WaPo: Meeting Iraq’s foreign insurgents

[laststeamtrain]

Meeting Iraq’s foreign insurgents
Cache of individual records leads U.S. military to reassess assumptions
By Karen DeYoung
The Washington Post

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Their stories are among the individual records of 606 foreign fighters who entered Iraq between August 2006 and August 2007. The cache of documents was discovered last fall by U.S. forces in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar.

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Based on the Sinjar records, U.S. military officials in Iraq said they now think that nine out of 10 suicide bombers have been foreigners, compared with earlier estimates of 75 percent. Similarly, they assess that 90 percent of foreign fighters entering Iraq during the one-year period ending in August came via Syria, a greater proportion than previously believed.

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Although Saudi Arabia was by far the most common country of origin of foreign fighters, with about 40 percent of the total, a surprising share -- 19 percent -- came from Libya. Overall, about 40 percent were North African.

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Based on information solicited in the longer Islamic State of Iraq forms, the Syrian role in the traffic appeared more that of entrepreneur than ideological partner and seemed to be a source of concern and suspicion for al-Qaeda in Iraq. Entrants were asked for names and descriptions of Syrians they had come into contact with, and were asked how they were treated. Many responded that the Syrians had demanded exorbitant sums of money, often exactly the amount the entrants were carrying.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22690103/

[Toots]

1. Is it possible to believe anything coming from the US military or the US Government any more?

I find neither source credible at all..The one true legacy of Bush* is that nothing is believable any longer...