Marc Lerner in the Washington Times - Terrorists contacted Iraq envoy after blast:
CEBU, Philippines - A senior Iraqi diplomat was in contact with Muslim terrorists in the southern Philippines hours after they killed a U.S. soldier and injured another in a bombing in October, according to Philippine officials and intelligence sources.OK, so when does the shooting start?
Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople said Iraqi diplomat Husham Hussein took a phone call from a member of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, the terrorist group blamed for the bombing Oct. 2 outside a military base in the southern city of Zamboanga.
"It appeared that immediately after the bombing, there was a call to the embassy" by an Abu Sayyaf guerrilla, Mr. Ople told reporters in Manila, citing a "highly detailed" report from the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.
"The call was to Hussein," Mr. Ople said. "So I have put the Iraqi Embassy on notice that these activities are monitored by the intelligence community."
Samir Bolus, second in command at the Iraqi Embassy in Manila, denied the assertion. But after a meeting with Mr. Ople on Monday, he agreed to instruct Mr. Hussein to "cease and desist from actions inconsistent with his diplomatic status."
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The U.S. Embassy in Manila called Mr. Ople's announcement "very disturbing but hardly surprising."
