Saddam the Terror Master

A Des Plaines man is on trial in Chicago as an Iraqi sleeper agent under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Sun Times:

A former officer in Saddam Hussein's intelligence service testified Tuesday that a former airline employee now living in suburban Chicago spied on critics of the Iraqi dictator.

The accusation came at the opening of the trial of Sami Latchin, 59, an Iraqi-born American citizen accused of being a ''sleeper agent'' sent here to keep track of the former regime's enemies.

Muhammad Al-Dani testified that he was the Washington station chief of the intelligence service operated by the dictator.

The extent of Saddam's clandestine activities in the US is an underreported story. And as Captain's Quarters has pointed out, Sami Latchin was a deep cover agent, living in the US for eleven years, an airline employee:

Now this seems fairly important regarding the Iraq question. If Iraq had sleeper cells in the US, with their agents waiting for instructions from their handlers, one has to wonder what those instructions eventually would be. Deep-cover agents are not typically used for information-gathering exercises -- they initiate aggressive action, and they're dangerous because they appear out of nowhere.

We only found out from documents obtained after our invasion of Iraq. Tribune:

Secret documents that fell into American hands after the 2003 invasion of Iraq point to Latchin as an Iraqi operative, first in Greece and then in the Chicago area, Assistant U.S. Atty. James Conway told jurors.

The trial continues, but one thing is clear. Saddam was a terror master. And he was threatening us here at home.