I recall similar and cannot find that citation at this time.
Good memory FRiend!
RE: “I seem to recall seeing an article posted here at FR that indicated ISIS was masterminded and formed by one of the former Iraqi top military men who were kicked out after the Bush conquest. So I would not be surprised if some of the organizers of ISIS were ex Iraqi top military brass. Then the issue was compounded when Bushe’s people disbanded the entire Iraq army, thus providing a corp of troops for the disgruntled leaders. This is not to say that the Dems didn’t make some serious mistakes too.”
General Petraus had bought off the key anti-US warlords in Iraq. That was part of his surge strategy. In the long run, it proved to be the right policy. The war lords became mercenaries for the US.
I never would have approved of the Petraus plan myself, not understanding guerrilla warfare at the time. But it worked.
And guess who tipped over the Apple Cart?
I went to Google to try to find it since it was not coming up with the FR Search. Here is a major Google search line which lists at least 6 articles dealing the the former Iraq military/Bathist origin of ISIS. All are 2015 or earlier articles.
https://www.google.com/#q=Saddam+Hussein%27s+former+general+brains+behind+ISIS