#3 I started to post but messed up cause it was minutes from midnight.
While Saudi role should not be diminished - there are few facts in this article to support this premise - note:
the largest number of foreign fighters and suicide bombers in Iraq come from a third neighbor, Saudi Arabia, according to a senior U.S. military officer and Iraqi lawmakers.
- um, excuse me, Smelly Times, but do you have any names to go with those figures?
About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; .... according to official U.S. military figures made available to The Times by the [anonymous] senior officer. Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis, he said.
um, scuse me, SmellA times, if these are "official US figures, why can't you source them
Fighters from Saudi Arabia are thought to have carried out more suicide bombings than those of any other nationality, said the senior U.S. officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity. It is apparently the first time a U.S. official has given such a breakdown on the role played by Saudi nationals in Iraq's Sunni Arab insurgency.
Soooo Smelly Times, this is an anonymous opinion from an unsourced "official" report.
[The Anonymous] He said 50% of all Saudi fighters in Iraq come here as suicide bombers. In the last six months, such bombings have killed or injured 4,000 Iraqis.
who is he and source please
The situation has left the U.S. military in the awkward position of battling an enemy whose top source of foreign fighters is a key ally.
ah, US military awkwardly battling opinion of unnamed source of unsourced "offical" report. And...Do I smell a Bush/Halliburton connection?
In the 1980s, the Saudi intelligence service sponsored Sunni Muslim fighters for the U.S.-backed Afghan mujahedin battling Soviet troops in Afghanistan. At the time, Saudi intelligence cultivated another man helping the Afghan fighters, Osama bin Laden, the future leader of Al Qaeda who would one day turn against the Saudi royal family and mastermind the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon. Indeed, Saudi Arabia has long been a source of a good portion of the money and manpower for Al Qaeda: 15 of the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks were Saudi. All true, but how does this confirm or relate to your proclaimed stats?
Now, a group that calls itself Al Qaeda in Iraq is the greatest short-term threat to Iraq's security, U.S. military spokesman Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner said Wednesday.
Ah a source ... but wait! Are we to assume that Al Qaeda in Iraq means that "Saudi Arabia which is the largest source of foreign insurgents in Iraq,"??
The group, one of several Sunni Muslim insurgent groups operating in Baghdad and beyond, relies on foreigners to carry out suicide attacks because Iraqis are less likely to undertake such strikes, which the movement hopes will provoke sectarian violence, Bergner said. Despite its name, the extent of the group's links to Bin Laden's network, based along the Afghan-Pakistani frontier, is unclear.
Ah another named quote ...but why should we believe that "severeal Sunni Muslim" groups means that Saudi Arabia is the largest source of foreign insurgents in Iraq, ??
The Saudi government does not dispute that some of its youths are ending up as suicide bombers in Iraq, And pray tell just how does this prove that Saudi Arabia is the largest source of foreign insurgents in Iraq,
blah, blah...
said a U.S. intelligence official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Others contend
Other Iraqi officials said
But some Iraqi Shiite leaders say
the [UNNAMED] senior U.S. military officer said.
[UNNAMED] Iraqi officials agreed.
the [UNNAMED] senior officer said.
An estimated 60 to 80 foreign fighters cross into Iraq each month, according to the U.S. military. yes - but where does it say the largest percent (45%) are from Saudi Arabia? |
Although Washington has been accusing Syria and Iran of helping insurgents in Iraq, it is the US ally Saudi Arabia which is the largest source of foreign insurgents in Iraq, a media report has said.