More coalition troops in Iraq will help U.S. 'hunter' teams

WASHINGTON -- The arrival of more coalition troops in Iraq will free American military teams to look for Saddam Hussein's loyalists and Islamic extremists, President Bush said Friday.

Bush predicted more countries would join the nearly 30 who have provided more than 22,000 troops in Iraq. Those foreign troops, Bush said, would help "guard the infrastructure."

"That'll help free up our hunter teams," Bush told reporters during a visit to Seattle.

The president said "al-Qaida-type fighters" had entered Iraq to attack the U.S.-led coalition.

"They want to fight us there because they can't stand the thought of a free society in the Middle East," Bush said. "They hate freedom. They hate the thought of a democracy emerging. And, therefore, they want to violently prevent that from happening."

U.S. officials say the violent foreigners entering Iraq are coming from Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran. Some coming from Saudi Arabia appear to be fleeing the kingdom's crackdown on militants there.

Foreign fighters in Iraq are estimated to number in the high hundreds or low thousands. Some are believed to have al-Qaida sympathies, but it is unknown how many have direct ties to Osama bin Laden's organization.

An al-Qaida leader recently called for Muslims to travel to Iraq and attack the U.S.-led occupation.

Coalition authorities are concerned these foreign fighters are hooking up with remnants of Ansar al-Islam, the Kurdish group from northern Iraq that had ties to al-Qaida. The group, which had no proven ties to Saddam's regime, was bombed heavily during the war, but its members may be serving as guides and fixers for the foreign fighters.

Foreign fighters

Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said Thursday that Ansar had apparently regrouped and established itself in Baghdad.

Officials have said they don't know to what degree, if any, the foreigners are working with guerrillas who previously served in Saddam's regime.

Meanwhile Friday, Pentagon officials said a shadowy Iraqi group's claim to have kidnapped two American soldiers was bogus.

On Friday morning in Baghdad, a Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. worker found an envelope containing two ID cards and a statement saying the soldiers had been captured in a raid on a convoy west of Baghdad.

Both soldiers were safe and never had gone missing, U.S. military officials said. One, Maj. Andrew C. Peters, is recovering in a Texas Army hospital after being injured in a land mine explosion in Iraq on Aug. 1.

Peters' Pennsylvania driver's license was one of the two identification cards given to the Lebanese network.

"It's definitely a surprise," said Col. David Ellis, the acting commander of Brooke Army Medical Center, where Peters had surgery Friday. "He's a good patient and is doing well."

Still unclear is whether the "Al-Madina al-Munawara Division," which made the kidnapping claim, is a real group of former Iraqi troops.

Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard had a unit by that name -- but it was pounded by U.S. forces during fighting in March and April and largely destroyed.

The private Lebanese station showed video close-ups of the cards. One was the driver's license for Peters, 37, of Indiana, Pa. He had lost it when the land mine blast injured his right arm and leg.

The other card carried the name and photo of Capt. Katherine V. Rose of the 142nd Corps Support Battalion, a unit based at Fort Polk, La., which has been deployed to Iraq. The card was not an official military ID and appeared to be a business card.

"The report is not true. Both soldiers are accounted for," said Spc. Anthony Reinoso, an Army spokesman in Iraq.

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Associated Press writer John J. Lumpkin contributed to this report.