I've been recently reading about the remnants of the ba'ath party in Iraq and surprisingly they're doing ok for themselves. From what I can tell they're sitting on the side while ISIS and the government kill each other. As they wait they're building alliances with tribal leaders and building an army with a unified command and ideology. I can't find much info on them as most attention is placed on ISIS but, I believe they're building their forces for a potential attack against the Iraqi government. Their main figurehead is an old Saddam era general, al-Douri but, most of their leader are post-saddam military officers who have become experts in paramilitary warfare from a decade of constant warfare. I even heard that they're trying to recruit amongst all walks of life portraying themselves as secular and anti-sectarian by trying to gain kurdish and Shia allies. Information is hard to come by with most of my info coming from Wikipedia.
What do you think Sup Forums? Are the Ba'athist a spend force or do they have the potential of becoming major players once ISIS teters out?
Are Bathists still secular Arab nationalists? Or have they evolved into something else?
Jason Ross
Pic of al-Douri. He looks fucking white and has red hair
Carson Lewis
Walter white
Ryan Thompson
>He looks fucking white There are pockets of those in Northern Iraq. Around Tal Afar for example.
He was never captured I believe.
Ethan Sullivan
From what I can tell they still are which is why they're appealing. There is a lot of nostalgia of the "good old days" under saddam's rule and I won't be surprised if many Iraqis will like to return to that.
Benjamin Brown
Depends on what Iran has to say about this.
James Cox
He was believed to have escaped into Syria during the invasion and returned to Iraq when ISIS launched their Northern Iraq Offensive. His current whereabouts are unknown but, he is believed to have returned to Iraq.
Cooper Scott
You joking?
Most of the top commanders in ISIS are former Iraqi Republican Guard.
>An Iraqi officer planned Islamic State's takeover in Syria and SPIEGEL has been given exclusive access to his papers. They portray an organization that, while seemingly driven by religious fanaticism, is actually coldly calculating.
Caleb Collins
Look into these groups
>General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries Considered a ba'athist front group Wikipedia states they have a 75,000 man militia. How reliable is this is unknown but, apparently they're one of the most professional militias in the country. More of a paramilitary group than a militia.
>Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order A sufi militia, they combine religious zealotry with Arab nationalism. They assisted ISIS in their 2014 offensive but, have since turned against them.
>Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation Al-Douri's private militia. Apparently they act as an intermediary between different Ba'athist groups.
>Free Iraqi Army A sunni Iraqi group that joined the FSA in Syria. They are anti-shia and fight against the Shia Iraqi government during the 2014 ISIS Iraqi offensive . Their status is unknown after the offensive and may have disbanded ir merged into other groups.
Dylan Bennett
>Free Iraqi Army
They are probably working with the SAA now.
>Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation
On the contrary.
Ryan Anderson
So the invasion of Iraq wasn't some opportunistic land grab, it was the end goal. Interesting then potentially ISIS is just some project by ba'athists to destabilize Iraq. By using jihadist fervor, they gained a large proxy force consisting of local fanatics and foreign volunteers capable of greatly destabilizing the region. If the ba'athists can completely separate themselves from ISIS then, potentially with their own forces, they can seek to break the Iraqi state with a popular uprising. Al-Qaeda kneeded the bread, ISIS baked the bread, and the Ba'athist ate the bread.
Sebastian Morgan
On the contrary what?
Jordan Sanchez
Where would they operate? Iraq and Syria are wars that need territorial control for any sides to survive. It's not like the previous Iraq/Afghanistan wars of the 2000s where having a "presence" was good enough.
I can't see any areas in Iraq where the Baathists could have their own territories that wouldn't be crushed by the Islamic State or the government forces.
Liam Peterson
From what I can tell the ba'athists are working with local leadership, acting as local militias and warlords. With the Iraqi government and ISIS in open warfare both sides are cooperating with local leaders to free up forces that can be used in the front line. As a result local militias and warlords fill this void working with who ever is in charge. Many ISIS leaders were former saddam era ba'athists who are simply cooperating with former comrades. The Iraqi government is so corrupt and ineffective that warlordism is the norm, look at the Shia PMUs. In other words they are acting as behind the front garrison forces cooperating with both sides while building their army and forming alliances. They are taking land without even fighting by putting garrisons in already liberated towns while working with local leaders.
Lincoln Taylor
>They are taking land without even fighting by putting garrisons in already liberated towns
Where? Liberated by who?
Julian Baker
shit, that makes a lot of sense actually
Aaron Moore
i downloaded rosetta stone arabic today. im an indian christian. i am needed for this future. long live the socialism of the arabs. i hail.
Carson Adams
old iraq was quite nice
Isaac Taylor
One post by id it's weird when we don't know shit.
James Richardson
Baghdad was the Paris of the ME
Jayden Garcia
Literacy, trains, medicine, electricity. Another adversary to Israel.
