Joint Operations Room Controls Baghdad's Security

SULEIMANIYA, Iraq (6 February): IBC sources in Baghdad reveal that the Joint Operations Room for the National Security Council of the Iraqi regime, which coordinates the various security forces that keep order in the capital, is situated in the Presidential Palace. It is under the command of Saddam's second son Qusay. The officers assigned to the JOR are drawn from the Special Security Organisation (SSO). The JOR is linked to the following units by a computer network using a WAN ( Wide Area Network) :

1. The rapid intervention brigade of the General Security Directorate .

2. The rapid intervention battalion of the Department of Military Intelligence.

3. The security battalion of Military Intelligence.

4. The rapid intervention brigade of the Special Republican Guards.

5. The technical department of the Iraqi Intelligence Service ( IIS ).

The WAN is governed by a hierarchical method of passwords of computer security with the lowest level of security assigned to the General Security Directorate brigade .

The deployment and movement of the above-mentioned units within the city of Baghdad is strictly controlled by the JOR and according to a daily schedule drafted by the National Security Council which is under the chairmanship of Saddam.

The computer technology was smuggled to Iraq from Jordan in the spring of 1996 in contravention of the UN sanctions on the regime.

The pre-eminent role of Qusay in the National Security Council is another example of his rising star as the security super-chief for his father.