CAPTURED BAATHISTS REVEAL AL-QAIDA CONTEXT

Let's see. how many moderates can you count here?

WASHINGTON – It has been denied, downplayed, overlooked, forgotten, disregarded and omitted from the public record.

But a thorough review of open-source material demonstrates conclusive and widespread cooperation between former members of Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime and terrorists from the Iraqi al-Qaida network. Dozens of former Saddam Hussein loyalists captured by US-led coalition forces in Iraq were found to be working with al-Qaida or linked to their operations.

Muhammed Hila Hammad Ubaydi, aka Abu Ayman, was the former aide to the chief of staff of intelligence during the Saddam regime for 30 years. Ubaydi later led the Secret Islamic Army in the Northern Babil Province and was said to have had strong ties to the former terror leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. He was captured April 6, 2006, in southern Baghdad.

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri is "the former vice chairman of Saddam's Baathist Revolutionary Command Council who swore fealty to Zarqawi and provided funding for al-Qaida and significant element of the Baathist/al-Qaida converts and collaborators.

Abdel Faith Isa is a former Iraqi army officer who was later identified as an al-Qaida emir. He was captured May 6, 2004.

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