VIKING HAMMER (AND THE UGLY BABY)

01.Masters of Chaos Pages 8/17/04 12:00 PM Page 321
Viking Hammer (and the Ugly Baby)
and set to work in the suspected chemical facility. The 081 had already
unearthed chemical hazard suits, atropine injectors, and manuals written
in Arabic on how to make chemical munitions, improvised explosive
devices, and mines from mortars. Field tests showed traces of ricin and
potassium chloride. The evidence would be thoroughly analyzed in the
United States, but it appeared as though there had been at least crude
experimentation with chemical materials and bomb-making.
One eerie detail puzzled the medics of 081. Most of the bodies were
found carrying an antibiotic commonly used to treat upper respiratory
infections. Had something in Sargat made them sick? The captain was
concerned when each of his men who went into Sargat also became ill
in the following days with chills and symptoms of stomach flu. The men
went on to their next battle on the Green Line, but the captain had
blood samples drawn just in case the investigation turned up firm evidence
of a toxic substance.
It was not the job of ODA 081 to draw conclusions about what it had
found; its mission was to capture Sargat and secure any prisoners and
evidence. The analysis and official conclusions were the province of the
intelligence agencies—but the men had enough training to add up what
they had seen and reach their own personal conclusions. They did not
know whether Baghdad had been involved, but the central fact seemed
indisputable, that this was indeed a major terrorist outpost. The large
number of armed Arabs who had been there, the evidence of frequent
travel, and signs of linkages to other radical groups all strongly indicated
that Sargat was an international terrorist training camp, much like those
that Al Qaeda had run in Afghanistan.
Logical conjecture supported this conclusion. The skill and tenacity
of the fighters encountered here suggested that they were experienced
or at least were trained by professionals. It was reasonable to suppose
that Al Qaeda would have searched for an alternative training site and
base after the United States forces routed it from Afghanistan in late
2001. This location was ideal, and Ansar al-Islam may have been formed
or cultivated precisely to provide a haven for Al Qaeda militants fleeing
Afghanistan. While some of those militants had fled into Pakistan, there
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