Posted on 05/18/2015 7:40:50 AM PDT by AnalogReigns
SANLIURFA, Turkey — When Abu Hamza, a former Syrian rebel, agreed to join the Islamic State, he did so assuming he would become a part of the group’s promised Islamist utopia, which has lured foreign jihadists from around the globe.
Instead, he found himself being supervised by an Iraqi emir and receiving orders from shadowy Iraqis...
All of the men, however, were former Iraqi officers who had served under Saddam Hussein...
His account, and those of others who have lived with or fought against the Islamic State over the past two years, underscore the pervasive role played by members of Iraq’s former Baathist army...
...almost all of the leaders of the Islamic State are former Iraqi officers, including the members of its shadowy military and security committees, and the majority of its emirs and princes, according to Iraqis, Syrians and analysts who study the group.
The raw cruelty of Hussein’s Baathist regime, the disbandment of the Iraqi army after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the subsequent insurgency and the marginalization of Sunni Iraqis by the Shiite-dominated government all are intertwined with the Islamic State’s ascent, said Hassan Hassan, a Dubai-based analyst and co-author of the book “ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror.”
“A lot of people think of the Islamic State as a terrorist group, and it’s not useful,” Hassan said. “It is a terrorist group, but it is more than that. It is a homegrown Iraqi insurgency, and it is organic to Iraq.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The first units into Iraq were on TV and one of my old NCO’s called as he could not believe men apparently did not know how to call in TAC AIR or have ARTY to take out a tank and other obstacles that had them stalled. Next, they let some buses full of Iraqi troops get behind them -unbelievable. Granted, our military had no real combat since Vietnam and when battalion and company grade officers and NCO’s do not have the experience like the Army had in Vietnam with WWII and especially Korean war types it shows.
The first units into Iraq were on TV and one of my old NCO’s called as he could not believe men apparently did not know how to call in TAC AIR or have ARTY to take out a tank and other obstacles that had them stalled. Next, they let some buses full of Iraqi troops get behind them -unbelievable. Granted, our military had no real combat since Vietnam and when battalion and company grade officers and NCO’s do not have the experience like the Army had in Vietnam with WWII and especially Korean war types it shows.
That is why the media has been running flak for him by asking the Republican Presidential hopefuls the whole “If you knew then what we know now....” BS.
Well I certainly don’t want a uniparty, but the fact remains that’s what we have. Same global companies donate to democrats and republicans. They own them all. And both parties do exactly what they’re told because of greed. They love money.
I’m concerned about the debt and the monetary system as well. Hell I’m concerned about all of it.
To a punk mouthed punk like you.
In in the surge /Anbar Awakening we were fighting WITH the Sunni local tribal leaders against AQI, a coalition of al Dhouri’s most loyal Baathists and the Sunni fringe group/sect known as Salafists. All Salafists may be Sunnis but not all Sunnis are Salafists.
Al Dhouri was the Saddam advisor who led Saddam to start courting the hardline islamists in 1996 around the time of OBL’s declaration of war/fatwa on the “crusaders” a/k/a US coalition and Saddam’s fist huge offensive against the Kurds since 1991, begun in support of one Kurdish faction [a faction that also had US backing at one point, the KDP, against one that had had Iranian backing, the PUK, which had taken over the Kurdish parliament in Irbil.
Circa 1996, Saddam’s rhetoric took a distinctly islamist fire and brimstone flavor. Around 1998 with al Dhouri’s influence Saddam started building the megamosque with the minarets that looked like scud missiles and Kalishnakovs to commemorate his “victory” in the Gulf War, completing it just months before the 9/11 attacks. [To an Arab, just surviving a US strike is “victory.”] This mosque was to be Saddam’s mausoleum eventually, and also became the recruiting and propaganda center for the Iraqi insurgency under the “Association of Muslim Scholars” which was expelled from it in 2007- this group was opposed to sectarian violence between sunni and shia though it was/is a sunni group. Saddam made a point of writing a copy of the Quran in was claimed to be his own blood after an assassination attempt on his son Uday as a sort of penance, but this as viewed by other Sunnis such as the Saudis and UAE a sin and defilement of the Quran.
Saddam’s press in the 90s openly praised OBL and Saddam offered bin Laden safe haven in Iraq.
All this was done to try to appeal to islamists the regime thought would be most useful in deploying against the pro-western Kurds and the US. The Baathists followers of al Dhouri [who is a religious not secular Baathist] act as a sort of intelligence and financial arm of ISIS, while the late Zarqawi’s Palestinians and Baghdaddi’s people provide muscle. al Dhouri and ISIS’ goals do differ however so it has always been a marriage of convenience, al Dhouri at times at odds with the others because in the end after their mutual enemies are gone, each group wants exclusive power.
I imagine they would have come back if they were give $50 up front, or retroactive back pay up front.
I do not buy your uniparty philosophy. The RNC is nothing like progressives. Sell the Libertarian line to someone else.
They sat around for days after their units surrendered and made it clear they had not been paid in two months. Hell, Bremer not only said no to the back pay-he disbanded them. Imagine all you want. That does not work in war when good Intel, sound tactics, appropriate ROE’s etc should be implemented. Hell, we have had men and women riding up and down MSR’s like idiots asking to get blown up because idiots for Gens who were BN CO’s in RVN changed the Army into mech infantry BS around the mid 70’s. Hell, I would have been killed in 68 had I hunted VC and NVA on roads. That is stupid.
The real culprit in this whole mess wasn’t “W”, it was his father, since we invaded Iraq in 1991, which would inevitably lead to Saddam’s removal, an the power vaccum which is now being filled by ISIS.
Bush never connected those dots. I just added a few.
I’m not selling anything. If you want to live in denial that’s your right go ahead. We disagree. Get over it and move on.
No problem. Take your own advice.
Well, it is a religion but a far more earthly religion than traditional Christianity. It is as if Jesus were a Zealot leader. That was Mohammed.
There’s nothing for me to get over, FRiend.
If Saddam was not removed we wouldn't have had 9/11 nor the Ayatollahs still around
The Baathists in Iraq became more infused with Islamicism from the late 90s when it seemed like that was the only way to stay in power. This was a consequence of Gulf war one
the Leftists are not progressive as they support racial quotas, killing of babies in the womb (a regressive tactic dating to pre-Christian times), Big government (paternalistic oligarchy) instead of individual responsibility
They are NOT "progressive" -- they use that term to label us, their opponents as "non-progressive" or "regressive" whereas that latter label better befits them.
It's like when they collared the term "liberal" -- heck, they aren't liberal economically (less government interference) -- liberalism isn't truly left or right. Or the term "gay" to describe homosexuals, etc. or even the term "abortion" instead of "baby killing"
ISIS is a rebranded Al Quaeda in Iraq. We had them defeated in 2009 when somebody said we were pulling out because 500+ somebodies cut OIF’s funding beginning in 2007.
AIQ/ISIS discovered greener pastures in Syria and in 2011-ish moved most of their operations there due in part to the lower security capabilities of Syria.
The author is correct. ISIS is an Iraqi entity with foreign sponsorship from Turkey and to a lesser extent Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
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