90 percent of suicide attacks in Iraq by foreigners
Friday, March 21, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
WASHINGTON — A U.S. military report said foreigners conduct most Al Qaida suicide attacks in Iraq and that Saudis were the largest national group responsible for such attacks.
"Approximately 90 percent of the suicide attacks in Iraq are carried out by foreigners," U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said. "Al Qaida imports foreign fighters to do a job that few others will do kill fellow Muslims using large amounts of explosives and blowing themselves up."
About 41 percent of all Al Qaida-aligned suicide bombers came from Saudi Arabia, the report said.
The Saudis were followed by North Africans recruited by Al Qaida. The report said Algeria and Libya comprised 40 percent of Al Qaida suicide bombers in Iraq.
"Again and again, we heard this reality bothered the recruits, this disconnect between the stories they were told as they were recruited and indoctrinated and the reality of a war against innocent civilians was deeply disturbing," Smith said. "They had not come here to kill Iraqi civilians."
The report was based on Al Qaida records captured by the U.S. military in Iraq. The military also contributed information from the interrogation of 48 foreign Al Qaida recruits in Iraq.
"The recruiter begins by engaging in seemingly harmless conversation about Islam before then beginning to bring up the twisted interpretation of Islam," Smith said. "These 48 men told us they were lured here with the promise they would be killing Americans. But they were disappointed that most of the violence they saw was directed at the Iraqi people fellow Muslims."
The military compiled a profile for Al Qaida recruitment. The report concluded that the candidate was a Sunni Muslim single male around 22 years old and alienated.
"In these large family groups, individuals seek ways to make their mark, to set them apart," the report said. "In many ways, entering jihad gives sons a way to show themselves unique in a large family."
Officials said Al Qaida orders suicide bombers from recruiters throughout the Middle East. They said the orders were processed in Damascus and then relayed to the network in North Africa and Saudi Arabia. Three months later, the first candidates arrive.
Recruiters usually select candidates from among young people who attend mosques. The report cited a 26-year-old disfigured Moroccan alienated from his family and community in Casablanca. The man was transported to Iraq and locked in a room for six months.
"They were told, 'This is your duty. This is what you can do for the jihad.You will be a martyr. This is what we need you to do,'" Smith said. "Ironically they were relieved having been captured by the very Americans their recruiters said they would kill in Iraq."
Officials said the flow of foreign volunteers in Iraq peaked at 120 per month in mid-2007. In 2008, the number dropped to about 50 per month.
"The reduction in foreign fighter flow can be attributed to a number of factors, including coalition and Iraqi security force interdiction of foreign fighter networks here in Iraq," Smith said.