article_snippet.sent: Hamza appointments has been the fact the ex-Baathists have extensive contacts among oil smugglers thanks to Hussein's efforts to avoid international sanctions in the 1990s.
article_snippet.sent: Middle East analysts and experts believe one key reason why so many former Iraqi army commanders have joined ISIS is due to the de-Baathification law brought in L.­
article_snippet.sent: the de-Baathification law brought in  effectively meant that 400,000 members of Iraqi Army could no longer be employed in government roles and were barred from drawing 400,000 members of the defeated Iraqi army military pensions.
article_snippet.sent: Saddam Hussein's had previously been a colonel in military intelligence and served in Saddam Hussein's's Republican Guard.
article_snippet.sent: It is widely believed that all of the senior ISIS figures killed over the past year - including Haji Bakr - have been replaced by former members of Iraqi Army.
highlights_snippet.sent: Many joined the terror group in the insurgency after the fall of the dictator .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: U.S. had barred the men taking government jobs or drawing government jobs pensions .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Generals' military experience has been key to the terrorists' spread in Iraq .
  