This is a story about an Iraqi infantryman who joined the Taliban.
If Saddam had joined the Taliban or someone more high level who stayed in touch with Saddam then it would tie Saddam to the Taliban.
He may have been some sort of super spy for Saddam or he may have been just a low level guy out on his own.
Which do you think he was?
In intelligence work it is common to use people without obvious connections to higher ups. Often in CIA work the person had an entire alter identity worked up and used and the real identity was known only by a select few. This has been known for decades.
Since Saddam's intelligence agencies were set up by the KGB there is no doubt that they were trained as professionals and used all the techniques which professionals used including secret identities, hiding real roles etc.
Given the fact that one of Saddam's deepest secrets was the connection to al Queda and other terrorist groups I am not impressed by the ostensible low level of this individual as meaning he was not Iraqi intelligence. Since he traveled to Afganistan to join al Queda in the presence of an Iraqi intelligence officer an official green light was clearly given.
However this story is about identifying him as an Enemy Combatant not necessarily Iraqi intelligence. It is the surrounding facts which make it fairly obvious that these steps were taken with Saddam's approval. Information is missing as to the years after the Army and up to joining the Taliban. What was he doing till then?
Totalitarian rulers generally do not allow their subjects to just up and join fighting forces in other countries but we cannot be sure about this guy without more info. My bet is he was acting with Iraqi intelligence approval.