Iraq: Stats on Foreign Militants Show Saudis Dominate

[sabra]

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http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.179552768&par=0

IRAQ: STATS ON FOREIGN MILITANTS SHOW SAUDIS DOMINATE

Washington, 22 June (AKI) - A survey on casualties of foreign insurgents active in Iraq show that more than half of them are Saudi citizens, while the next most populous group is Syrian militants, at 13 percent, and Kuwaitis following with 5.3 percent. The data, compiled by a prominent US al-Qaeda and terror expert, Evan Kohlmann, is based on the known nationalities of 300 foreign insurgents killed fighting the US-led forces or in suicide attacks between June 2003-June 2005. While most of the foreign militants who died are from neighbouring Arab nations, a few are also from European countries .
"We gathered data based not just based on the state,emts amd lists published on Islamist internet forums," Kohl told Adnkronos International (AKI) "but also comparing this to information supplied by the American military and other allied nations and information in the mass media."

The strong Saudi presence among the 'martyrs' in Iraq indicates that despite a Fatwa against imams who seek to recruit or encourage youngsters to take part in Jihad in Iraq recruitment in the oil-rich kingdom is continuing.

Among those listed on Kohlmann's site, Globalterroralert.com, are three each from Italy and France and one each from the United Kingdom, Denmark and Spain. "They are almost always Arab immigrants who were living in Europe and then departed for Iraq" said Kohlmann.

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[LynnTheDem]

1. They forgot to point out that total "foreign fighters" are less than 5%

of the insurgents.

[sabra]

5. That is a good point.

and something I didn't know. thanks.

[LynnTheDem]

6. Some articles from US military commanders;

'Good and honest' Iraqis fighting US forces

General Taluto said "99.9 per cent" of those captured fighting the US were Iraqis...

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=168406

U.S. Now Finds That Insurgents Are Mostly Iraqis

The battle for the city of Fallujah is giving U.S. military commanders an increasingly clear picture of this country's insurgency, and it is the portrait of a home-grown uprising overwhelmingly dominated by Iraqis, not by foreign fighters.

Of the more than 1,000 men between the ages of 15 and 55 who were captured in intense fighting in the center of the insurgency over the past week, just 15 are confirmed foreign fighters, Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. ground commander in Iraq, said Monday.

American commanders said their best estimates of the proportion of foreigners among their enemy was about 5 percent.

http://middleeastinfo.org/article4833.html

Insurgents Are Mostly Iraqis, US Military Says

"They say these guys are flowing across and fomenting all this violence. We don't think so," said a senior military official in Baghdad. "What's the main threat? It's internal."

In a TV interview Sunday, Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, estimated that the number of foreign fighters in Iraq was below 1,000.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0928-21.htm

Nationalism drives many insurgents as they fight U.S.

A wide range of interviews with Iraqis and U.S. officials here paints a starkly different portrait -- a growing, intensely nationalist resistance determined to remove U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies.

Iraqi politicians do not dispute that foreign fighters are in their country. Posho Ibrahim, Iraq's deputy justice minister, said in an interview this month that the U.S. military has about 100 accused foreign fighters in custody. But they do not see the foreigners as the driving force behind the resistance.

Sharif, who was among the exiled Iraqi opposition figures who initially supported the U.S. invasion, said the typical resistance fighter is a young man with a military background who opposes the occupation

Wazan said the resistance is led by 20 to 30 armed groups across the country.

"This (insurgency) is a justified action for any people whose country is under occupation," he said.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/10/26/MNG659G46T1.DTL

[annabanana]

2. this is the primary reason why the Mid East is doomed....

Even within the twisted logic of the B*sh administration, they ignore the fact that their greatest ally is our greatest enemy...

Al-Qaida is Saudi born and bred.

nominated

[LynnTheDem]

7. I agree...except for your last statement.

Al Qaeda is actually Pakistani-originated.

But Pakistan is also bush's best buddy; Pakistan is holding the 911 "mastermind" (remember we invaded & attacked Afghanistan, killing & still killing a lot of innocent people -including so far 140 US troops- because the Taleban would only offer to turn OBL over to Pakistan, and bush said not good enough); Pakistan hates our guts and is a bigger threat to America than North Korea.

[Javaman]

3. But but but...they saudi's are our friends...

And didn't moron* sr. liberate the Kuwaiti's?????

Fiefdom is on the march...

[rwork]

4. McCain on MTP

said we need to go after Syria, just after saying that a lot of the insurgents were coming from Saudi Arabia.