TEHRAN (FNA)- Informed sources in Iraq disclosed on Monday that they have identified a
Ba'athist agent who provoked protesters during the Saturday unrest in Baghdad's Green Zone.
Discussions about the Islamic State's leadership often note that many of its commanders served in the
Ba'athist army of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
When the convulsions of the Arab Spring first became manifest in Syria in March 2011 the
Ba'athist regime was quick to blame the protests on the "Syrian Muslim Brotherhood" and its "Al Qaeda affiliates".
Despite his public calls for reform, Bashar al-Assad grew up in the confines of his father's
Ba'athist system.
As Abdulwahab Alkebsi of the National Endowment for Democracy told me, bad blood exists between the two unions because the "GFTU represented the status quo underneath Saddam and therefore had the assets." The IFTU contends that the GFTU remains
Ba'athist, while the GFTU claims it has cleansed itself of any regime residue.
He said the coalition should have screened out individuals implicated in abuses by Saddam's
Ba'athist regime, rather than dismissing people wholesale.
In exchange for modest pay-offs, those military commanders--previously denigrated in administration propaganda as
Ba'athist "holdouts" or "dead-enders"--use their influence with the guerrillas to end attacks on U.S.
Muslims were free to pray and follow their faith, Ramadan replied, 'but if they try to harm the
Ba'athist regime or ridicule its slogans, the regime will break their necks!'
JIM Davidson, back from inflicting more torture in Baghdad than the past 25 years of
Ba'athist rule, (or "entertaining the troops"), has been bragging about a rapturous reception from cheering mobs as he walked through Basra.
Amid the rising body count and destruction, there is little clarity about the viability of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's
Ba'athist regime even as the numerous violent insurgent organizations that seek to topple his administration receive ample attention.
They unnecessarily dissolved the Iraqi Army and fired
Ba'athist civil servants, throwing tens of thousands of angry, unemployed, often armed people, many of them Sunnis, into the streets.
Immediately following the collapse of the Ba'ath regime a year ago, Sadr's last remaining son, Muqtada, who had been living in hiding, used his father's network to establish offices throughout the country, seizing mosques, religious centers, former
Ba'athist headquarters, and even hospitals.