Lt. Col. "Buzz" Patterson, author of 3 books and top military advisor to President Clinton, recently made himself available for an extended interview with Regime of Terror.

Patterson called upon his military/intelligence contacts and background as he talked about al-Qaeda's strength during 90's and today, the war in Iraq and wider Global War on Terror, bloggers and Saddam Hussein's support of terrorism.

Patterson predicts that the intelligence papers of the former Iraq regime (those released already found here), currently held in the HARMONY database and elsewhere, will "connect a lot of the dots" on Saddam Hussein's links to terrorism once fully released.

Lt. Col. Patterson also discusses al-Qaeda #2 Ayman al-Zawahiri's trip to Baghdad in 1998 (in which he received $300,000, possibly from Saddam Hussein himself), Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's medical trip to Baghdad in 2002 and the terrorist training that took place in the Salman Pak camp.

His new book, "War Crimes: The Left's Campaign to Destroy Our Military and Lose the War on Terror ", is available for pre-order through amazon.com and is set for a January 16, 2007 release.

When did Abu Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi, Abu Aseel and Abu Maysira al-Iraqi become jihadists?

And what do they know about the Baath – al Qaeda alliance attacking U.S. and Iraqi forces?

 
The complexity of the insurgency in Iraq is fairly common knowledge.  It is a lethal combination of varying forces, both foreign and domestic.  This combination has long included the open cooperation between two of the most deadly elements in the anti-coalition insurgency: 1. former Baath Party regime elements (particularly former military, security and intelligence agents) and 2. al Qaeda in Iraq.  The two sides are now working so closely that they are sometimes indistinguishable from one another.  The debate over Abu Musab al Zarqawi's replacement flushed out the names of some people who may know how and when the two sides began working together.

Abu Abdullah Rashid al Baghdadi, is only one of the latest names to surface in a not-so-exclusive club of military and intelligence officials from the former regime who have resurfaced as open al Qaeda affiliates, was one of those recently mentioned for the replacement to recently deceased al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. 

Al Baghdadi is said to have been not only a former member of Saddam Hussein's trusted Republican Guard but "an Iraq friend of Osama bin Laden, whom he met in Afghanistan" according to intelligence sources cited by AFP.  He now leads the Mujahedeen Shura Council, a group that includes numerous military/intelligence agents of the former regime, and has as openly sworn allegiance to Osama bin Laden (that allegiance was renewed shortly after the death of Zarqawi). 

 al Baghdadi's service in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard, coupled with his close association with Zarqawi and reported friendship with Osama bin Laden puts him in a position of knowing not only the roles each side has played in the current insurgency, but also when and how the two sides began cooperating.

Another figure reported to have been considered for Zarqawi's replacement was Abu Aseel.  Aseel was a former Military Intelligence (Mukhabarat) official during Saddam Hussein's heyday (which also happened to be during the time Saddam Hussein was encouraging Wahhabist activity inside Iraq) before dedicating his life to Islamic extremism. His jihadist credentials were strong enough to garner him consideration for the position of Zarqawi's replacement.  It is also worth noting that Aseel had been cooperating with Zarqawi since 2002.  He continues to work with al Qaeda in Iraq.

Aseel and al-Baghdadi are not the only former Baathists found to be working with al Qaeda in Iraq (and particularly with Zarqawi before his death).   Before his consideration for Zarqawi's vacancy, Abu Maysira al-Iraqi went from being an "expert in Information Technology for Saddam Hussein's Army" to "Minister of Information" for al Qaeda in Iraq.  "He was entrusted with the additional task of waging the jihad through the Internet" for Abu Musab al Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq.  Knowing the inner workings of both the Baathist and al Qaeda positions, particularly their messages and goals, places al-Iraqi in the mix of those who may know the origins of this deadly alliance. 

In terms of former Baathists who later joined al Qaeda, Al Baghdadi, Aseel and al-Iraqi can't possibly be more than mere aberrations though, can they?  In fact, quite a few violent ex-Baathists (including Saddam Hussein's former right-hand man Izzat al Douri) have found their calling to be fighting jihad alongside al Qaeda in Iraq.  A more comprehensive list of those caught or killed fighting alongside al Qaeda in Iraq can be found here.

Origins

At least one jihadist website (www.al-farouq.com) has indicated that the origin of Iraq's state-sponsored Baathist/Jihadi terror infrastructure goes back to at least 1993, when Izzat al Douri-led Iraq's state-sponsored "return to faith campaign."   The report also claims that extremist front groups have been used by Iraqi intelligence and military officials for gathering intelligence and terrors attacks for over a decade.   

These claims are difficult to verify because of the lack of intelligence on both al Qaeda and Iraq that existed until only shortly before the invasion.   In the few years before the invasion revelations from not only Iraqi defectors but captured Iraqi Intelligence/Military officers and Ansar al Islam members told of coordination between the two sides.  Dan Darling's July 20, 2005 piece in the Weekly Standard does an admirable job touching on many of these stories, which jive with what a few officials have told me in private. 

By March 2003, with U.S. personnel on the ground, grey areas became somewhat clearer.  The April 2003 attack on UN headquarters in Iraq had all the making of a joint attack.  Forensic tests revealed that Iraqi military ordinance was used in the detonation and al Qaeda bomb-maker Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf later admitted building the bomb.  Both "Jaysh Muhammad" (later found to be composed of a number of former high ranking Intelligence and Military officers from Saddam's Baath Party) and al Qaeda branch in Iraq claimed responsibility.

The attacks on the Jordanian embassy and the Shiite shrine in Najaf both showed indications of cooperation between elements of Saddam Hussein's Military (Fedayeen), Intelligence apparatus (Mukhabarat) and al Qaeda.

This coordination was on display again in Fallujah until coalition forces swept through the city not long after General John Abizaid voiced his concern over the two sides cooperation "We also have intelligence that shows that there is some linkage between Zarqawi and the former regime elements, specifically the Iraqi intelligence service" he told reporters in early 2004. 

Recent reports reveal that the ex-Baathist infrastructure that has supported al Qaeda with safe houses, money and weapons, continues unabated in the form of leadership positions and joint "holy war".  Is anyone asking "When did this deadly cooperation begin?"

Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi, listed by Iraqi officials as a native of Mosul, was recently named #29 on Iraq's "Most Wanted" list.

According told NEWSWEEK magazine's intelligence sources (and at least one of the journalists involved in the story was detained by Pakistani officials) and other reports, al-Iraqi is one of Osama bin Laden's top global deputies (challenging the notion that Iraqis have not held prominent positions in al-Qaeda), personally chosen by bin Laden to monitor al-Qaeda operations in Iraq. His duties have connected him to numerous attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan and found him shuttling information between al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq and remaining leadership in the Afghanistan/Pakistan borderland.

What is also noteworthy is al-Iraqi's background in Saddam Hussein's Army (pointed out to this site by Laurie Mylroie). During his military service over a decade ago, al-Iraqi worked his way up to the rank of Major before moving to Afghanistan to fight "jihad" against the occupying Soviet Union. This is not to assert that al-Iraqi maintained contact with Iraqi officials over the past decade (though many other Intelligence and Military officers from Saddam Hussein's regime, who were later found to be assisting al Qaeda, reportedly did) but his knowledge of the country and contacts within Iraq certainly played a role in al-Iraqi being Osama bin Laden's personal choice to monitor al Qaeda's operations in Iraq. al-Iraqi's military background likely was of great use in the terrorist training camp(s) he commanded in Afghanistan. Those camps were destroyed by U.S. forces in late 2001 around the same time that al-Iraqi's funds were beingfrozen by the United Nations.

The former Iraqi Major's network may now stretch into Europe, where captured al-Qaeda affiliates have admitted meeting with al-Iraqi and other top al-Qaeda leaders. According to Pakistani officials, Zeeshan Siddique, arrested for preparing terrorist attacks (suicide bombing) and membership to al-Qaeda, told his interrogators that Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi was among the remaining al-Qaeda leadership still provoking attacks with whom he had met while traveling the Afghanistan/Pakistan borderland.