Wartime seems to
breed the strangest of allies and bed fellows. .
Who would ever think the US would resort to their former enemy for solutions in Fallujah? Major General Jassim Mohammed Saleh was the man behind Saddam Hussein´s iron fist during the shiite uprisal in the marshlands, shortly after the Gulf War. Many accuse him of the sadistic and abhorrent treatment given to the revolting shiites. He was one of Qusai´s most loyal generals in the Republican Guard, a baathist by conviction and a loyal militant of the Baath party.
In other words, he is one of those that the US was deadset to get their hands on. If his name and picture wasn´t in the famous "Most Wanted" deck of cards, it should have been.
But then war has the strange habbit of making the strangest of allies, just as Saddam and the US were, back in the Iran-Iraq war. Or Staline, back in WWII.
However,not only is it a strange alliance, it is also a dangerous one.
Training and equiping a whole brigade that may turn on you later down the road is always a dangerous gamble. We have seen how many iraqis refuse to fight their iraqi brothers. So why should they do it this time? What´s the catch?
Well, no catch, not anymore. And as expected, the alliance was short lived. The
US demoted Saddam´s General in Fallujah, after he denied any presence of foreign fighters in Fallujah, and accused the US of fommenting the hatred and the rebellion there.
So, although the "alliance" crumbled, it still doesn´t explain how the US is willing to strike pacts with the devil...
Who will be the next "
good samaritan" coming to the aid of the US Army? "Chemical" Ali? Or maybe Saddam himself, in exchange for a commuted sentence?
:drool:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/02/MNG6J6EIBO1.DTL
War in Iraq breeding some strange bed fellows.
