RABIYA, Iraq (AP) — Iraq's border with Syria runs for hundreds of miles through barren land patrolled by scattered security forces.
But despite claims about exiled Saddam Hussein loyalists sneaking across to disrupt Iraq's upcoming elections, the only evidence around one key outpost is faded slogans of Saddam's banned Baath Party painted on the wall of a decaying grain elevator.
Iraqi and American troops alike around the border town of Rabiya say they've neither seen nor heard of Baathists illegally crossing the border in recent months.
The claim has been raised with increasing force by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who blames horrific bombings in Baghdad on an alliance of Sunni insurgents and Baathist loyalists seeking to derail the planned March vote.
