| #1 While al Qaeda still considers Iraq a major battleground, al Qaeda does not have the resources it had seven years ago. Back then, al Qaeda had over 30,000 active members, now it has less than 2,000. Back then Iraq was the major front for al Qaeda and over a hundred volunteers (most for suicide bomb missions) entered Iraq (usually from Syria) each month. Now only one or two volunteers come in each month, and usually not via Syria. More al Qaeda members leave Iraq each month, to Syria mainly, as well as Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Africa and other places where al Qaeda groups still survive. |