Syrian intelligence behind the Iraqi jihad? But wait: the Syrians are secular Arab nationalist Baathists. Surely they wouldn’t have anything to do with the mujahedin, would they? Remember the words of Michel Aflaq, founder of the Baath Party: “Islam is Arab nationalism” (see Sylvia Haim, Arab Nationalism, 1962, p. 64).
From AP, with thanks to Mohamed Ibn Guadi:
The bearded man in a gray jacket and shirt who appeared on the U.S.-funded Iraqi state television station Wednesday had a stark message about the insurgency — he was a Syrian intelligence officer who helped train people to behead others and build car bombs to attack American and Iraqi troops.
“My name is Anas Ahmed al-Essa. I live in Halab. I am from Syria,” he said by way of introduction — naming what he said was his home in Syria.
“What’s you’re job?” he was asked by someone off-camera. “I am a lieutenant in intelligence.”
Then a second question. “Which intelligence?” The reply: “Syrian intelligence.”
And so began a detailed 15-minute confession broadcast by al-Iraqiya TV, in which the man, identified as 30-year-old Lt. Anas Ahmed al-Essa, said his group was recruited to “cause chaos in Iraq … to bar America from reaching Syria.”
“We received all the instructions from Syrian intelligence,” said the man, who appeared in the propaganda video along with 10 Iraqis who said they had also been recruited by Syrian intelligence officers.