THE PERSIAN GULF: A Kuwaiti soldier arrested on charges of spying for Iraq has revealed plans to poison US troops based in Kuwait, raising already high tensions in the Gulf as American forces prepare for war.
From Jack Fairweather,
in Kuwait
The man, named by security forces as Mohammed al-Juwaied (40), a sergeant of Iraqi origin, was arrested nearly a week ago as he returned from a meeting with Iraqi intelligence officers in Dubai where he had passed over details of the food catering arrangements of the US military camps in Kuwait.
Al-Juwaied is quoted by Kuwaiti government officials who arrested him as saying he intended "to kill the largest possible number of US soldiers in Kuwait" by administering an undisclosed chemical agent to food supplies.
Al-Juwaied's arrest has prevented the single biggest security breach since the build-up of US forces began in the Gulf in what might have become a possible trigger for military action to begin against Iraq. Reports were denied that a case of food poisoning before Christmas in which several troops went to hospital might be the result of tampering although the case is still being investigated.
A senior western diplomat said a successful poisoning attack on US troops in Kuwait, if linked to Baghdad, would have "grave consequences" for the Iraqi regime.