NYT: Documents reveal foreign fighters in Iraq are tied to US allies RAW STORY

Published: Thursday November 22, 2007



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Print This Email This Documents uncovered after a raid reveal that foreign fighters in Iraq are tied to countries that the United States calls allies, according to a front page story in Thursday's New York Times. "Saudi Arabia and Libya, both considered allies by the United States in its fight against terrorism, were the source of about 60 percent of the foreign fighters who came to Iraq in the past year to serve as suicide bombers or to facilitate other attacks, according to senior American military officials," Richard A. Oppel reports for the paper. The article continues, "The data come largely from a trove of documents and computers discovered in September, when American forces raided a tent camp in the desert near Sinjar, close to the Syrian border. The raids target was an insurgent cell believed to be responsible for smuggling the vast majority of foreign fighters into Iraq." Excerpts from article: # The most significant discovery was a collection of biographical sketches that listed hometowns and other details for more than 700 fighters brought into Iraq since August 2006. The records also underscore how the insurgency in Iraq remains both overwhelmingly Iraqi and Sunni. American officials now estimate that the flow of foreign fighters was 80 to 110 per month during the first half of this year and about 60 per month during the summer. The numbers fell sharply in October to no more than 40, partly as a result of the Sinjar raid, the American officials say. Saudis accounted for the largest number of fighters listed on the records by far  305, or 41 percent  American intelligence officers found as they combed through documents and computers in the weeks after the raid. The data show that despite increased efforts by Saudi Arabia to clamp down on would-be terrorists since Sept. 11, 2001, when 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi, some Saudi fighters are still getting through. Libyans accounted for 137 foreign fighters, or 18 percent of the total, the senior American military officials said. They discussed the raid with the stipulation that they not be named because of the delicate nature of the issue. # FULL TIMES ARTICLE CAN BE READ AT THIS LINK



