.
Q: And they train people on how to get access to the cabin, to the crew?
Yes.
Q: And how to take over the plane using weapons? How?
They will get trained on how to get weapons inside the plane. If there is a security weakness that
they know of, they will prefer to get weapons. But I am sure that, before the attack of September
11, those people made a very thorough study. And they learned that getting weapons into the
plane might not be a very good idea. But in this camp, I saw them getting trained on this kind
of situations where security will not allow you to get weapons into the plane -- then
what you need to do is to use all available methods and very advanced terrorizing
method.
These methods are used to terrorize the passengers and the crew of the plane. They are even
trained how to use utensils for food, like forks and knives provided in the plane. ... They are
trained how to plant horror within the passengers by doing such actions. Even pens and pencils
can be used for that purpose they were trained. They can do it, and they can overcome any plane
because they are very well physically trained, and they are very strong, and they can do it. They
can overtake a plane in a very efficient manner. ...
Continued:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/khodada.html
Confirmation April 6, 2003 (see sidebar).
Sabah Khodada was a captain in the Iraqi army from 1982 to 1992. He worked at what he
describes as a highly secret terrorist training camp at Salman Pak (see Khodada's hand-drawn
map of the camp) -- an area south of Baghdad.
(Introduction to Frontline transcript of New York Times interview, October 14, 2001.)
Q: You say that this is a secret camp. But what was it like? Was it something you drove by and
could see on the highway? . . .
The camp is huge. And the locations for the training are far from [where] anybody can see them
from the outside. But even when we have visitors, even at the level of a minister, or even higher
than a minister in the Iraqi government, they will have to drive around the camp or be driven in
the camp inside very specific type of a vehicle. They will sit on the back seat, for example, of this
vehicle and ... in addition to the shaded windows, they will have to pull down curtains and they
snap those curtains on the bottom, to make sure nobody can see anything outside this vehicle
while they're driven around.
Q: What kind of training went on, and who was being
trained?
Training is majorly on terrorism. They would be trained
on assassinations, kidnapping, hijacking of airplanes,
hijacking of buses, public buses, hijacking of trains and
all other kinds of operations related to terrorism.
Q: The people being trained were Iraqis in one group, and non-Iraqis, or foreign nationals, in
another?
Non-Iraqis were trained separately from us. There were strict orders not to meet with them and
not to talk to them. And even when they conduct their training, their training has to occur at
times different from the times when we conduct the Iraqis [in] our own training.
Q: So you were training Iraqis, Saddam's fedayeen, members of the militia in Iraq. And
someone else, other groups, were training the non-Iraqis?
They were special trainers or teachers from the Iraqi intelligence and al-Mukhabarat. And
those same trainers or teachers will train the fedayeen, the Iraqi fedayeen, and also the same
group of those teachers will train the non-Iraqis, foreigners who are in the camp. Personally, my
profession is not this kind of training. My profession is to train people on infantry, typical infantry
training, such as training on machine guns, pistols, hand grenades, rocket launchers on the
shoulder and this kind of training. The special training that I'm talking about, such as the
kidnapping and so, is conducted by those trainers who are not from the army; they are from ...
al-Mukhabarat.
Q: So did you find out what kind of training was going on?
I don't necessarily know what kind of training they do, but they were trained exactly at the same
locations, and they were trained by the same teachers who were training ... [the fighters for]
Saddam. Training includes hijacking and kidnapping of airplanes, trains, public buses, and
planting explosives in cities, sabotaging villages, sabotaging houses, assassinations.
And the training also included how to prepare for suicidal operations. For example, they will train
them how to belt themselves around with explosives, and jump in a place and explode themselves
out as part of the suicidal training. I think the trainings of the Arabs was much harsher, and much
stricter, than the training of the Iraqis.
Q: And they trained people to hijack airplanes?
Yes.
Q: For what purpose?
... It has been said openly in the media and even to us, from the highest command, that the
purpose of establishing Saddam's fighters is to attack American targets and American interests.
This is known. There's no doubt about it.
All this training is directed towards attacking American targets, and American interests.
The training does not only include hijacking of planes and sabotage. ... Some other people were
trained to do parachuting. Some other areas were training on how to penetrate enemy lines and
get information from behind enemy lines. But it's all for the general concept of hitting and
attacking American targets and American interests.
Q: What was your reaction on September 11 -- that some of these people might be involved?
I assure you, this operation was conducted by people who were trained by Saddam. And I'm going
to keep assuring the world this is what happened. Osama bin Laden has no such capabilities.
Why? Because this kind of attacks must be, and has to be, organized by a capable state, such as
Iraq; a state where they can provide high level of training, and they can provide high level of
intelligence to do such training.
How could Osama bin Laden -- who's hiding in the middle of nowhere in Afghanistan in small caves
and valleys -- train people and gather information and send people to do such high-level
operation? We all know this is a high-level operation. This cannot be done by a person who
does not even own a plane in Afghanistan, who cannot offer such training in
Afghanistan. This is definitely done by a mastermind like Saddam.
Q: And the camp has a 707 that they train on?
Yes, there's a real whole 707 plane, a whole real plane, standing in the middle of the training area
in this camp.
Q: And they train people on how to get access to the cabin, to the crew?
Yes.
Q: And how to take over the plane using weapons? How?
They will get trained on how to get weapons inside the plane. If there is a security weakness that
they know of, they will prefer to get weapons. But I am sure that, before the attack of September
11, those people made a very thorough study. And they learned that getting weapons into the
plane might not be a very good idea. But in this camp, I saw them getting trained on this kind
of situations where security will not allow you to get weapons into the plane -- then
what you need to do is to use all available methods and very advanced terrorizing
method.
These methods are used to terrorize the passengers and the crew of the plane. They are even
trained how to use utensils for food, like forks and knives provided in the plane. ... They are
trained how to plant horror within the passengers by doing such actions. Even pens and pencils
can be used for that purpose they were trained. They can do it, and they can overcome any plane
because they are very well physically trained, and they are very strong, and they can do it. They
can overtake a plane in a very efficient manner. ...
Continued:
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Marines Capture
Salman Pak Camp
In the third week of the 2003
war on Iraq, a Marine unit
managed to secure Salman
Pak, meeting little
resistance, and indeed
found evidence of a terrorist
training program.
``The nature of the work
being done by some of those
people we captured . . . give
us the impression that there
is terrorist training that was
conducted at Salman Pak,''
[Central Command
spokesman Brig. Gen.
Vincent] Brooks said . . . .
At a large intersection, on
one corner there was a fire
truck, and another corner
was a large abandoned
passenger plane, bleached
by the sun, its tail broken off.
The Marines inferred it was
used to practice hijacking.
There was also a ravaged
double-decker passenger
bus, speedboats and green
train cars. Storehouses were
filled with gas masks.
-- "U.S. Searches Shattered Iraqi
Guard HQ,” AP, April 6, 2003.
See also: http://www.centcom.
mil/CENTCOMNews/Transcripts/
20030406.htm
Salman Pak Camp
In the third week of the 2003
war on Iraq, a Marine unit
managed to secure Salman
Pak, meeting little
resistance, and indeed
found evidence of a terrorist
training program.
``The nature of the work
being done by some of those
people we captured . . . give
us the impression that there
is terrorist training that was
conducted at Salman Pak,''
[Central Command
spokesman Brig. Gen.
Vincent] Brooks said . . . .
At a large intersection, on
one corner there was a fire
truck, and another corner
was a large abandoned
passenger plane, bleached
by the sun, its tail broken off.
The Marines inferred it was
used to practice hijacking.
There was also a ravaged
double-decker passenger
bus, speedboats and green
train cars. Storehouses were
filled with gas masks.
-- "U.S. Searches Shattered Iraqi
Guard HQ,” AP, April 6, 2003.
See also: http://www.centcom.
mil/CENTCOMNews/Transcripts/
20030406.htm
