[justshutupandtakeit]

Thanks. My understanding was that Ansar al-Islam was fighting the Kurds for Saddam.

[Jacob Kell]

Ansar was fighting the secular Kurdish groups of the KDP and PUK, who were common enemies of it and Saddam. And you know the old saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".

[simonX]

"...Ansar al-Islam was fighting the Kurds for Saddam."

I suspect that in an effort to set up an independent Islamist Kurdish state inside the borders of Iraq that they would have run into some opposition from Hussein's secular government.
While Ansar al-Islam has been fighting the secular PUK they are also opposed to the Baathists.

I believe that both the PUK and Ansar al Islam have reorted to giving up info on the other to the Baathists im hopes that the Baathists would attack their enemy for them.

Most of our intelligence on Ansar al-Islam comes from their enemies, the PUK. The PUK have a vested interest in getting US backing and aid against their enemies. The info provided by the PUK should be carefully vetted so as to avoid the kind of mistake that Clinton made in Sudan.