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he’s going to get in bed with Saleh,” I prompted.  “In spite of the fact that Saleh’s pretty pro-Iranian and Al Hakim just fought tooth-and-nail to drive the Iranians out of here.”
    “They’ve been talking back and forth for the last week, both with messengers and electronically,” he said.  “We’re pretty sure that Al Zubayri is going to go with it, though frankly we’re not sure which way Al Hakim or Al Khazraji is going to jump.”
    “We’re pretty sure there’s too much bad blood between Hussein Ali and the Iranians for him to go for it,” I said.  That earned me a calculating look, but no comment.
    “What we are certain of,” he continued, “is that any Americans in Saleh’s way are going to end up on the chopping block.  He blames the US for the chaos; never mind the Iranian, Baathist, or Salafist influences that have kept this country in turmoil for almost two decades now.  To him, all of this could have been avoided if we hadn’t invaded in the first place.  Westerners in Iraq are a great dishonor in his mind and those of millions of his tribal and sectarian allies.”
    “Convenient,” I commented.  “ But then, we have been the great scapegoats in this part of the world since long before 9/11, anyway, so it makes sense.”
    “True enough,” he said, perching on the edge of a table that barely looked sturdy enough to support his weight.  “Unfortunately, this time he might just have real cause to think that.”
    “Collins’ Project,” I said flatly.  I was pretty sure that was precisely what Renton was here to talk about.
    “The same,” he confirmed.   “How much do you know about it?”
    “Not a lot, aside from the fact that he’s doing for the bad guys what we’re trying to do for Al Hakim’s organization,” I replied.
    “ Collins and his operation have been providing material and technical support to Salafist organizations, up to and including ISIS,” he explained.  “It started out as a staggering bit of political naiveté, back when the civil war in Syria had only killed about a hundred thousand people, and Assad had, presumably, used chemical weapons in Damascus.  While public opinion and ultimately a vote in Congress kept any direct intervention from happening, or any open aid from being sent to the rebels—who were already well on the way to being completely co-opted by Salafist Islamists, even if they weren’t all AQ—as almost always happens, things started to go down behind the scenes.  Certain people weren’t satisfied with the orders they were getting from Congress, so they started bending the rules.
    “Collins was an up-and-coming operations officer at the time.  He’s one hell of a careerist, and he saw an opportunity.  He got himself assigned to the op, which started as strictly logistical and intel support for the Free Syrian Army.”
    “Obviously it didn’t stay that way,” Mike said.
    “No, it didn’t,” Renton replied.  “The FSA was getting increasingly marginalized, and Jabhaat Islamiya, Al Nusra, and ISIS were moving to the fore, regardless of how much they fought amongst themselves.  Somebody—and we don’t know if this was Collins or somebody further up the chain—started making the case that just sticking with the failing secular rebellion wasn’t going to put us in a good position if the Islamists took over.”
    He shook his head.  “You wouldn’t believe some of the justifications that have cropped up, mostly in papers that are classified so black that I could probably disappear into a deep dark hole just for reading them.  The main one seems to be that we should help the winners, to try to foster better relations after the war is over and hopefully to steer even the Islamists in a more moderate direction.”
    I snorted.  “Where have I heard that before?   It sure didn’t work in Egypt or Libya, did it?”
    “Never underestimate a bureaucrat’s need to be right,” Renton said grimly.  “At any rate,