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Inside Saddam's security
network
By David Isenberg
One
often hears that the people of Iraq chafe under the
dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein and would love
nothing more than to see him overthrown. And indeed, as
despicable dictators go, he would be at the top of
anyone’s list of disposable despots. And yet, despite
numerous attempted coups, military plots, uprising by
Kurds and Shi'ite Muslims, plots by the US and other
foreign intelligence agencies, he still rules. He just
keeps ruling and ruling and ruling. Why is this?
The answer is simple, though not very well
explained. Not only is he a dictator, but Saddam is also
an efficiently ruthless ruler, and over the years he has
constructed an array of intelligence and security
services dedicated to preserving his rule by any and all
means necessary. His regime puts the total in
totalitarian, as in the classical dictionary definition
"a form of government in which the political authority
exercises absolute and centralized control over all
aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the
state, and opposing political and cultural expression is
suppressed".
Saddam heads an effective
dictatorship whose apparatus of repression is
extraordinarily efficient. He has not been in power for
20 years by being careless. As one US Central
Intelligence Agency officer noted, "Saddam's 40-year
career profile fits that of a predator bent on survival,
an assassin, party thug, intelligence operative and
regime strongman before becoming president. As both
hunter and hunted, he knows the buildings, rooms and
closets of the Iraqi gulag." To that end, he has created
a complex, multilayered and overlapping security and
intelligence apparatus.
The primary role of this
extensive security system is, of course, to keep Saddam
in power. Iraq's security men have mastered this task.
In short, Saddam Hussein isn't going to meekly wait for
a US-sponsored overthrow. He has placed loyal family
members and followers from his native Tikrit region in
every key position of the Iraqi infrastructure -
particularly in the officer corps of the military and
intelligence and security services. To forestall plots
against him, Saddam has such groups spying on each
other. By coming to power through violence, Saddam
follows the principle of "kill or be killed". He has
even murdered longtime friends and associates - such as
in 1996 when he had two sons-in-law executed.
Understanding these state organs of control is
necessary to understand just how entrenched Saddam's
rule is. Even if he is defeated in battle, remaking Iraq
will have to take into account dealing with these
agencies.
An article by Ibrahim Al-Marashi in
the September issue of the Middle East Review of
International Affairs notes that "Iraq's security
apparatus, commonly referred to as the Mukhabarat, is
one of the main instruments of state control for
Saddam's regime and has been instrumental in its
survival despite two costly wars plus numerous internal
insurrections, coup attempts and crippling international
sanctions".
The Mukhabarat is not a monolithic
unit. Instead it is a vast, complex labyrinth of
security organizations with their own intelligence and
military units pervading all layers of Iraqi society.
The number and size of these agencies have grown
dramatically since the Baath Party takeover of Iraq in
1968. The five main agencies are the al-Amn al-Khas
(Special Security), al-Amn al-Amm (General Security),
al-Mukhabarat (General Intelligence), al-Istikhbarat
(Military Intelligence) and al-Amn al-Askari (Military
Security). In addition, there are myriad Baath security
agencies, civil police forces, paramilitary militias and
special military units that protect the regime.
All five intelligence agencies are headquartered
in Baghdad, but General Intelligence, Military
Intelligence and General Security maintain field offices
in numerous provinces, cities and towns of Iraq.
Generally, Military Intelligence and Military Security
deal exclusively with military matters, while General
Security focuses on the civilian domain. The following
description draws heavily from Al-Marashi’s article.
Al-Amn al-Khas (Special Security)
The Special Security Service (SSS) coordinates the
efforts of Iraq's various organizations that protect
Saddam. The SSS has a political branch that monitors all
suspect citizens. The service has an operations unit
that can arrest, interrogate and execute suspects. The
service’s special branch essentially acts as a watchdog
that ensures the loyalty of the members of the SSS and
other top intelligence and security officials. The SSS
also has a paramilitary security force called the Amm
Al-Khass Brigade that cooperates closely with and
monitors the Special Republican Guards, who in turn
would provide the SSS with heavy units in the event of a
serious military coup.
The SSS was created
during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s and emerged as the
most powerful agency in the security apparatus within
General Security in 1982 to provide bodyguards to the
president after a failed assassination attempt. There
are an estimated 5,000 members in this organization,
mostly from the towns of Tikrit, Huwayja and Samarra.
Members of this bureau enjoy a higher standard of living
than the elements of the other agencies.
The
responsibilities of Special Security can be roughly
classified as follows: providing security for the
president, at all times, especially during travel and
public meetings; securing all presidential facilities,
such as palaces and offices; supervising other security
and intelligence services; monitoring government
ministries and the leadership of the armed forces;
supervising internal security operations against the
Kurdish and Shi'ite opposition; purchasing foreign arms
and technology; securing Iraq's most critical military
industries; and directing efforts to conceal Iraq's
weapons of mass destruction programs.
The
director-general of Special Security supervises its
special bureau, political bureau and administration
bureau, the agency's own military brigade and the
Special Republican Guard. Its own military brigade
serves as a rapid response unit independent of the
military establishment or Special Republican Guard. In
the event of a coup attempt from within the regular
military or Republican Guard, Special Security can
easily call up the Special Republican Guard for
reinforcements as this unit is also under its control.
The operations of Special Security are numerous,
particularly in suppressing domestic opposition to the
regime. After its creation, Special Security thwarted a
plot of disgruntled army officers who objected to
Saddam's management of the Iran-Iraq War. It preempted
other coups, such as the January 1990 attempt by members
of the Jubur tribe to assassinate him. It played an
active role in crushing the March 1991 Shi'ite rebellion
in the south of Iraq. Along with General Intelligence,
Special Security agents infiltrated the Kurdish enclave
in the north of Iraq in August 1996 to hunt down
operatives of the Iraqi opposition.
Al-Amn
al-'Amm (General Security) This is the oldest
security agency in the country, dating back to 1921 when
it was created during the British Mandate era. In 1973,
Nadhim Kazzar, head of General Security, attempted a
coup against both President Hassan al-Bakr and then vice
president Saddam Hussein. After this coup attempt,
Saddam arranged for Russia's KGB to aid in a
reorganization and modernization of General Security.
The size of it is estimated to be 8,000 personnel. As a
policy, Saddam staffs General Security with relatives,
members of the Tikriti clan, or members of Sunni tribes.
In 1980, Saddam appointed Ali Hassan al-Majid, who would
later be the architect of the regime's anti-Kurdish
campaign, as its director to instill the ideology of the
Baath Party into the agency. General Security was given
more political intelligence responsibilities during the
Iran-Iraq War.
General Security is essentially a
political security police force whose activities are:
detecting dissent among the Iraqi general public;
reacting to political "criminal behavior"; and
preventing economic criminal activity. It monitors the
day-to-day lives of the population, creating a pervasive
local presence. It maintains an extensive filing system
of personal files - such as birth certificates and
marriage records - of Iraqi citizens. The agency
operates an extensive network of informers, under the
1970 "Law of Securing the Trustworthy in Defending the
Revolution". General Security coordinates its operations
with the civilian police force and maintains a unit in
every police station.
The headquarters of
General Security are located in Baghdad, from which it
guides the work of branches in each Iraqi governate.
Saddam provided it with a paramilitary wing known as
Quwat al-Tawari (Emergency Forces) after the 1991 Gulf
War to reinforce law and order. The investigations
directorate of General Security maintains a large
network of informants, while its technical directorate
monitors daily telephone conversations and radio
frequencies. Its intra-intelligence unit, the security
office, is responsible for surveillance of other members
and countering any dissent within the organization.
The General Intelligence Service
(GIS) This organization, also known as the
Iraqi Intelligence Service – the Mukhabarat - is the
intelligence and security service of the Baath party.
The organization grew directly out of the clandestine
Baath Party security organization built up by Saddam
Hussein in the 1960s and became the General Intelligence
Service in the early 1970s. Saddam originally rose to
power as head of the Baath security apparatus and has
made it the lead agency in consolidating his grip on
power. General Intelligence is estimated to have
approximately 8,000 members, though no one is certain.
General Intelligence is roughly divided into a
department responsible for internal operations,
coordinated through provincial offices, and another
responsible for international operations, conducted from
various Iraqi embassies. Its internal activities
include: monitoring the Baath Party, as well as other
political parties; monitoring other grass roots
organizations, including youth, women and union groups;
suppressing Shi'ite, Kurdish and other opposition;
counter-espionage; targeting threatening individuals and
groups inside of Iraq; monitoring foreign embassies in
Iraq; monitoring foreigners in Iraq; and maintaining an
internal network of informants.
It also operates
overseas. Its external activities include: monitoring
Iraqi embassies abroad; collecting overseas
intelligence; aiding opposition groups in hostile
regimes; conducting sabotage, subversion, and terrorist
operations against hostile neighboring countries such as
Syria and Iran; murder of opposition elements outside of
Iraq; infiltrating Iraqi opposition groups abroad;
providing disinformation and attempts to exploit or use
Arab and other media; and maintaining an international
network of informants, using popular organizations as
well such as the Union of Iraqi Students.
Mudiriyyat al-Istikhabarat
al-Askariyya al-Amma (General Military Intelligence
Directorate) This unit traces its origins
to the time of the Iraqi monarchy. It was created in
1932, at the time of Iraq's independence. It focuses on
foreign military threats, but also is responsible for
internal security within the Iraqi military. It is
responsible for detecting "enemy" infiltration in the
armed forces. Since military service is compulsory for
all male adults, this agency is sanctioned to target
virtually all of the regime's domestic opponents. It has
approximately 4,000 to 6,000 members.
The
responsibilities of Military Intelligence include:
tactical and strategic reconnaissance of regimes hostile
to Iraq; assessing threats of a military nature to Iraq;
monitoring the Iraqi military and ensuring the loyalty
of the officer corps; maintaining a network of
informants in Iraq and abroad, including foreign
personnel and military human intelligence; and
protection of military and military-industrial
facilities.
The primary functions of Military
Intelligence are ensuring the loyalty of the military
and gathering military intelligence, but it is also
involved in foreign operations, including assassinations
of opponents to the regime.
Al-Amn
Al-Askari (Military Security Service, MSS)
This organization emerged out of Military Intelligence
in 1992 following the growing signs of unrest within the
military forces. The MSS now has officers in virtually
every Iraqi military unit and performs both an internal
security and anti-corruption function. Like many Iraqi
intelligence and security services, the organization has
its own paramilitary unit and a special internal
security unit.
Initially constituted as part of
the Special Bureau of Military Intelligence in 1992,
Saddam established al-Amn al-Askari as an independent
entity reporting directly to the presidential palace
rather than military command or the ministry of defense.
This unit was created after Saddam detected disturbances
in the military.
It is responsible for detecting
and countering dissent in the Iraqi armed forces;
investigating corruption and embezzlement within the
armed services; and monitoring all formations and units
in the armed forces. Its task of internal security and
detecting dissension in the armed forces was designed to
overlap with some of the functions of Military
Intelligence. Part of this strategy included
infiltrating loyal officers into every military unit.
Like other agencies, it has its own military brigade.
The Special Republican
Guard This is also referred to as the
Republican Guard Special Protection Forces and comprises
up to 26,000 men. It is under a military command
structure that reports directly to Saddam and acts as a
palace guard. That force’s mission is to protect Saddam
Hussein. As the guard expanded rapidly during the
Iran-Iraq War, it was created to serve as a praetorian
guard. It provides protection for all presidential
sites, including offices and personal residences, as
well as escorting Saddam when he is traveling within
Iraq. It is organized into four brigades, with three
brigades guarding the northern, southern and western
routes into Baghdad. Additionally, it has an artillery
and air defense command.
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