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Iraq National Security Adviser Safa Hussein
"Recently, during the last six months, there has been a change" in Al-Qaeda's strategy, Hussein said, speaking in his office in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone government and diplomatic compound.
"We think that this change comes also through the influence and effect of them being closer to the Baathists."
Hussein said that after the US-led invasion overthrew Saddam, Baathists had joined a range of insurgent groups, including Al-Qaeda, as they offered a more potent force against the occupation troops than the Baath's own unpopular party apparatus.
Although initially Al-Qaeda in Iraq restricted former Baathists to lower ranks, it allowed them to gain positions of power after its most notorious leader, Jordanian volunteer Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a 2006 US air strike, Hussein said.
"So there were the right circumstances and environment for the Baath party to promote their strategy within Al-Qaeda," he said. "Before, the influence was on lower levels."
Iraqi officials have blamed Baathists working with Al-Qaeda for a series of coordinated bombings that struck public buildings in the heart of Baghdad in recent months in repeated security breaches that sparked public anger.
Asked whether he expected further waves of bombings like those of August, October and December which killed nearly 400 people in total, Hussein said: "Their intention continues in this direction.
"I think during the election period, it will continue this way," he added, referring to the run-up to the March 7 general election.
The 55-year-old former engineer, who until May was deputy to Muwafaq al-Rubaie before Rubaie left the post leaving him as acting national security advisor, said that the Baathists within Al-Qaeda "have their nominees for the election."
"They will benefit from discrediting the government and the main political blocs," he said.
"I wouldn't say that in the political map of Iraq now, there is a Baathist party or a front for Baath politics, but I would say (within) some groups or some parties, there are members favoured and sponsored by Baathists."
Hussein said the number of Al-Qaeda insurgents had dropped from a peak of around 10,000 to less than 2,000 now.
He estimated that foreign fighters once made up 10 percent of the group's strength but said that proportion had since fallen sharply.
He said that Saudis formed the largest group of recruits from abroad, followed by Egyptians and Libyans.
He added that "rich people and influential people in Saudi Arabia" also provided much of Al-Qaeda in Iraq's funding.
"It is not the Saudi government, but it is some families, including families in the government," he said.
Although relations between Baghdad and Riyadh remain poor -- Maliki severely criticised Saudi Arabia for its "negative" stance towards Iraq last month -- Hussein credited the Saudi government with taking steps to control its long desert border with Iraq.
He said the same was not the case with Syria, which he charged remained a transit point for foreign fighters flying in from other Arab countries.
"They (Syria) are at the door -- sometimes they open it fully, sometimes they leave it half-open," Hussein said.
"They can make life very difficult for Al-Qaeda to come to Iraq if they wish to. And I am not talking about the borders ... I am talking about Damascus airport -- there are more Syrian intelligence agents at this airport than travellers, and they can control it pretty well."
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"We think that this change comes also through the influence and effect of them being closer to the Baathists."
Hussein said that after the US-led invasion overthrew Saddam, Baathists had joined a range of insurgent groups, including Al-Qaeda, as they offered a more potent force against the occupation troops than the Baath's own unpopular party apparatus.
Although initially Al-Qaeda in Iraq restricted former Baathists to lower ranks, it allowed them to gain positions of power after its most notorious leader, Jordanian volunteer Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a 2006 US air strike, Hussein said.
"So there were the right circumstances and environment for the Baath party to promote their strategy within Al-Qaeda," he said. "Before, the influence was on lower levels."
Iraqi officials have blamed Baathists working with Al-Qaeda for a series of coordinated bombings that struck public buildings in the heart of Baghdad in recent months in repeated security breaches that sparked public anger.
Asked whether he expected further waves of bombings like those of August, October and December which killed nearly 400 people in total, Hussein said: "Their intention continues in this direction.
"I think during the election period, it will continue this way," he added, referring to the run-up to the March 7 general election.
The 55-year-old former engineer, who until May was deputy to Muwafaq al-Rubaie before Rubaie left the post leaving him as acting national security advisor, said that the Baathists within Al-Qaeda "have their nominees for the election."
"They will benefit from discrediting the government and the main political blocs," he said.
"I wouldn't say that in the political map of Iraq now, there is a Baathist party or a front for Baath politics, but I would say (within) some groups or some parties, there are members favoured and sponsored by Baathists."
Hussein said the number of Al-Qaeda insurgents had dropped from a peak of around 10,000 to less than 2,000 now.
He estimated that foreign fighters once made up 10 percent of the group's strength but said that proportion had since fallen sharply.
He said that Saudis formed the largest group of recruits from abroad, followed by Egyptians and Libyans.
He added that "rich people and influential people in Saudi Arabia" also provided much of Al-Qaeda in Iraq's funding.
"It is not the Saudi government, but it is some families, including families in the government," he said.
Although relations between Baghdad and Riyadh remain poor -- Maliki severely criticised Saudi Arabia for its "negative" stance towards Iraq last month -- Hussein credited the Saudi government with taking steps to control its long desert border with Iraq.
He said the same was not the case with Syria, which he charged remained a transit point for foreign fighters flying in from other Arab countries.
"They (Syria) are at the door -- sometimes they open it fully, sometimes they leave it half-open," Hussein said.
"They can make life very difficult for Al-Qaeda to come to Iraq if they wish to. And I am not talking about the borders ... I am talking about Damascus airport -- there are more Syrian intelligence agents at this airport than travellers, and they can control it pretty well."
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