amazeingly asbat-ansar, dosn't seem to have a link to husain, in fact the CIA seems to list them as small uneffective procupied with internal house keeping...big threat there. Lokk in the 90's hussain started to make connections with the PLO, spacificly a secular branch, the distruction of his secrate poliece headcourters by clinton put a stop to that. THe fact remains that the only terrorist group operating in iraq before this war was allied with the kurds our allies. Hussain was a secular leader who hated and was hated by the islamists, al of the middle east terrorist groups are islamists.
bballad
I may have missed typed ‘Asbat al-Ansar .
It was supposed to be Ansar al-Islam.
(I was doing this from direct memory and I might have gotten the names mixed up)


History lesson on Ansar al-Islam before SH's fall

General
Ansar al-Islam is a radical Kurdish Islamic group that is supportive of Saddam Hussein's regime. This group is located in the pseudo-autonomous Northern Iraq. This group has ties with Taliban and al-Qaeda. It is the most radical group operating in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

Activities
Ansar al-Islam recent activities include: razing of beauty salons, burning a schools for girls, and murdered women in the streets for refusing to wear the burqa. It has seized a Taliban-style enclave of 4,000 civilians and several villages near the Iranian border. It is also responsible for ambushing and killing of 42 Kurdish soldiers. Ansar al-Islam is in a state of war with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). It was responsible for the assassination in 2001 of a senior official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Franso Hariri, and for the attempted killing of Burhan Salih, head of the PUK-led Iraqi Kurdistan regional government. However, Ansar al-Islam is not in armed confrontation with the KDP.

Strength
About 700 - 1000 members

Additional Info
According to reports, the group has received at least $600,000 from al-Qaeda, and a delivery of weapons and Toyota Land Cruisers. There are also reports stating that Ansar al-Islam received $35,000 from the Mukhabarat branch of Iraqi Intelligence Service, in addition to a considerable quantity of arms. The leader of Ansar al-Islam, Mullah Krekar has been captured in September of 2002.

Do you know who's in charge now? I do.