Kuwait thwarts bomb plot at base where Hawaii troops stationed
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Kuwaiti authorities reported that they foiled a terrorist plot to use a truck laden with explosive chemicals and fertilizer to attack Camp Arifjan, a base where hundreds of Hawai'i National Guard soldiers are located.
The Hawai'i soldiers are in the process of leaving Kuwait and have been replaced by the Wyoming National Guard.
The Pentagon yesterday said six al-Qaida operatives were arrested in the planned attack, which was scheduled to be carried out at Camp Arifjan next week during the opening days of Ramadan.
Two suspects confessed to the plan to attack the base, which is outside Kuwait City, near the border with Saudi Arabia. It's used as a logistical base and transit point for U.S. troops deploying to and from Iraq, the Pentagon said.
About 1,700 Hawai'i soldiers with the 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are at the tail end of a nine-month deployment to Kuwait.
The soldiers are starting to be routed through Fort Hood, Texas, for outprocessing, and the earliest some soldiers could return to Hawai'i is late Sunday, officials said.
The Pentagon said several other Kuwaiti sites also were targeted in the planned attack. A Kuwaiti newspaper reported the terrorists were also planning to blow up the state security service building and other facilities.
Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony, a Hawai'i National Guard spokesman, said the 29th Brigade headquarters is at Camp Arifjan. Kuwait is relatively safe, but that security remains high.
"One has to always be vigilant when you are in that (region) because you know that no matter where you are at, whatever base you are at, it's going to be probed in some way," Anthony said. "In other words, there will be people looking for vulnerabilities."
The Associated Press said six Kuwaitis and foreign nationals are serving life sentences after being convicted in 2007 of planning attacks on U.S. troops and Kuwaiti security personnel.
In 2003, a fundamentalist killed an American contractor near a U.S. base in Kuwait, and in 2002, two Kuwaitis opened fire on U.S. Marines training on Failaka Island, killing one, according to the news service.
