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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Al-Douri's Baathists spearheading Iraqi insurgency |
| 2005-01-11 |
| U.S. military commanders say a new assessment of the Iraqi insurgency has led them to focus on a list of 34 former Baath Party leaders who they believe are financing and directing attacks against U.S. troops and their allies. Army Gen. John P. Abizaid and other senior defense officials interviewed in Iraq said much of the insurgency was being carried out by a network of regional cells that loosely coordinated their operations with former officials of Saddam Hussein's ruling party. Insurgent leaders operate often out of Syria and Saddam's home town of Tikrit, officials said. "There is a level of tactical coordination and direction that still comes from the remnants of the Baath Party, and I believe a certain amount of this tactical coordination effort is orchestrated from Syria," Abizaid, who is directing the war in Iraq, said in an interview. U.S. military officials have conceded that they have limited information on the insurgency, due to a lack of quality intelligence reports. In some cases, unconfirmed tips on the insurgency have come from questionable sources. In other cases, the information is often too dated to allow U.S. officials to track suspected insurgent leaders, officials said. But U.S. military leaders said they had been receiving more tips on the insurgency and higher quality reports in recent weeks. "We have focused the intelligence system on these 34 guys in the belief that if there is an emerging leadership structure for the former regime element movement that these 34 guys will be holding the reins," said another senior U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The new intelligence has allowed military strategists to better discern the face of the insurgency, the officials said, and has painted a portrait of guerrillas who operate in cells led by former regime leaders who are predominantly Sunni Muslims. U.S. military officials said recent evidence suggested former members of Saddam's most elite military units were involved in attacks on U.S. troops. "We see that a lot of the attacks that are going on right now show evidence that they were planned and executed by those who had a military background," said Air Force Brig. Gen. Erwin F. "Erv" Lessel III, a senior deputy for Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. "There are some former Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard that are involved in these attacks." U.S. military officials said the insurgency appeared to lack a central leader, although they believed that Gen. Izzat Ibrahim al Duri, one of Saddam's top generals, had directed many attacks against the U.S.-led coalition. "There are former regime element organizational meetings. But there is no sort of grand poohbah that sits atop of this thing. There's no Saddam-like figure to whom they have allegiance and who is in overall charge of the insurgency," a senior defense official said. Citing intelligence reports, senior U.S. military officials said Duri and other former Baath Party members met near the Syrian border in November to plan strategy. Also present at that meeting, officials said, were Mahdi Nasr al Ubeidi, who supervises financial dealings; Mohammed Younis, who has acted as Duri's assistant from a base east of Baghdad; Ahmed Hassan Kaka, an insurgent leader in the northern city of Kirkuk; Ramadan Zaidan al Jaburi, Kaka's assistant; Mohammad Rijab al Haddushi al Nasser, the leader of the group's operations in Tikrit and nearby Baiji; and Yassir Sabawi Ibrihim Hassan, a senior courier for the group. The Baathist leaders are believed to be financing the insurgency with billions of dollars Saddam officials allegedly grabbed from government coffers in the final days of the regime, officials said. Abizaid and other military strategists say they believe leaders of these groups also determine specific tactics to be used against coalition and Iraqi forces. U.S. efforts to find insurgent leaders have been hampered by Syria, officials said. "We have been very clear to the Syrians about our unhappiness about Baathist cells operating from Syria. They have access to money, and they have access to smuggling routes," Abizaid said. The insurgency, he added, "is being supported in a very unhelpful way from cellular structures that are operating in Syria." The Bush administration has been sending stern warnings to Syria to stop the movement of anti-U.S. fighters and smugglers across its borders and to crack down on militants who are using its territory as a base for operations. Last week, Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage visited Damascus to deliver that message, as well as other U.S. demands, to the Syrian government. Congress has voted to impose sanctions on Syria, but the administration has so far picked the mildest of the possible penalties provided in the law. The president has recently hinted at a tougher stance, but Armitage, in an interview with the U.S.-run Al Hurra television station, said Bush had not yet made a decision. "He's waiting to see the outcome of Syrian behavior over a length of time and then will make a decision on what to do," Armitage said. Syrian officials based in Washington could not be reached for comment, but some have said in response to earlier criticism that they had redoubled efforts to police their borders in response to concerns from the interim Iraqi government and the Bush administration. It remains unclear how loosely the Baathist-led groups coordinate with foreign Islamic extremists such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who has proclaimed himself the leader of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization in Iraq. But the two groups are believed to communicate and work together at least loosely in what officials described as a temporary marriage of convenience. "I think there is a level of coordination between (al-)Zarqawi and some of the Baathist cells," Abizaid said. "There is a certain amount of coordination at a rudimentary level that goes on within Iraq. And there is certainly an organizational network within the (al-)Zarqawi terrorist network that shows an ability to organize terrorist activities across a broad range of targets in Iraq." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 I couldn't agree more CA! The War on Terror is a global War to be fought on several fronts, including militarily, politically and in some cases economically. Syria is in rapid pusuit of WMD and rumored to be experimenting with these WMD on the hapless residents of Darfur. They support Hezbollah and palestinian terror organizations and now are supporting the insurgency in Iraq. I would say that about rounds out the gambit of being an international sponsor of terrorism. They are obviously not with us so they must be against us. |
| Posted by: Rightwing 2005-01-11 2:25:13 PM |
| #3 High time to appy the Bush Doctrine: "if you harbor a terrorist, you are with the terrorists." Inaction is costing US and Iraqi lives. Get it done now. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-01-11 7:50:23 AM |
| #2 A few sonic booms over Damascus in broad daylight might do wonders. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-01-11 1:41:50 AM |
| #1 "We have been very clear to the Syrians about our unhappiness about Baathist cells operating from Syria. They have access to money, and they have access to smuggling routes," Abizaid said. The insurgency, he added, "is being supported in a very unhelpful way from cellular structures that are operating in Syria." So send a message then. I'm not talking about verbal "we need your cooperation" crap. Find a target area where these insurgents are operating within Syrian territory and pulverize it with a carpet bomb run. "Sensitivity" has its limits, and it's time to make it clear that that point has long since been passed. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-01-11 1:12:08 AM |