Thanks for that, Laz. Concrete examples are a nice change from the bickering I've been getting on this subject.
I am sure you would agree that none of those news articles are conclusive proof that the insurgency in Iraq is comprised mostly of foreigners.
You can find articles on the net that say "most insurgents captured in THIS raid were foreigners" or you can also find articles that say "most insurgents captured in THIS raid were Iraqis".
In fact, here is one you probably saw but didn't think to include among your links:
Few Foreigners Among Insurgents
Judging from fighters captured in Fallouja, all but about 5% are Iraqi, U.S. officials say.
Of the more than 1,000 men between the ages of 15 and 55 who were captured in intense fighting in the center of the insurgency over the last week, just 15 are confirmed foreign fighters, Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. ground commander in Iraq, said Monday.
American commanders said their best estimates of the proportion of foreigners among their enemies is about 5%.
commondreams.org
As for your links:
First article talks about a "guerilla training camp", where 85 were killed, and where "Documentation at the facility indicates that some members of the AIF were foreign fighters.” [Note: 85 killed in a training camp and "some" were foreigners. Is that proof that majority of insurgents in Iraq are foreigners?]
Your second link is some nameless blogger who doesn't even cite a source. Sorry, not a real "source".
Third article is a good effort :-) At least it is a genuine study into nationalities of insurgents. The problem is that (1) the source is Al-Qaeda, and (2) the number of insurgents it mentions (154 dead over 6 months) is too low to be representative of total, or even realistic.
This is a problem that the author of the study himself recognizes. The following is from his very study that you posted:
It is important to note that this list contains only those Arabs who joined the Jihadi-Salafi insurgency, primarily of Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi’s group, and supporters of Qaedat al-Jihad.
Another element to note is the relatively small number of Iraqis involved in the fighting on behalf of the Zarqawi group. Furthermore, it seems that out of several thousands of Iraqis killed in the battles of Fallujah, only a negligible small number of Iraqis were members of Zarqawi’s group. The vast majority appears to have been members of other groups, including Saddam Hussein loyalists, or civilians.
One should also keep in mind that since the list contains information on those volunteers who have been killed, it does not necessarily reflect the exact numbers and composition of all Arab volunteers in Iraq.
The small number of Iraqis associated with Zarqawi may suggest that Zarqawi’s group, Tawhid wal-Jihad—now also known as Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia— is in fact composed mostly of non-Iraqi Arab volunteers, such as Zarqawi himself, as well as his late chief cleric—Abu Anas al-Shami—both of whom are Jordanians. It could also explain the alliance between Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden, due to the multi-national nature of the two groups. If true, it also shows that the majority of insurgencies carried out in Iraq by Iraqis, is directed by the remains of the Baath Party, i.e., by Saddam loyalists rather than by the Islamists.
e-prism.org |
