Yet your demand for "proof" seems to require the impossible - that Bill (or I) find and present an objective, independent accounting of the membership in these terrorist bands that shows, as you put it, '"proof" that "INSURGENTS aren't Iraqis".'
That phrase ["Insurgents aren't Iraqis"] is exactly the way Bill "put it". Those are his words.
Message 21393826
He then goes on to say "It is well documented"
siliconinvestor.com
And, yes, I DO expect him (or you, if you insist on defending him on this) to present proof for the exact allegation he has made (not your modified beautification of it).
If you feel providing such proof is "impossible", maybe you should not be defending him on this particular allegation.
Allegation impossible to defend = Baseless allegation. Which is exactly my point.
Can you come up with any rational basis for concluding that the suicide bombers are not representative of the terrorist groups as a whole?
Naturally. Suicide bombers are by definition the most gullible, youngest, least experienced, and most romantic of the supporters of a cause. After all, they accept to blow themselves to bloody bits for a futile act that doesn't even have any real military value.
Assuming that they are representative of the insurgency movement as a whole is not a very rational way of looking at the problem, imho.
So what is your "rational basis for concluding" that suicide bombers are representative of Iraq's insurgents as a whole?
As for your assertion that I claimed al qaeda to be "a trustworthy source of information", that's a rhetorical cheap trick
Sorry, it's not a trick. You post part of an Al-Qaeda website as a source. That means you believe them to be a crefible source of news. Personally, I don't. To each their own.
your other assertion in that sentence, i.e. that they DO have reason to exaggerate the presence of foreigners among their ranks
Al-Qaeda could very well be exaggerating the presence of foreigners fighting US in Iraq, for the very simple reason that involving as many nations as possible in this conflict of theirs against America is in their interest. [Note that this "conflict" is not limited to Iraq at all in their minds]They consider Muslim people around the world as an "umma", rather than separate nationalities, as you may have noticed. Those websites you quote from are Al-Qaeda's marketing tools. In such places they expect to generate interest for their "cause" from people in different corners of the world. It is very probable that they would be exaggerating multi-nationalism among their ranks (including their efforts in Iraq) so that they can boast "See, how many brave men of different nationalities are joining us!"
P.S.: Please do note that "Iraq's insurgency" does not equal "Al-Qaeda's efforts in Iraq", either. |
