Ah, no they were not kurds, they were in kurdish territory. And Saddam still controls many parts of that area, he just can't fly ove rthem. If I'm Saddam and I want to give terrorists a place to train and materials, my first thought would be to put them in the kurdish area . Then when it gets found out, I (as Saddam) can say, "gee thats kurdish territory, wasn't me"