Certainly Al Qaida and Saddaam had no love of each other. But there is an old arab proverb: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Having said that though most published "links" are rather tenuous. Certainly I can understand why some disbelieve them.
Having said that though, and recognizing that there is no positive evidence for a connection, the following is interesting.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly's military sources
report that its largest component is the Baath militia of 650,000 members with chapters in every corner of Iraq. In addition to a regular paycheck, each member drew an extra $200 a month for attending military training three times a week. Party members earned another $50 a head for any relative over 14 he recruited.
Their training included dare-devil driving tactics on a battlefield behind the wheels of pickup trucks, usually Toyotas, while firing heavy machineguns or light mortars. They were taught how to plant and detonate
explosives, mount ambushes and take part in coordinated sorties by groups of armed vehicles.
The militiamen were transformed into guerrilla fighters by an estimated 700 Iraqi military intelligence officers who had been in Chechnya in the 1990s for long training stints in guerrilla warfare with al Qaeda experts.
Uday is rumored to have made secret trips to Iran, Lebanon, Bosnia and Macedonia to bring 300 al Qaeda instructors over to Iraq. These rumors will remain unconfirmed until allied forces actually capture an al Qaeda instructor. What is not in dispute is that Saddam and Uday copied the deadliest practices al Qaeda and Taliban perfected in Afghanistan.
Both used dozens and sometimes hundreds of fast pickups armed with light
and heavy weapons to crisscross the country and repress Afghan tribes and warlords. Tribal chiefs were intimidated and kept obedient by their fear of the vehicles popularly known as white devils suddenly darting out at them.
When the United States invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, al Qaeda sold the pickups to finance its fighters getaway when they saw the vehicles charging up and down Afghanistan s winding mountain roads were easy prey for US aircraft and drones.
All the same, Uday chose the fast pickups to bedevil US troops in the open Iraqi desert. He knew the allied forces would be passing through since the US war command made no attempt to hide its preparations for invading Iraq from Kuwait and Qatar in the south.
Same caveats apply that I gave in the Syria thread. Debka has a strong Israeli bias.
Having said that though most published "links" are rather tenuous. Certainly I can understand why some disbelieve them.
Having said that though, and recognizing that there is no positive evidence for a connection, the following is interesting.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly's military sources
report that its largest component is the Baath militia of 650,000 members with chapters in every corner of Iraq. In addition to a regular paycheck, each member drew an extra $200 a month for attending military training three times a week. Party members earned another $50 a head for any relative over 14 he recruited.
Their training included dare-devil driving tactics on a battlefield behind the wheels of pickup trucks, usually Toyotas, while firing heavy machineguns or light mortars. They were taught how to plant and detonate
explosives, mount ambushes and take part in coordinated sorties by groups of armed vehicles.
The militiamen were transformed into guerrilla fighters by an estimated 700 Iraqi military intelligence officers who had been in Chechnya in the 1990s for long training stints in guerrilla warfare with al Qaeda experts.
Uday is rumored to have made secret trips to Iran, Lebanon, Bosnia and Macedonia to bring 300 al Qaeda instructors over to Iraq. These rumors will remain unconfirmed until allied forces actually capture an al Qaeda instructor. What is not in dispute is that Saddam and Uday copied the deadliest practices al Qaeda and Taliban perfected in Afghanistan.
Both used dozens and sometimes hundreds of fast pickups armed with light
and heavy weapons to crisscross the country and repress Afghan tribes and warlords. Tribal chiefs were intimidated and kept obedient by their fear of the vehicles popularly known as white devils suddenly darting out at them.
When the United States invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, al Qaeda sold the pickups to finance its fighters getaway when they saw the vehicles charging up and down Afghanistan s winding mountain roads were easy prey for US aircraft and drones.
All the same, Uday chose the fast pickups to bedevil US troops in the open Iraqi desert. He knew the allied forces would be passing through since the US war command made no attempt to hide its preparations for invading Iraq from Kuwait and Qatar in the south.
Same caveats apply that I gave in the Syria thread. Debka has a strong Israeli bias.