Former Baathists driving insurgency

"Many Iraqis and Americans who have tracked the insurgency say it has been strongly shaped by former Baath Party members who want to keep Shiites from taking power. Even the newer jihadist groups have articulated political goals on Web sites — most notably to establish a Sunni-ruled Islamic caliphate.
'There was a whole regime that ruled this country for 35 years,' said Mahmoud Othman, a senior Kurdish legislator. 'Now they’ve gone underground. This is the main body of the resistance.' "

source
The New York Times. A Matter of Definition: What Makes a Civil War, and Who Declares It So? November 26, 2006.

posted: wednesday, november 29, 2006, 3:03 PM ET