The Face of Iraqi Terrorism by Stephen Schwartz
A new study shows where the foreign fighters in Iraq are coming from. Care to guess?
There are some interesting statistics in this piece.
The Global Research in International Affairs Center in Israel, a highly reputable and reliable think-tank, has published a paper titled “Arab volunteers killed in Iraq: an Analysis,” available at e-prism.org. Authored by Dr. Reuven Paz, the paper analyzes the origins of 154 Arab jihadists killed in Iraq in the last six months, whose names have been posted on Islamist websites.
The sample does not account for all jihadists in Iraq, but provides a useful and eye-opening profile of them. Saudi Arabia accounted for 94 jihadists, or 61 percent of the sample, followed by Syria with 16 (10 percent), Iraq itself with only 13 (8 percent), and Kuwait with 11 (7 percent.) The rest included small numbers from Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Algeria, Morocco (of which one was a resident in Spain), Yemen, Tunisia, the Palestinian territories (only 1), Dubai, and Sudan. The Sudanese was living in Saudi Arabia before he went to die in Iraq.
Recommended.
I don’t question the involvement of Saudia Arabia. But, I do have to question the legitimacy of this report. There is a country that seems to missing from the list (Iran). We, already, know that there is significant Iranian involvement in the insurgency…right up to ties to their intelligence agencies. Granted, Iran is more apt a staging area for other nationalities entering Iraq. But, there is, no doubt, participation by Iranian Nationals as well.
Are the Israelis throwing the Iranians a bone by not including them in the report?
Comment by IR — 4 Mar, 2005 @ 10:32
Ah… those were the ones with their names posted on the Islamist websites. Most of the Islamist websites are Wahhabi-backed, and Zarqawi admirers, so it would be skewed to the Sunni Islamists.
I don’t actually know of any Shi’ite Islamist websites, though I’m sure there are some.
I’m quite sure that if they find a website run by Sadr’s gang we’d find a bunch of Iranians in that report.
Comment by Kathy K — 4 Mar, 2005 @ 20:23