ariweiner
07-06-2004, 12:54 PM
Foreign 'jihadists' seem to play minor role in insurgency
Peter Eisler and Tom Squitieri
USA Today
Jul. 6, 2004 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON - Suspected foreign fighters account for less than 2 percent of the 5,700 captives being held as security threats in Iraq, one of the strongest indications yet that Iraqis are largely responsible for the stubborn anti-U.S. insurgency.
Since last August, coalition forces have detained 17,700 people in Iraq who were considered to be enemy fighters or security risks, and about 400 were foreign nationals, according to figures supplied last week by the U.S. military command handling detention operations in Iraq. Most of those detainees were freed after a review board found they didn't pose significant threats. About 5,700 remain in custody, 90 of them foreign nationals.
The numbers represent one of the most precise measurements to date of the composition of the insurgency and suggest that some Bush administration officials have overstated the role of foreign holy warriors, or "jihadists," from other Arab states.
The figures also suggest that Iraq hasn't become as big a magnet for foreign terrorists as some administration critics have asserted.
In Ramadi, where Marines have fended off coordinated attacks by hundreds of insurgents, the fighters "are all locals," said Lt. Col. Paul Kennedy, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment. "There are very few foreign fighters."
Despite the relatively few foreign nationals in custody, officials believe people outside Iraq are playing key roles in organizing or financing attacks on U.S. troops. They're especially intent on eliminating Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian al-Qaida operative who has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings and assassinations in Iraq.
Of the 90 foreign captives, more than half are Syrian. That has prompted President Bush to complain publicly that Syria has failed to secure its border with Iraq and ensure that the country isn't used as a staging ground for foreign fighters.
Suspected foreign fighters from Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other Arab nations are also being held.
The Pentagon's focus on foreign fighters initially grew from intelligence that Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida leaders enlisted fighters from outside Iraq to resist the U.S. occupation.
One top general from Saddam's Baath Party, "acknowledged foreign-fighter recruitment throughout the Middle East" during questioning late last year, according to a classified description of his interrogation obtained by USA Today.
U.S. officials repeatedly warned that foreign fighters were coming to Iraq to kill Americans.
In February, Dan Senor, a spokesman for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, said, "We have seen an influx of foreign fighters that have come into the country since the war because, we believe, the terrorists have declared Iraq the central front in their war."
Peter Eisler and Tom Squitieri
USA Today
Jul. 6, 2004 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON - Suspected foreign fighters account for less than 2 percent of the 5,700 captives being held as security threats in Iraq, one of the strongest indications yet that Iraqis are largely responsible for the stubborn anti-U.S. insurgency.
Since last August, coalition forces have detained 17,700 people in Iraq who were considered to be enemy fighters or security risks, and about 400 were foreign nationals, according to figures supplied last week by the U.S. military command handling detention operations in Iraq. Most of those detainees were freed after a review board found they didn't pose significant threats. About 5,700 remain in custody, 90 of them foreign nationals.
The numbers represent one of the most precise measurements to date of the composition of the insurgency and suggest that some Bush administration officials have overstated the role of foreign holy warriors, or "jihadists," from other Arab states.
The figures also suggest that Iraq hasn't become as big a magnet for foreign terrorists as some administration critics have asserted.
In Ramadi, where Marines have fended off coordinated attacks by hundreds of insurgents, the fighters "are all locals," said Lt. Col. Paul Kennedy, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment. "There are very few foreign fighters."
Despite the relatively few foreign nationals in custody, officials believe people outside Iraq are playing key roles in organizing or financing attacks on U.S. troops. They're especially intent on eliminating Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian al-Qaida operative who has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings and assassinations in Iraq.
Of the 90 foreign captives, more than half are Syrian. That has prompted President Bush to complain publicly that Syria has failed to secure its border with Iraq and ensure that the country isn't used as a staging ground for foreign fighters.
Suspected foreign fighters from Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other Arab nations are also being held.
The Pentagon's focus on foreign fighters initially grew from intelligence that Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida leaders enlisted fighters from outside Iraq to resist the U.S. occupation.
One top general from Saddam's Baath Party, "acknowledged foreign-fighter recruitment throughout the Middle East" during questioning late last year, according to a classified description of his interrogation obtained by USA Today.
U.S. officials repeatedly warned that foreign fighters were coming to Iraq to kill Americans.
In February, Dan Senor, a spokesman for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, said, "We have seen an influx of foreign fighters that have come into the country since the war because, we believe, the terrorists have declared Iraq the central front in their war."