The Iraqi National Security Adviser, Dr. Muwaffaq al-Rubaei, announced that hundreds of Saudi extremists who infiltrated Iraq across the Syrian border -- many of them wanted by authorities in the Kingdom for their involvement in terrorist activities – have been detained, and that twice as many have been killed in terrorist actions in Iraq. [Full Story in Arabic]



In an interview by the journalist Abdullah Al-Urayfi in the Saudi newspaper Okaz, Dr. Rubaie revealed that the Iraqi security and intelligence agencies have collected detailed information on terrorists, including their names, photographs and telephone numbers, and have confined them to the border areas. And during his next visit to the Kingdom he will bring a complete dossier with detailed information on Saudi terrorist detainees in Iraq, and turn them over to Saudi security officials, since Riyadh and Baghdad are fighting the same war against terrorism, which crosses all borders without discrimination.

And the Iraqi Security Adviser confirmed that there are no impediments to the surrender of the Saudi detainees to the Saudi government, since Saudi Arabia has undertaken arrangements and measures to ''dry the wells'' that provide funding to terrorism, and applied pressure on its borders to prevent suicide bombers from infiltrating into Iraq.



And he digressed to state that Iraq is approaching the point – within a few months – of announcing its victory over Al-Qa'ida and its expulsion from Iraq. And he confirmed that the intellectual, political and media campaign to combat ''excommunicationist'' (“takfiri”) thought and refute Al-Qa'ida's ideology will begin this year.



Rubaie lauded the Saudi security forces’ victories over terrorists and extremists, commenting that they have developed extremely advanced expertise in this area, and have become outstanding in their response to requests of neighboring countries for greater cooperation in efforts to counteract those who are called “returnees from Iraq,” who are returning to their own countries to carry out terrorist actions there.



Rubaie visited the Kingdom last July, at the head of an Iraqi security and intelligence delegation that met with Interior Minister, Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, and the head of the general intelligence, Prince Maqran bin Abdulaziz.



The text of the interview follows:



Aafaq: How is security cooperation between the Kingdom and Iraq proceeding in the matter of fighting terrorism and the adoption of the terrorist ideology of the Al-Qa'ida Organization?



Rubaie: First, I congratulate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the tremendous victories that it has achieved in its war against terrorism. There can be no doubt that the expertise that the Saudi security forces have developed is extremely high and has contributed to these victories.



There is security and intelligence coordination with our brothers in the Kingdom on the premise that our battle is one and the same, and that terrorism no long respects borders, and that it crosses them without a "visa.'' We in Iraq have made the observation that some of the foreign fighters come from the Kingdom, but that this number is now much less than it was before.



Aafaq: Do they come across the border of the Kingdom with Iraq, or across your borders with other countries?



Rubaie: No, not across the borders with the Kingdom, but across the Iraqi-Syrian border. The truth is that the Saudi border with Iraq is secure, in an excellent state of security.



The second observation is represented by the movement of funds -- and we note that it is very important to the nourishing and funding of terrorism -- and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken very many steps and preparations and carried them out in fact and put an end to the movement of the funds that support the terrorists.



The third observation is that the Kingdom has also taken a number of steps with which we have agreed, and which were excellent, in surveillance of travels of certain young men of certain ages to some areas, which enabled them to go on afterward to Iraq.



The truth is that after my visit to meet with Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz and my brothers Prince Ahmad, Prince Maqran and Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, we found that there is good cooperation, persistence and coordination of the first quality. I believe that this coordination is the model to be followed between Iraq and other countries for the sake of unifying our security efforts in fighting terrorism.



Aafaq: You spoke of three principal axes and measures that the Kingdom has taken in its war on terrorism ... but what did you do on your part, as the Iraqi government, to counteract terrorism?



Rubaie: We in Iraq must look back on where we were and where we have come to be now. A year ago we were on the brink of a cliff and experiencing a civil war. Today we have exited completely from the specter of a civil war and life is now normal in Baghdad, Anbar, Diyala and Kirkuk, in the areas that were known as hot.



I tell you sincerely that all of the numbers show and prove that the suicide bombers and car bombs and the weapons that we control, and the terrorists we have detained and the terrorists' ammunition that we have captured, that we have arrived at the end of the phase, and have realized major and outstanding achievements in the war against terrorism.



The important thing that I may tell you now is that we are not far from the stage of announcing our total victory over al-Qa`ida. We are prepared now to announce that the final battles with Al-Qa`ida are confined to the north and west of Iraq, and this is the last chapter in the final expulsion of al-Qa`ida from Iraq. I do not say that we will not see a car bomb driven by a suicide bomber in Iraq after this battle, but we will announce our final victory over al-Qa`ida after this final battle, God willing.



Aafaq: Is there is there a set time frame for the realization of your great victory over the remnants of the Al-Qa`ida organization in Iraq?



Rubaie: I am able to confirm two things: The first issue is that we will announce our final victory over Al-Qa`ida within the next few months. The second is that we will complete the building up of our security, military and intelligence forces before the end of the current year, and that we will be able to dispense completely with the presence of foreign forces after that.



Aafaq: Iraq was and continues to be in an unenviable security situation, as it is evaluated by your brothers in the Kingdom ... And what about the status of the Saudi and foreign detainees in the prisons inside of Iraq ... What will be their fate?



Rubaie: There are a number of types of detainees. There are those who are prisoners in Iraqi prisons, who have been convicted and are spending the years of their imprisonment in Iraqi prisons.



There are negotiations and debates with their governments, whether over the sharing of information, first, or whether they want them to be returned to their countries or origin, and that is not far. There is the kind of prisoner where we share the information who will be represented before the Iraqi courts. And there are the detainees in the prisons of the occupation forces, and we have entered into negotiation with the forces, which will end on July 31, 2008.



These include bilateral negotiations between ourselves and the United States, and the fate of these detainees will be decided in light of the agreement between Iraq and the United States.



Aafaq: And will the detainees held by the Americans in Iraq be surrendered to Iraqi security, or will they be returned to their countries ... or what?



Rubaie: Anything is possible. But their submission to Iraqi judgment is the most likely. If we do not have enough prison space, perhaps we will begin negotiations with their countries to return them, if we sat that as appropriate to the security of Iraq and the region.



Aafaq: You know that Saudi security has had successful experience with confining the deceived and naive from among the prisoners who were influenced by the ideas of Al-Qa'ida and returning them again to society after rehabilitating them and correcting their ideas. And in Dhahran there is experience with Saudi returnees from Guantanamo. I would like to ask you if there are obstacles to returning Saudi detainees in Iraq, whether held by the Iraqi government or the occupation forces, to the Kingdom?



Rubaie: I do not believe that there is a fundamental factor that prevents this. We are in continuing discussions with our brothers in Saudi Arabia to solve this problem, and we completely agree with their point of view. After the end of the pilgrimage season I will communicate with my brothers in the Kingdom and will undertake a visit and open all of the dossiers to the security officials there, for we are proud of the accomplishments of the Saudi security forces in fighting against terrorism. We and the Kingdom are on the same side in fighting terrorism.



Aafaq: Following up on that, what is the total number of Saudi detainees in Iraq?



Rubaie: I am not able to speak publicly about that issue, but I can say and am pleased to say and we have given and we give and speak of the lists of Saudi detainees (including women) who are under the control of the occupation forces and in prisons of the Iraqi government ... we give our brothers in the Kingdom their complete names, photographs and details of the crimes that they committed here in Iraq, and engage in continuous dialog, and during my coming visit to the Kingdom, I will give the officials a list with further details and information. We believe in the exchange of information with our brothers, because we and the Kingdom are on the same side against terrorism.



Aafaq: And what is the number of Saudi detainees?



Rubaie: I am not able to reveal the numbers because it is not in the national interest that I speak about this, but I do confirm to you that it is several hundred.



Aafaq: Does the number of detainees exceed 1000?



Rubaie: I told you that I do not want to give numbers, and then confirmed to you that twice the number detained were killed, killed by the security forces during terrorist actions.



Aafaq: How did Iraq become the main base for terrorism and the place that attracted terrorists from all parts of the world?



Rubaie: There are a number of reasons, and the most important one was the security vacuum after the fall of the previous regime, and that is what created a huge security vacuum, especially after the dissolution of the security apparatuses of that regime. Then, there was a governmental vacuum for several months before the formation of the governing council. Then, there was the presence of foreign forces on the territory of countries in the area which was used by exttremists attempting to use it as a pretext.



Aafaq: Who supports Al-Qa'ida and the suspect organizations in Iraq and who funds its terrorist activities?



Rubaie: There are two kinds of funding. The first is internal, through thefts and financial and administrative corruption in some quarters in Iraq, and through kidnappings and payment of ransoms, etc. The second is external, especially some misled merchants and wealthy persons who fund Al-Qa`ida and the extremists and are misled by them.



Aafaq: But there are charges and accusations against Iran, that Iran is the main supporter of Al-Qa'ida, its objective being the fueling instability in Iraq, and chaos and the settling of with the Americans. Do you agree?



Rubaie: I believe that, previously, Iraq did engage in the funding of militias and special groups, which was a factor that was not helpful to Iraqi security. This caused confusion and instability.



In the past few months Iran has undertaken steps to stop sending assistance to certain militias and has also stopped supporting certain politicians and militias in Baghdad and the south of Iraq, which has been conducive to a calming of the security situation.



Aafaq: How can Iraq establish control of its borders, sufficient to counteract all infiltration and smuggling across the borders it shares with its neighbors?



Rubaie: Over the past four years we have been able to build an excellent border security system, and at present we have more than 150 border posts, which are supplied with modern equipment. We have tens of thousands of border guards and now we are prepared to purchase surveillance aircraft to watch the borders, and will finish constructing this border security system within the next few months, God willing.



Aafaq: What about the maintenance and preservation of security of the borders you share with the Kingdom?



Rubaie: Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz has confirmed to us that the Saudi borders are under extremely strong surveillance, and that the Kingdom is prepared to build an ''insulating'' barrier along the border between our two countries to prevent infiltration and smuggling of different kinds.



Aafaq: How can you prevent the infiltration of Saudi terrorists from Iraq into Saudi Arabia and returning to commit violent and criminal acts?



Rubaie: Permit me to tell you something. We have now begun the stage that we call ''the returnees from Iraq'' to their own countries after we have put pressure on them here.



The scope of action for terrorists is much narrower than it was before. We have pushed them in the directions of the border areas, from Baghdad to the border areas with Syria, the Kingdom, Iran and Turkey.



We rely on these countries to cooperate with us on security, coordination and intelligence, and we give them information on these terrorists before they try to infiltrate into those countries, especially when we have detailed information on the terrorists, including their pictures, names, their telephone numbers, and all forms of information on them. With the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, especially, we are fighting the same battle with terrorism.



Aafaq: Finally ... you said that in the next few months you will announce your victory over the Al-Qa`ida Organization in Iraq. But what about the fight against the ideology of Al-Qa`ida and ideas of excommunication (takfir) and bombing, because, if these continue, then recruitment will continue?



That is very true. The fact is that our agencies have not accomplished much so far in fighting excommunicationist (tafkiri) thought and the ideology of Al-Qa`ida. Now we are ready to prepare this campaign during 2008 on the intellectual and media and political level to refute these ideas in Iraq.