About the ex-Iraqi generals leading Isis (the Marriage is on the rocks)

[flamingdem]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-wp-wp-frgnp-bc-iraq-comment26-20140826-story.html#page=1

The Islamic State has conquered broad swaths of Iraq thanks to a surprising alliance with secular veterans of Saddam Hussein's military. But now that partnership is fraying -- giving Washington its first real opportunity to blunt the terrorist group's advance without relying solely on American airstrikes or ground troops.

The group of ex-Saddam loyalists, known alternatively as the Naqshbandi Army or by the acronym JRTN -- the initials of its Arabic name -- helped the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS or ISIL, win some of its most important military victories, including its conquest of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city. It has also given the terrorist army, which is composed largely of foreign fighters, a valuable dose of local political credibility in Iraq. JRTN, which was formed as a resistance group in 2006, is made up of former Baathist officials and retired military generals, and is led by the former vice president of Saddam's revolutionary council, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who was once one of the most-wanted men in the country during the U.S. occupation.

Islamic State and JRTN aren't natural allies. The former wants to erase Iraq's current borders and establish a caliphate, while the latter has been a largely secular movement that seeks to regain the official power and influence it held before the U.S. invasion in 2003. But they are aligned in their opposition to, and hatred of, outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated government. Each side wants him to go, and JRTN recognizes that Islamic State stands the best chance of violently overthrowing the Iranian-backed regime in Baghdad.

"The Baathists and ISIS had a marriage of convenience at the start of the takeover of Mosul," said Letta Tayler, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch and a former journalist, who has reported extensively from Iraq on Islamic State's human rights abuses and persecution of Shiites and religious minorities. "Baathists got muscle from ISIS, and ISIS got local legitimacy through the Baathists."

But now that marriage may be fraying, to the possible benefit of Washington and Baghdad. Signs of late are pointing to a growing divide between the top leadership of JRTN and the Islamic State, whose brutal terror campaign has brought down the wrath of the U.S. military. If JRTN were to break with the Islamic State and help the Iraqi government and U.S. forces fight the terrorists, it would go a long way towards stabilizing the country and perhaps lead to a broader political reconciliation in which Sunnis who once helped run the country might be given powerful posts in a more inclusive Shiite-run government.

[RoccoR5955]

1. K & R

[roguevalley]

2. from their lips to God's ears ...

[flamingdem]

3. I wonder how they'll broker this

Sounds delicate but if the generals are not fanatics for sure they want out.

[roguevalley]

4. they are the frog riding on the back of a fox

as he fords a stream. They may need the ride but the dismount will likely kill them. Make a deal with the devil, you can't expect a nice outcome.

[eridani]

5. Not surprising. Last month more than a few threads predicted this n/t

[flamingdem]

6. It was a shotgun wedding

And then some!