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Iraq
Saudis biggest group of al Qaeda Iraq fighters
2007-12-20
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most al Qaeda fighters in Iraq are from Saudi Arabia and Libya and many are university-aged students, said a study released on Wednesday by researchers at the U.S. Army's West Point military academy.
Quelle surprise.
The study was based on 606 personnel records collected by al Qaeda in Iraq and captured by coalition troops in October. It includes data on fighters who entered Iraq, largely through Syria, between August 2006 and August 2007.

The researchers at West Point's Combating Terrorism Center found that 41 percent of the fighters were Saudi nationals. Libyan nationals accounted for the second largest group entering Iraq in that time period with about 19 percent of the total, followed by Syrians and Yemenis each at 8 percent, Algerians with 7 percent and Moroccans at 6 percent. On a per capita basis, Libyans accounted for the greatest share of foreign fighters entering Iraq.

Previous studies found Libyans accounted for a far smaller percentage of foreign fighters in Iraq, the West Point researchers said. They concluded the U.S. military either underestimated the Libyan contribution of fighters or that the pattern has shifted since a Libyan Islamic militant group strengthened ties with al Qaeda.

"The apparent surge in Libyan recruits traveling to Iraq may be linked (to) the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group's increasingly cooperative relationship with al-Qa'ida, which culminated in the LIFG officially joining al-Qa'ida on November 3, 2007," wrote authors Joseph Felter and Brian Fishman.
May also be Qaddafi flushing out the prisons.
According to the study, the average age of the 606 fighters who entered over that one-year period was 24-25. One was 15 years old.
Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC

#15  Dunno woof, ima think were all widdly off topic.
Posted by: twobyfour   2007-12-20 20:19  

#14  Ima scratch 2x4 hed jest to make sure. Gotta couple of lumps here pal, you sure aobut this not a jooooooo deal.?
Posted by: Thomas Woof   2007-12-20 19:45  

#13  Fuck it!

Of course there is a cost associated with support of small nations that are our friends. There is no denial about that.

What you forgetting is what costs would be if it were otherwise, if we did not stand behind our friends.

As for the aid, it is in the vicinity of $3.3 billion annually. I would probably agree that the aid to Egypt and Jordan should be cancelled and the aid to Israel scalled acordingly, to about $1.1 billon. There is enough value coming out of Israel that would make up the difference via trade.

Or Israelis could say enough of it, we have to pay for it by being bound in our actions. Let's be just great friends as always, but we want to create our policies in situ, not in Washington, DC.

Now, as plinking goes...

Friends often argue. It is a nature of all relationships. There is no need to be servile, in fact, that is more likely to be detrimental to friendship.

If someone pushed me into Road Kill (misnamed as Road Map), I would plink away with abandon. That we are fiends does not mean I would jump trhough hoops or even off the cliff to make you happy.

In fact, I myself plink away in general Rice direction for her koolaidish shortsighted efforts.

BTW, I am not a Jew (if so, then only honorary one), nor Israeli, nor Last Days fundie, thus I don't have any axe to grind. My only axe may be common sense and moral compass that I inherited.
Posted by: twobyfour   2007-12-20 17:33  

#12  TBF: Zhang Fei, I am not even sure that your #7 & #8 deserves a reply.

I'm not sure you can manage a reply that does more than avoid the issue, which is that there is a cost to supporting smaller nations against their much larger adversaries. You can deny it all you want, but it exists, independent of all wishful thinking. I'm not saying that we shouldn't support the good guys, but the good guys ought to be aware that we are paying a price, and acknowledge it, instead of plinking away at their only real friends.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2007-12-20 16:24  

#11  Zhang Fei, I am not even sure that your #7 & #8 deserves a reply.
Posted by: twobyfour   2007-12-20 16:11  

#10  g: And here I thought that "Leah Ashley" was the most ignorant, malicious idiot to visit 'burg in recent times.

Nah - that honor belongs to you.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2007-12-20 15:25  

#9  And here I thought that "Leah Ashley" was the most ignorant, malicious idiot to visit 'burg in recent times.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2007-12-20 15:20  

#8  Let me also suggest a reason that Israel died out as a state, and had to be revived by the British empire. Jews have a tendency towards factionalism that springs from an excessive love for clever rhetoric in a point-scoring sense. This was what plagued the Byzantine empire. Instead of shoring up their relationships with their friends, and attacking their enemies, they spend all their time supplicating their enemies and attacking their friends. They spend all their time cultivating India, China and Europe, none of which have ever encountered a pro-Palestinian (and anti-Israel) UN resolution they didn't like. While whaling away at Uncle Sam, whose support they take for granted.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2007-12-20 14:48  

#7  TBF: It's all da damn jooos!

I've been around Muslims for a while. And they've been unhappy about US support for Israel way before Saudi Arabia started spending big chunks of cash proselytizing. There was no need for al Qaeda to mention US support for Israel. It would be like the GOP mentioning that NAMBLA's manifesto is not part of the party's campaign platform. It's a given.*

Why do you think the rest of the world (ROW) lines up with Muslims? Because they like them? Let's face it - the Muslim world isn't exactly a model of success, and Muslims are the sleaziest and least ethical people around - and that's saying a lot, given contemporary standards. The ROW lines up against Israel because they want peace from Muslim terrorists. It's not that complicated. The Israelis are the good guys, but we do take flak of all kinds for subsidizing them, including boycotts by Muslim consumers who substitute non-US products when something is available, rather than buy from the main reason an Israel still exists.

* For example, Chinese newspapers routinely refer to the US as a bully when they write about foreign policy developments around the world, whether it is with reference to the Sudan, Zimbabwe or Venezuela. Everyone knows the reason for this hostility is US support for Taiwan. But it would be redundant for them to mention this. We acknowledge that we pay a price for supporting Taiwan, but acknowledging that there is also a price to be paid for supporting Israel is somehow taboo? That's just illogical.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2007-12-20 14:39  

#6  be nice if some of these Saudi Clerics got a little boom boom action themselves.

There must be some nice Shia boom-stock dying to die in that large "Religious" School in SA.
Posted by: RD   2007-12-20 14:00  

#5  It's all da damn jooos!

Zhang Fei, horsedung.

1. There was not a word about Israel in first AQ communiques. It was latter convenintly added, in about late 2002, because anti-semitism seem to work so well.

2. What would happen if Israel was not there tomorrow? They would focus full speed on Great Satan.

3. House of Saud is also House of Wahhab. They are not separable. The vile indoctrination materials, used in KSA schools, are printed by Saudi government. Just get some stuff for distribution in mosques that is printed by Saudis and dispached by their embassy in US, to get some beaings. Hair would stand on the back of your neck. Some allies they are.

You've been a long time RBer, yet you still don't seem to get it.
Posted by: twobyfour   2007-12-20 12:42  

#4  g: Nice to have such good allies in WOT.

Well, we know that the population of Saudi Arabia aren't our allies. The government is. But at least we don't have to subsidize them to the tune of $5b a year. And unlike being Israel's ally, being an ally of Saudi Arabia doesn't make us the target of Muslim anger around the world.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2007-12-20 12:04  

#3  'Most al Qaeda fighters in Iraq are from Saudi Arabia and Libya and many are university-aged students'

So much for the so called poverty excuse!!!!

Its all asbout ideology preached in Saudi and Pakistan!
Posted by: Paul   2007-12-20 10:39  

#2  I'd rather we fight them in what was formerly known as Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: ed   2007-12-20 08:34  

#1  Nice to have such good allies in WOT.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2007-12-20 07:57  

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