[BlackVeil]

The key here is that they were not just Arab volunteers coming to Iraq to fight, they were Arab volunteers entering Iraq by the official port of entry and being directed up to join a Kurdish unit fighting for Saddam ...

Excellent analysis. I didn't see that central point, myself, until you spelt it out.

Evidence for such an development is absent from this article. I would be interested to see such a link - al-Qaida/Saddamm/al-Ansar. Until then, I must say that al-Ansar Islamia looks like an Iranian backed show. No one mentions that possibility, but it is pretty obvious. They were on the Iran border, and fled away there once the fighting started.

The presence of the no-fly zone was a big temptation for the Iranian govt to try to expand there.

[marron]

I agree with you, Al Ansar looks Iranian to me, or at least Iran tolerates it.

There are a lot of these anomalies. Iran backed the Northern Alliance, almost went to war against the Talibs, but have allowed some of Osama's inner circle to find refuge, and allowed escaping Al Qaeda to cross its territory. It looks like Chechens were allowed to cross Iran to get to Afghanistan for training, before.

Saddam would have backed Al Ansar as a theat to the other Kurdish factions, although had he ever regained control of the region they would probably have been the first up against the wall...