Report: Foreign Fighters Constitute No More Than 10% Of Insurgency

Iraq invasion radicalized Saudi fighters: report

RIYADH (Reuters) - Hundreds of Saudi fighters who joined the insurgency in Iraq showed few signs of militancy before the U.S.-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein, according to a detailed study based on Saudi intelligence reports.

The study by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), obtained by Reuters on Sunday, also said Saudis made up just 350 of the 3,000-strong foreign insurgents in Iraq -- fewer than many officials have assumed.

Analysts and government officials in the U.S. and Iraq have overstated the size of the foreign element in the Iraqi insurgency, especially that of the Saudi contingent," it said.

Non-Iraqi militants made up less than 10 percent of the insurgents' ranks -- perhaps even half that -- the study said.

Most were motivated by "revulsion at the idea of an Arab land being occupied by a non-Arab country."

So, to further underscore the utter senselessness of Bush's little Iraq project, it now appears that 90% of those the U.S./Coalition are shooting at, bombing, capturing, and otherwise fighting are Iraqis — in other words, those we went to Iraq to "save" from the brutal dictatorial hand of Saddam Hussein.

Before the White House complains further about the failure of Iraq's neighbour states to prevent those sympathetic with the Iraqi resistance from crossing the border, it would do well to a) see to it that the border is actually guarded from within; and b) read the bit about most of the foreign fighters being motivated by the non-Arab occupation of Iraq. (Translation: they would have no interest in crossing the border if the U.S. and allies were not there murdering oops, saving Iraqis to begin with.)