The conventional wisdom is that Fallujah is just crawling with foreign mercenaries. Maybe that's not true:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/la-fg-fighters16nov16,0,19927.story?coll=sfla-home-headlinesFew Foreigners Among Insurgents
Judging from fighters captured in Fallouja, all but about 5% are Iraqi, U.S. officials say.
By John Hendren
Times Staff Writer
Posted November 16 2004
CAMP FALLOUJA, Iraq — The battle for the city of Fallouja is giving U.S. military commanders some insight into this country's insurgency, painting a portrait of a home-grown uprising dominated by Iraqis, not 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 last week, just 15 are confirmed foreign fighters, Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. ground commander in Iraq, said Monday.
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The overwhelming majority of insurgents, several senior commanders said, are drawn from the tens of thousands of former government employees whose sympathies lie with the toppled regime of Saddam Hussein, unemployed "criminals" who find work laying roadside bombs for about $500 each and Iraqi religious extremists.
"Over time, it's the former regime elements that are the threat," said Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who joined Casey for a visit to bases in Baghdad and outside Fallouja before meeting with interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Before the battle, U.S. officials frequently stressed the role of foreign fighters in Fallouja. Last week, as the battle got underway, Myers told reporters that the city was "a major safe haven for former regime elements and foreign fighters, in particular Zarqawi and his folks."
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So, if our military is "liberating" Fallujah from its Iraqi inhabitants, how do we distinguish this from the "liberation" of the Warsaw ghetto by the Nazis? I'm having some real problems with what's being done with my tax dollars and in my name.