Baathist asserts to newspaper meetings with armed groups in Damascus to coordinate attacks in Iraq

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A Baathist leader who lives in Syria confessed to China’s Asia Times newspaper that his party held meetings with armed groups to coordinate attacks in Iraq, noting that one of al-Qaeda’s wings is responsible to the bloody Wednesday’s attacks. “ From a dated cafe in downtown Damascus , Iraqi Ba ath party member Nizar Samarai is defiant,” the newspaper said. “What happened on March 20, 2003 , was a major assault on the Ba ath party, 2003 was a hard year for us, but now, we have started to recover.” Samarai was general director of the Presidential Office and an advisor to former president Saddam Hussein until Baghdad fell to coalition troops that March. He then went into hiding. Asked what he does in Syria , he says, “The government doesn’t allow me to work. If they did, you wouldn’t be getting this bill!” he joked, avoiding the question. The bombings of government buildings in Baghdad on August 19, in which at least 95 people were killed and hundreds wounded, sparked a major row between Syria and Iraq . Turkey and the Arab League have been drawn into the issue, attempting to bridge the mounting tension between Damascus and Baghdad which has come despite ties improving significantly in the months before the attack. Commentators interviewed for this article said that in a meeting the day before the bombings, Iraqi Prime Minister N o uri al-Maliki asked Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for th e names of 179 Ba ath members thought to be hiding in Syria , accusing them of being involved in attacks across Iraq . Assad asked for evidence that the named men were indeed guilty of organizing the attacks. Maliki presented none and left Damascus prematurely, apparently fuming. The next day, one of the worst attacks Iraq has seen since the occupation took place. Syria , for its part, has said all allegations by the Iraqi government are entirely false. “For Syria to be accused of killing Iraqis while it houses some 1.2 million Iraqi refugees is an immoral and politically motivated accusation,” said Assad. Since then, Syria ‘s Foreign Minister Walid al-Mouallem has met with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari in Cairo , but he said no evidence had been presented to back up Baghdad ‘s claims. A four-way meeting in Istanbul last week also failed to resolve the two sides’ differences. Shortly after the attacks in Baghdad , an alliance of Shi ite political groups and figures convened, w hich may well undermine Maliki’s political legitimacy in Iraq . Included in the “Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq” are prominent cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the Fadhila Party, and former prime minister Ibrahim al-Jafari, among others. As politicians ready for national elections expected to be held in January, personal weaknesses are being targeted. Fadhil Rubayieh, an Iraqi researcher and author who writes for al-Arabi al-Qatari and al-J azeera.net, has doubts about Ba athist involvement in the attac ks. “I don’t think any Iraqi Ba athist people were responsible for the bombings – there’s no way they could have pulled off something as big as that. [It was] the biggest [bombing] in Iraq for six years.” Rubayieh looks to the past for pointers on the current crisis. “The same date 30 years ago – in the summer of 1979 – Syria’s president was in Iraq to sign a Pan-Arab agreement; within 48 hours, Iraqi president Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr announced a conspiracy to change the Iraqi regime. Iraqi is again trying to show it can stand up for itself.” A report by the Jamestown Foundatio n said members of the Iraqi Ba ath party based in northeast Syria would end their support for the insurgency in Iraq in return for permission to participate in the political process. “Maliki does not want to see the Baathist s succeed in regaining any sort of political legitimacy, and as such, blamed them for the bombing,” said Rubayieh. ” Reports say that during