ISIS and Al Qaeda marrying forces? Iraq's VP says yes

Al Baghdadi sings a love song to Al Zawahiri

Ayad Allawi, Iraq's vice president, said that ISIS and Al Qaeda, rivals in terror, are exchanging plans on ways to join forces. He didn't say who his source is for this information.

The Iraq vice president said the leaders of ISIS and AQ, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Ayman al-Zawahiri respectively, aren't directly communicating with each other but are using intermediaries.

(Imagine al-Baghdadi's guy saying to al-Zawahiri's guy: "Do you think Ayman really likes me?" Then al-Zawahiri's guy says: "He certainly thinks your beard's better than his goat's.")

"I don't know exactly when, but there are discussions and dialogues between messengers," Allawi said, but he doesn't know how the two groups will work together. 

One possibility is they will choose "Odds or Evens" to determine who gets to do a beheading, for example. 

Although there are concerns the two groups may be forging a marriage, of sorts, they've been like rival gangs, competing for money, gang members and other resources since their 2014 split.

In January, Al Qaeda's leader reiterated his criticism of the Islamic State's violent attacks, such as beheading civilians and eating with their hands. AQ also refused to recognize the ISIS self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq.

But the biggest animosity between the two gangs is exacerbated by the competition as to which leader is a better Muslim.

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