Did Military and Media Mislead Us? Most Outside Insurgents in Iraq Come from Saudi Arabia

[DeepModem Mom]

Editor&Publisher: Did Military and Media Mislead Us? Most Outside Insurgents in Iraq Come from Saudi Arabia
By E&P Staff
Published: July 15, 2007

....it turns out that Saudi Arabia is...home to the largest number of so-called "foreign fighters" in Iraq, despite administration efforts -- aided by many in the media -- to paint Iran and Syria as the main outside culprits there.

The Los Angeles Times reports today that according to a senior U.S. military officer and Iraqi lawmakers, about 45% of all foreign militants "targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia." Only 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa. This is based on official U.S. military figures made available to newspaper by the senior officer....

"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," the Times' Ned Parker writes. "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.

"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.

"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 that at best has not been able to prevent its citizens from undertaking bloody attacks in Iraq, and at worst shares complicity in sending extremists to commit attacks against U.S. forces, Iraqi civilians and the Shiite-led government in Baghdad."

Yet hardly a word has been directed at Saudi Arabia (which also drew relatively little criticism after 9/11) by the White House and Pentagon....

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003611786

[spanone]

1. I can't imagine the media or the administration mis-speaking to the American People!!!

AS DID MOST OF THE 911 HIJACKERS.....

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: v

[Terri S]

2. K & R !! n/t

[mrcheerful]

3. Funny how * kissing and hand holding with the Saudis is never brought up

nor is the fact that most of the 9/11 hi jackers were from Saudi Arabia. Have to love the way * ignores these facts and blames everyone under the sun for Saudis behaviors. Puking pukes.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

4. Oh come on! The Military and Media mislead us? Do bears sh*t in the woods? Does the earth revolve

around the sun? These are all givens.

[malaise]

5. My only response is

Duh!

[dansolo]

6. The REAL Axis of Evil

There really is an axis of evil, but it is comprised of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

[robinlynne]

9. and the US.

[saltpoint]

7. Saudi Arabia certainly seems to be playing a disproportionate role

in U.S. history since September 11, 2001, doesn't it.

How odd.

[The Cleaner]

8. Yep. It's more a proxy war between Shi'ia and Sunni in Iraq

and less to do with Al Qaida. That's Bush's folly. It is mostly a religious war between Shi'ia and Sunni for control over Iraq. Shi'ite Iran wants to keep the governnment Shi'ia, while Sunni Saudi Arabia wants to fight the Shi'ias and re-establish Sunni rule over Iraq.

In the middle of all this is the U.S., who, oddly enough, never EVER mentions Saudi Arabia's support of anti-american terrorism in Iraq and consistently twists and spins the war into U.S. v Al Qaida.

[Ikonoklast]

10. Funny, ain't it.

I am still of the firm belief that if Saddam had played ball with BushCo previous to the invasion of Kuwait, and especially concerning oil production rights in the western desert of Iraq, we would have been overthrowing the house of Saud instead of occupying Iraq right now.

Saudi Arabia is the spiritual home of Al-Qaida. The only reason we haven't done anything about the export of terrorism from there is BushCo's continuing alliance with the House of Saud.

[mmonk]

11. I hate saying lies are misleading.

Misleading is not strong enough of a term.

[never cry wolf]

12. I wonder if any of the Saudi's in Iraq were amongst those flown out after 9-11

Would that be the height of irony.

[Igel]

13. Actually, they didn't.

IIRC, they've said straight along that Sa'udis are the largest component of foreign fighters. It may be 'sensitive', but since when has that stopped information being leaked from numerous US sources all at once?

But "come from Syria" is ambiguous. And most of the Sa'udis (and other Sunni/Salafist fighters) literally enter Iraq from Syria. "Through" is the word I'd use. But it still puts the ball in Syria's court, to a rather large extent. Note that 'taking refuge' in Syria is also a valid option, and that a number of the baddies in the N. Lebanon 'refugee' camp were (a) on their way to Iraq or (b) on their way from Iraq. Through Syria.

Now, you may ask, why should little Ahmed from Jiddah go to Damascus to fight in Iraq when there's that long, long border, patrolled by Sa'udi security guards, followed by many hundreds of miles of inhospital desert--the alternative being to take the highway in the east through a normal border check-point, and then go for a few hundred miles through Shi'ite-dominated S. Iraq? But to ask the question is to answer it, I think.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

14. Blue Bonnet Buddies

[BenDavid]

15. If one will recall about a

month ago all the media were saying, "insurgents" and on occasion Al Quada. Now it seems that all the media says is Al Queda. They are misleading the public about the enemy in Iraq. The Dems need to point this out when they appear on any talk show. Force CNN, Faux, MSNBC, CBS, NBC,ABC to take notice of this.....The Dems have got to do a better job of getting their message and the work they are doing out more to the public. I would suspect this is one of the reasons they have a low approval rating now. The Dems did not explain to the public what they were faced with when they took control of both houses....One would eb the 11 bills for 07 that was not completed and they have to get those done before they can begin work on the 08 budget....The meda limped it all together....

I do thank you
Ben David

[AntiFascist]

16. I still fear that this may lead to the false conclusion that all followers of Islam are evil....

since Saudi Arabia is the home of the holiest sites in Islam, and all Islamic dictates are supposed to originate from there. Keep in mind that al Qaeda originated from a right-wing organization designed to defeat communism, and also keep in mind the huge disparity between the wealth of the Saudi Royals and the bin Ladins compared to most of the people. The Royals fear their own internal uprising and al Qaeda may be leading the path of war to their own doorstep in order to defeat said uprising.