Same news source reported the recent arrival of 7,000 US troops in Iraq, attributing it to unnamed sources.
They are a mixed bag. Like many Middle East news sources, they have some unique perspective close to the action, but are liberally sprinkled with misinformation to advance partisan agendas.
I hope it is true that the Baathists have formerly turned on ISIS - the sooner the better. Tribal leaders are finding out that ISIS is no partner for them either
I agree, it is important to weigh the validity of the information. I hope the Sunni tribes who have saddled up with these people do turn on them. A well connected Sunni friend told me a couple weeks back that was the eventual plan. Use the ISIS to ride the wave, then turn on them and kill them. The ISIS mentality is sure not the typical mentality or belief I encountered in 2005-2006, 2010-2011.
As far as 7000 troops deploying.. Not possible to hide that from a lot of news sources. However, I will caveat that with a US friend in Amman, who told me he was preparing a response for a RFQ for the Army on a Life support contract in Iraq. Does not mean the Mil will actually do anything, just means ducks are being aligned. We have prepositioned Armor in some locations in the Kurdish region since the withdrawal. Not a very good secret in the Kurdish region by the way, but the Kurds, despite Obama and company still generally like us. Personally, I think the Iraq politicians need to sort out their differences. If Maliki does not step away, the Sunni tribes are not going to back down. If they nominate and select a relative non-secular (shia by constitution) prime minister which is workable to equality, then the Sunni tribes will one by one come back to the government. The government needs to do this before we even contemplate involvement of ANY LIMITED sort. At the moment Iraq is more of a 3 ring circus than ever..