Former Ba’athists and al Qaeda Continue to Collaborate

In wake of 4 recent bomb attacks, al Qaeda in Iraq appears to be gaining newfound resurgence, as well as a shift in strategy. Any goal of undermining January elections may be moot, as they may have already been derailed, regardless of what al Qaeda does.

Foreign powers appear to still be exercising influence and interference with the democratization process of Iraq:

What was once a foreign-led terrorist organization is now a mostly Iraqi network of small, roving cells that continue to rely on the flow of fighters and weapons smuggled through the Syrian border, albeit at a slower rate, U.S. and Iraqi officials say.

Syria denies role

Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, the Interior Ministry’s chief of intelligence and investigations, said Iraqi officials suspect the Aug. 19 and Oct. 25 bombings, which targeted the Foreign, Justice and Finance ministries, among other entities, were planned at a secret meeting in Zabadani, a city in southwestern Syria, close to the Lebanese border. He said al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders met with former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party on July 30 to chart out a new strategy.

The willingness to cooperate and collaborate between supposed “secular” Ba’athists and religious Islamic jihadis held true even prior to invasion, despite what the current UK inquisition is asserting in its testimony.

Bill Roggio questions the possibility that eastern Syria will become another Waziristan safe-haven for al Qaeda.