Iraqi Bombing Suspect Paid $10K to Pass Checkpoints

By the Associated Press

Posted Aug 23, 2009 3:42 PM CDT

(AP) – Attackers paid $10,000 to get a bomb-laden truck past checkpoints and next to the Iraqi Finance Ministry in last week's attacks, one of the suspected masterminds said in a confession broadcast today. Seeking to fend off widespread criticism over security lapses, the Iraqi military released what it said was the confession of a Sunni man it identified as the planner of one of the two suicide truck bombings targeting government buildings in Baghdad.

The attackers paid $10,000 to a facilitator who knew the Iraqi security forces manning the checkpoints, the suspect said, adding that the operation, which killed nearly 30 people, was ordered a month ago by a Baath Party operative in Syria in a bid "to destabilize the regime." The link to Syria and the Baathists is politically explosive. The question of what to do with Saddam-era officials in the civil service, army and police has been at the heart of the Sunni-Shiite divide in Iraq.

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (1)]

Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, right, presents a videotaped confession of a Sunni man, on the screen at left, identified as the mastermind of a suicide bombing in Baghdad, Iraq. (Karim Kadim)

This 57-year-old suspect identified himself as Wisam Ali Khazim Ibrahim and said he was a former police officer from the Diyala province city of Muqdadiyah, north of Baghdad. (Karim Kadim)

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Many of us believe that one way that this can come unwound is through sectarian violence. The message is that the Iraqi leadership really has to take control and ensure security in their country. - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen

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