Report: Fedayeen Saddam Aiding Saudi Forces in Suppressing Bahrainis http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9007160396

Remnants of Iraq's former Ba'ath regime and its paramilitary troops are assisting the Saudi forces in suppressing and arresting Bahraini protesters, the Iraqi media unveiled on Monday. Al-Nakhel news agency quoted informed political sources in Iraq as saying that Bahraini opposition leaders have informed Baghdad authorities that several members of the former Fedayeen Saddam (Devotees of Saddam) group and Ba'athists are cooperating with the Saudi forces in the clampdown on the people in Bahrain.

Bahraini opposition figures said these individuals, who wear black clothes and masks and speak Arabic with an Iraqi accent, accompany the Saudi forces in their raids on the home of Bahraini protesters and interrogation of Bahraini opposition members. The news agency also published documents proving that the Manama regime is recruiting Fedayeen Saddam in its wide-scale attempt to suppress the popular uprising in the tiny Persian Gulf island.

Fedayeen Saddam was a paramilitary organization loyal to the former Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein. The name was chosen to mean "Saddam's Men of Sacrifice". Saddam's notorious son, Uday Hussein, formed the Fedayeen Saddam in 1995 with ten to fifteen thousand recruits, typically young Sunni men living in central Iraq, the regions most loyal to the Ba'ath Party. Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states were dispatched to the tiny kingdom on March 13 to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds more arrested in the brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in Bahrain, home to a huge American military installation for the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf. Rights activists in Bahrain have repeatedly said that the government's harsh tactics and intimidation against opposition forces cannot smother the popular uprising in the Persian Gulf country. People are being tortured, kidnapped, sexually harassed and assaulted, houses being stolen and raided, villages being raided, and worshipping places are being demolished, the human rights activists reported.