Leader of Baathist loyalists cites stringent conditions before any talks

DAMASCUS, Syria: A top spokesman for the former Baath party of Iraq said in a recent interview that his group will not reconcile with the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad nor stop its active support of the insurgency unless the Iraqi government and U.S. officials first meet strict conditions including the withdrawal of American troops.

The interview with the man who identified himself as Abu Mohammed came after repeated efforts by The Associated Press to make contact in Syria with supporters of the insurgency in Iraq.

The man, who appeared in person at the interview, is believed to be Khudair al-Murshidi, a former head of the Iraqi Doctors Syndicate under the rule of Saddam Hussein. He refused to give his real name during the interview and also refused to be photographed but said he was in Syria temporarily while on his way to other Mideast countries to advance the party's goals.

Al-Murshidi also appeared last month on the pan-Arab al-Jazeera television network, also using the pseudonym Abu Mohammed.

Abu Mohammed said he is now the official spokesman for what he called the Iraqi Regional Command of the Baath, headed by Izzat Ibrahim, Saddam's former vice president and a fugitive with a $10 million bounty on his head, believed the top leader of Saddam loyalists.

Other Baathist sympathizers and party members interviewed in Damascus confirmed the man's position and helped to arrange the interview.

The interview came at a time when Saddam's followers are taking steps to regroup and regain political influence outside Iraq. They have been increasingly outspoken in recent weeks, apparently in an effort to blunt efforts by other Sunnis, encouraged by the United States and neighboring Arab regimes, to reach some deal with Iraq's Shiite-led government.

U.S. officials have said they believe Iraq's Sunni insurgency is made up of both Saddam loyalists, such as the former Baathists, and also foreign Islamic extremist terrorists with broad al-Qaida links.

Saddam's Baath party was generally a nationalistic, secular party before the 2003 U.S-led invasion of Iraq, and in the interview earlier this week, Abu Mohammed suggested the group retained much of that character.

He described what he called "a big difference" between Saddam loyalists and al-Qaida linked elements of the insurgency.

"Our program is to liberate Iraq .. We are fighting the Americans because they have occupied Iraq, while al-Qaida has a different program. They want to kill the Americans in Washington and any where in the world," he said. He said the al-Qaida linked extremists regarded his group as atheists.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

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