Pro-Saddam insurgents embrace holy war-official

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
By Michael Georgy
BAGHDAD, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein loyalists leading the
insurgency in Iraq have reinvented themselves as Islamic militants in a
deadly new strategy generating plenty of recruits and funding, Iraq's
national security adviser said on Sunday.
Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said the image makeover from secular insurgents
to religious warriors was far more worrying than a deadly campaign waged by
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al Qaeda in Iraq leader, and his suicide bombers.
Embracing militant Islam has enabled Saddam's former agents with
long years of intelligence and military experience to expand their support
base, he said.
"This is very dangerous. These people now have broader appeal among
angry Iraqis and money from Arabs in regional states," he told Reuters in an
interview.
"It could take years to defeat them."
Saddam and his pan-Arab socialist Baath party imposed secularism in
Iraq throughout decades of iron-fisted rule. Muslim militants either kept
their beliefs to themselves or were jailed, or worse.
But Islamic fundamentalism has gained a foothold since a U.S.-led
invasion toppled the former president in 2003, with a proliferation of Sunni
Arab militants opposed to the Shi'ite- led government backed by Washington.
FROM SOCIALISTS TO HOLY WARRIORS
Al Qaeda stepped in, forming loose alliances with Saddam's former
Baathists as the insurgency evolved into daily suicide bombings and
assassinations that have killed tens of thousands of civilians and security
forces.
Rubaie said Saddam loyalists now portray themselves as holy warriors,
a potent and sophisticated force in a country already plagued by Arab
militant suicide bombers who enter over porous borders.
"They no longer refer to themselves as the Arab Baath Socialists but
Arab Baath al-Takfireen (those who declare other Muslims infidels)," he
said.
When suicide bombings began after the war, Iraqis insisted there was
no way fellow Iraqis would blow themselves up. Now Iraqi officials
acknowledge a growing number of suicide bombers are Iraqi.
Rubaie said the Iraqi authorities have a list of 110 wanted Iraqi
militants of high value who support Saddam.
But he was especially concerned about cash flowing to Iraq from
people in Gulf Arab states who are opposed to the presence of U.S. troops in
the country.
"We know that money is coming from the United Arab Emirates and
Qatar," he said, adding that halting such money flows can be difficult.
"By embracing militant Islam, Saddam's people have appealed to
fellow anti-American Muslims who also want the American troops to leave."
Saddam, whose trial resumes on Monday, first appeared before his
judges clutching an old Koran in his hand. Officials who met Saddam before
the last session said he appeared demoralised.
But the national security adviser does not hold the same view of his
followers, who are armed with much more than zeal in their new holy war.
"They have very good intelligence," he said.
 
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