Ex-Saddamists: ISIS are useful idiots

Keen Middle Eastern observers saw this coming awhile ago, heck even some goofy bloggers saw it--the ISIS army were set up by ex-Saddam Baathists to be useful idiots to get their power back.

Now we have some quotes to support it.

First, Saddam's daughter Raghad, still living the high life in Jordan despite an Interpol "red notice"on her in 2007:

Dr. Salah Al-Mukhtar, an ardent Ba’athist diplomat under the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, revealed that a secret meeting gathered between Raghad Saddam Hussein- the eldest daughter of the former President of Iraq- and Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the notorious former Iraqi vice-president in Amman, the capital of Jordan.

“…In a very near future, ISIS forces will retreat from areas they had occupied in Mousl and Nineveh provinces in northern Iraq and we (Ba’athist remaining forces loyal to late Saddam Hussein )will take control of those two strategic cities,” Dr. Al-Mukhtar quoted the daughter of former Iraqi president as saying in the Amman clandestine meeting.

So the lady with the red notice (which means countries are asked to help locate a person) and number 16 on Iraq's Most Wanted list meets the man with a 10 million US bounty on his head (and number one on the list) in the capital of Jordan and nobody notices them?  Readers can draw their own conclusions.  Here's what old Izzat's pals have had to say on the ISIS problem:

Former General Muzhir al Qaisi told the BBC in the summer that the Baathists are much stronger than the 'barbarians' of IS, who could never have taken Mosul alone, and they could easily defeat them if they needed to. Clearly, they are waiting for an incentive.

That's in private; in public Izzat always lays on the praise to the mighty warriors.

So it appears the plan was to use the rabid fighters to help win the battle, then later offer the West and others a way to solve their problem through bargaining, maybe into a Joe Biden-inspired sectioning plan, that includes getting rid of the jihadies.   Just don't say that Saddam's Baathists won't work with Islamists--that's outrageous! 

But will it work?   One can always count on guile, subterfuge and lies when dealing with these guys, but if Baghdad were to be weakened it's possible a war-averse (especially Iraq war) president may be in a position where his hands are tied.

ANY CONNECTION?  12/2/14

Reportedly the wife and child of Abu Bakr Baghdadi was captured over a week ago trying to enter Lebanon from Syria...

..they had false identification papers and were arrested in coordination with a unspecified foreign intelligence agency. Al-Dulemi is an Iraqi national and there is some suggestion that the Lebanese had help from the Iraqi government.

Hmm. "al-Dulemi"? Is that the same surname as "al-Duleimi"? They are pronounced similarly and likely refer to the same tribe, one of the biggest in the region. Those who remember the Saddam trial might recall that his lawyer's name was Khalil al-Duleimi.  So what are the odds of any relation?

Meanwhile the Daily Mail questions whether this is actually Saja al-Duleimi, since a woman by that name was traded for 13 Christian Nuns by the al-Nusra group "in December" (they didn't say the year). If it was this December, that's obvious. If it was December 2013 not sure why it couldn't be possible--Baghdadi would want his woman back and she would have been a prime target for the competing al-Nusra.

Speaking of trades, some are speculating there might be another trade in the works--remember, despite all the domestic nonsense going on here in the States there is still an American female hostage being held by ISIS.

The bigger question might be why she was going to Lebanon with her son in the first place. Escaping?  That would be a rather bad PR event for the Caliph Guy.   But figuring out these folks is never easy.  Saddam's son-in-law Hussein Kamel defected to Jordan in 1995, told a bunch of stories, then went back only to be killed by Saddam.  You just never know.

MORE  12/3/14

CNN throws wet blankets all over the story with a series of "ifs" and "buts".   The NY Times also expresses skepticism that al-Duleimi is who she was billed to be, echoing the government of Iraq.  None of this should be surprising.