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Baathists, militants join to fight the new Iraq

Bomb-building Islamic radicals have joined forces with guerrilla foot soldiers from former president Saddam Hussein's ousted regime in a bloody insurgency that now has a new target: Iraq's fragile interim government.

Officials have been warning that insurgents were planning a bloody offensive and a spate of car bombs to disrupt the day that the interim government is installed.

US occupation chief Paul Bremer and his entourage, who abruptly handed the reins to Iraq's new government on Monday, two days early, sidestepped the expected mayhem. But the Iraqis -- and the 140,000 US troops that will remain in charge of the country's security -- may still bear its brunt.

"The political arm of our operation here has gone out of business. Certainly the military operation has not gone out of business," said Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the coalition deputy operations chief.

"Frankly, we could see more violence in the days and weeks ahead as the terrorists and the former regime loyalists might want to test this new government," he said in an interview with AP Radio.

Now, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi must lead a shattered country for seven months while preparing for January's general election.

Hours after the handover of sovereignty, blasts rang out in central Baghdad, as they do nearly every day in the Iraqi capital.

An increasingly brutal insurgency has set off more than two dozen car bombs this month alone. And as Allawi's government takes power, the insurgency may be undergoing a worrying metamorphosis.

There is evidence that ex-Baathist guerrillas, known for their gun and grenade attacks, are working more closely with Islamic militants who have been using car and suicide bombings.

Those guerrillas are expected to launch attacks aimed at disrupting those elections and discredit Allawi's government, which was selected in large measure by the US.

Until recently, the US military logic placed the Islamic extremists at odds with guerrillas thought to be linked to Saddam's former Baath Party. These included remnants of the Republican Guard and Saddam's Fedayeen militia, which fought doggedly against US troops during last year's invasion.

But the new alliance, described as a "marriage of convenience," may have been evident in a one-day offensive on Thursday that sowed chaos in a number of cities across Iraq as guerrillas and car bombers launched simultaneous attacks that killed over 100 people.

Gunmen attacked police stations with guerrilla tactics but were dressed in black jihadist outfits and headbands carrying radical Islamic slogans, Kimmitt said.

"By their actions, they look like [ex-Baathists] but by their appearance, they look like jihadists," Kimmitt said. "You don't know if they're truly jihadists or they're just wrapping themselves in the uniform."

The strife-ridden city of Baqouba, where rebels have fought US and Iraqi troops in running street battles for a week, is the crucible of this partnership. The phenomenon has also popped up in Mosul and Fallujah, two other cities with long histories of insurgency.

To face the insurgency, Allawi commands some 200,000 Iraqi police and other security forces, many of them ill-trained. The US-led multinational force, totalling about 150,000 troops, remains responsible for security.

"To be successful, he will need to use American power without appearing like an American puppet," said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "Iraqis will need to see him stand up to the US government to defend Iraqi interests, while drawing on US technical, financial, military, and intelligence resources."
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