MILNET: Iraqi Groups Prior to Fall of Saddam

The Baath party, in every piece of propaganda we've laid eyes on, stated their goals as (paraphrasing translated material):

Secularism
Socialism
Unification of the Arab Nations (with force when necessary, but mainly through secular peer pressure)

The Iran-Iraq War was more than a nationlistic war between two countries, it was also a religious war albeit between sects of the Muslim religion.

The party was led by Bashar Al-Assad in Syria and it was formed in Dasmascus with its first acknowledged gathering in Dasmascus in 1947. The Baath Party was established in Iraq in 1954 after a merger with the Arab Socialist Party of Akram al-Hurani in 1952. At that time it was known as the Arab Baath Socialist Party. The Baath Party came to power in Iraq (rather than just influential in Iraqi politics) on February 1963 then on March 8 came to power in Syria. Before Gulf War II started the Iraqi Baath party membership was estimaged at between 2.3 and 2.5 million Iraqis, while Syria continues to have approximately a million members.

Some analysts believe that the Baath party and its ties into Syria, the defacto holder of power of politics in Lebanon where terrorists are bred to infilitrate into Israel, is a major reason the U.S. wanted to take on Iraq in Gulf War II. The presumed strategy was to weaken the Baaths, and perhaps find a reason to also invade Syria, thus placing that country between Israel and the U.S. to remove that threat from Israel. Of course, no public strategy of that nature has ever been voiced.

There is also evidence that as the war was nearing its beginning, Baath parties members in Iraq were fleeing in the droves across the border into Syria in a stream of vehicles. Much of the evidence and indeed equipment the U.S. was looking for may have accompanied these folks into Syria. U.S. intelligence undoubtedly would know the truth of this claim since clearly there were satellites watching the procession from high above.

Below are the other organizations were operating in Iraq before Gulf War II, and doing so with permission of the Baath Party and Saddam Hussein.

Notice Al Qaeda is not listed. The controversy over Al Qaeda links in Iraq remains, and until more evidence is made public, we will not add the organization to the list. However, the reader should note our sources indicate free passage of Al Qaeda members and numerous purchases in arms markets in Iraq. Again, without conclusive proof purchases were met with official Iraqi blessings, that seems only a matter of the Iraq arms merchants, in classic Arab style, being a supplier to any terrorist with money during Saddam Hussein's rule.