What % of insurgency in Iraq is homegrown?

[Postman]

The RW likes to play up the jihadist faction coming in from outside of Iraq as if they are the only ones resisting.

Also....

Ask your Congressperson if the US is, in fact, building permanent military bases in Iraq. And why would THAT be???

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52564-2004Sep26.html

snip:

"Skeptics say that the U.S. government has transformed Zarqawi into a larger-than-life figure by exaggerating his capabilities and using him to personify the Iraqi resistance, which has many factions and appears to rely mainly on Iraqi fighters, not foreigners."

[leftofthedial]

1. 90%+

[Ready4Change]

9. Supporting link?

I don't doubt it. I'd just like firmer info.

[tocqueville]

11. 1000 out of 40 000 = 2.5% foreigners

In January 2005 Iraqi intelligence service director General Mohamed Abdullah Shahwani said that Iraq's insurgency consited of at least 40,000 hardcore fighters, out of a total of more than 200,000 part-time fighters and volunteers who provide intelligence, logistics and shelter. Shahwani said the resistance enjoyed wide backing in the Sunni provinces of Baghdad, Babel, Salahuddin, Diyala, Nineveh and Tamim. Shahwani said the Baath, with a core fighting strength of more than 20,000, had split into three factions. The main one, still owing allegiance to jailed dictator Saddam Hussein, is operating out of Syria. It is led by Saddam's half-brother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan and former aide Mohamed Yunis al-Ahmed, who provide funding to their connections in Mosul, Samarra, Baquba, Kirkuk and Tikrit. Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri is still in Iraq. Two other factions have broken from Saddam, but have yet to mount any attacks. Islamist factions range from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda affiliate to Ansar al-Sunna and Ansar al-Islam.

A picture of the composition of the insurgency, though in constant flux, has come into somewhat greater focus. London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates roughly 1,000 foreign Islamic jihadists have joined the insurgency. And there is no doubt many of these have had a dramatic effect on perceptions of the insurgency through high-profile video-taped kidnappings and beheadings. However, American officials believe that the greatest obstacles to stability are the native insurgents that predominate in the Sunni triangle. Significantly, many secular Sunni leaders were being surpassed in influence by Sunni militants. This development mirrors the rise of militant Shia cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr vis-à-vis the more moderate Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_insurgency.htm

[Ready4Change]

13. Thanks. Looks like good info.

I'm gonna loose hours browsing that site. :)

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Let's compare apples and apples.... the Disunited States of America

has military bases in just about every frigging country on the face of the earth, INCLUDING CUBA, our beloved ally.

So why in gods name would we not have military bases in IRAQ??? We will rabbit, we will, and they will be permanent, you can bet your last barrel of oil on it.

[rocktivity]

8. Invading Iraq had two purposes

control of its oil resources and providing base of operations from which to complete the takeover of the Middle East. Yes, the US has bases in just about every country on the globe--but how often have they started building them BEFORE the war ended? I can therefore think of only one reason why Iran and Syria are suddenly being played up so much--because it's an effort to justify invading them?

:headbang:
rocknation

[HysteryDiagnosis]

12. Well then... we are going to have a fight on our hands... I hope the

freepers are lining up to enlist by the thousands.

[Jacobin]

3. Why wouldn't Iraqis be the ones motivated to remove the

occupying force that has destroyed their country?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. And raped their economic infrastructure, ILLEGALLY SO.

[Cocoa]

5. pretty soon the insugrency could become a side story

if a civil war breaks out, Zarqawi could be all but forgotten.

[chelsea0011]

6. well, to listen to the two war supporters on Hardball.......none

Don't you think by far the majority are Iraqis and what % are supporters of the insurgency would be a guess. But this much is known. The amount of people being turned in to Iraqi and American forces seem small to the amount of bombings. Insurgents walk freely with their weapons in many cities. Osama has a 10 million dollar fee on his head with no one turning him in. I think besides the active bombing insurgency their is a quieter and larger support crowd with them.

[BootinUp]

7. 97%

[achtung_circus]

10. Permanent military bases?? Like this one:

<http://maps.google.com/maps?q=tikrit+iraq&ll=34.682417,43.569117&spn=0.031447,0.059524&t=k&hl=en>

[H2O Man]

14. Good questions.

There have been a few good responses. I am not sure that anyone knows how many foreign have come to Iraq to aid the insurgents. But your questions raise important issues, and it may be that people in our culture need to learn more about Islamic culture to understand why Muslims from outside Iraq would be likely to travel to that country to fight against the USA.

[LincolnMcGrath]

15. Around 1-2% of captured or killed have been PROVEN to be non-Iraqi.

So much for the fly paper strategy...........:eyes:

[Disturbed]

16. Bush Regime along with complicit Corp Media have...

mainly been successful in framin the Insurgency as Terrorists that are against Democracy, not against the U.S. Occupation. Most Amerikans seem to now believe that most Iraqis want the U.S. to remain in Iraq until Iraq can mount military forces to successfully defeat the Insurgency. This mind set is of course ludricous because most Iraqis will never accept Amerikan Colonization of Iraq.

[Jacobin]

17. What percentage of American troops are foreign nationals?

Illegal immigrants who are trying to get american citizenship?

Anyone know that number?

Just askin

[Imagevision]

18. That depends on how many families became collateral damage

If an army came in and killed your family how would you react?