{"id":1102,"date":"2006-07-02T17:06:52","date_gmt":"2006-07-02T17:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/?p=1102"},"modified":"2006-07-02T17:06:52","modified_gmt":"2006-07-02T17:06:52","slug":"2006-7-2-most-foreign-jihadis-in-iraq-are-egyptians-us-military-says-html","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/?p=1102","title":{"rendered":"Most foreign Jihadis in Iraq are Egyptians, US military says"},"content":{"rendered":"
A journalist friend of mine sent me an AFP report, including allegations by the US military that most foreign jihadis in Iraq come from Egypt.
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been a bit interested in that issue since early 2003. In interviews prior and during the war, experts in Cairo were warning then of the prospects of Iraq breeding a new generation of Islamist militants, or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Iraqi Arabs\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd<\/a> (a la Afghan Arabs).
President Mubarak himself expressed his concern over the war in 2003 saying it would produce \u00e2\u20ac\u0153100 Bin Ladens.”<\/a>
(Mubarak expressed privately more urging concerns. In the rather long and extremely boring memoirs of General Tommy Franks, the former head of US army CENTCOM recalls his visit to Cairo on January 23, 2003:<\/p>\n

Hosni Mubarak was as friendly as always. But he was clearly concerned with our military buildup and the tension in Iraq.
He leaned close and spoke to me in an accented but readily comprehensible English. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153General Franks,\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd he said, choosing his words carefully, as (Jordanian King) Abdullah had done. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You must be very, very careful. We have spoken with Saddam Hussein. He is a madman. He has WMD\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbiologicals, actually\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand he will use them on your troops.\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd
An hour later, in the Embassy communications room, I passed this message to Don Rumsfeld.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is mentioned in Tommy’s–again, rather long and extremely boring–memoirs, American Soldier<\/a>, on pages 418-9)
Since the start of the war, the US has inflated the Arab volunteers’ importance and involvement in attacks. I myself admit I was guilty of the same mistake. I was following the Iraqi scene from my comfortable place in Cairo. Media reports and Islamist sources in Egypt and Europe were my sources of information. And I think it suited everybody in the beginning to blame the attacks on the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153foreign terrorists.\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd The US then U-turned after the first all out assault on Fallouja, and I recall coming across reports saying it was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153discovered\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd the foreign fighters constituted actually a minority of the Islamist jihadis caught.
The cycle of exaggerating or underestimating the contribution of foreign jihadis has been ebbing and flowing\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and always the question of which country has the lion share of volunteers, comes up.
There have been conflicting reports. A former colleague of mine at the LA Times told me once she obtained some study claiming Algerians constituted the majority. And if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not mistaken, I recall coming across reports that talked about either the Saudis, Syrians, or Jordanians constituting the majority.
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t honestly buy the reports about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Zarqawi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s networks\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd in Europe and about how he was exporting fighters there. I think these reports are trumped up by the European security agencies. Still, the threat of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Iraqi Arabs\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153returnees from Iraq\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd is present. Up till now, the militancy has spilled over to Jordan, with the suicide bombings that targeted the tourist hotels, and the attacks on Eilat and US warships in 3aqaba Gulf.
(I am not monitoring the situation in Saudi, but if any of you dear readers are, please inform us if the recent spate of attacks in the kingdom involved an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Iraqi link.\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd)
This new report on Egyptian jihadis in Iraq, as well as the presence of an Egyptian on top of Iraq’s Al-Qa3da now, means there will be more “cooperation” between the US and our Egyptian Mukhabarrat… i.e., it’s an additional incentive to forget “democracy” issues when it comes to bilateral relations, since “counterterrorism” (a terrorism produced ironically by the lack of democracy in the first place) tops everybody’s agendas.<\/p>\n

Most foreign fighters in Iraq come from Egypt: US military<\/strong>
Thu Jun 29, 11:53 AM ET
The US military has said that it has several hundred foreign fighters in custody in Iraq and that most of them come from Egypt, followed by Syria, Sudan and Saudi Arabia.
“We have several hundred foreign fighters in captivity at this point of time and the greatest number come out of Egypt,” spokesman Major General William Caldwell told reporters Thursday.
“The top four countries are — the first is Egypt, followed by Syria, then Sudan and Saudi Arabia.”
The US military has already claimed that the new Al-Qaeda in Iraq chief is Egyptian Abu Ayub al-Masri<\/a>, saying he took over from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, killed in an US air strike on June 7.
The military believes Masri is the same person as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, named by an Al-Qaeda-led coalition as Zarqawi’s successor.
Caldwell said the US military tries to identify the nationalities of these fighters primarily through “passport verification.”
“We try hard to identify them when we capture them because at some point of time these people will be facing Iraqi civil authorities and court and when they do we want to be able to ascertain that they are here illegally and not at the request of the government of Iraq,” Caldwell said.
Caldwell also said at least “57 foreign fighters were killed by Iraqi and US forces in the month of June” in a series of nation-wide operations.
And in the week ended June 28 about 587 suspected insurgents have been detained, he added.
Meanwhile, Masri remains the “number one target”, Caldwell said.
“A lot of resources are committed to finding him. We are working hard to get him. There is no question that if we take him down that will just disrupt the organisation beyond a point where it will be ineffective for a long period of time.
Al-Qaeda “is very disorganised right now and very disrupted right now. The reason we were able to pick up and track some of the middle-level people is because their system is so disrupted and that has given us the opportunities to find them, track them and go get them.”<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A journalist friend of mine sent me an AFP report, including allegations by the US military that most foreign jihadis in Iraq come from Egypt.
\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been a bit interested in that issue since early 2003. In interviews prior and during the war, experts in Cairo were warning then of the prospects of Iraq breeding a new generation of Islamist militants, or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Iraqi Arabs\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd<\/a> (a la Afghan Arabs).
\nPresident Mubarak himself expressed his concern over the war in 2003 saying it would produce \u00e2\u20ac\u0153100 Bin Ladens.”<\/a>
\n(Mubarak expressed privately more urging concerns. In the rather long and extremely boring memoirs of General Tommy Franks, the former head of US army CENTCOM recalls his visit to Cairo on January 23, 2003:<\/p>\n

Hosni Mubarak was as friendly as always. But he was clearly concerned with our military buildup and the tension in Iraq.
\nHe leaned close and spoke to me in an accented but readily comprehensible English. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153General Franks,\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd he said, choosing his words carefully, as (Jordanian King) Abdullah had done. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You must be very, very careful. We have spoken with Saddam Hussein. He is a madman. He has WMD\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbiologicals, actually\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand he will use them on your troops.\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd
\nAn hour later, in the Embassy communications room, I passed this message to Don Rumsfeld.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is mentioned in Tommy’s–again, rather long and extremely boring–memoirs, American Soldier<\/a>, on pages 418-9)
\nSince the start of the war, the US has inflated the Arab volunteers’ importance and involvement in attacks. I myself admit I was guilty of the same mistake. I was following the Iraqi scene from my comfortable place in Cairo. Media reports and Islamist sources in Egypt and Europe were my sources of information. And I think it suited everybody in the beginning to blame the attacks on the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153foreign terrorists.\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd The US then U-turned after the first all out assault on Fallouja, and I recall coming across reports saying it was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153discovered\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd the foreign fighters constituted actually a minority of the Islamist jihadis caught.
\nThe cycle of exaggerating or underestimating the contribution of foreign jihadis has been ebbing and flowing\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and always the question of which country has the lion share of volunteers, comes up.
\nThere have been conflicting reports. A former colleague of mine at the LA Times told me once she obtained some study claiming Algerians constituted the majority. And if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not mistaken, I recall coming across reports that talked about either the Saudis, Syrians, or Jordanians constituting the majority.
\nI don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t honestly buy the reports about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Zarqawi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s networks\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd in Europe and about how he was exporting fighters there. I think these reports are trumped up by the European security agencies. Still, the threat of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Iraqi Arabs\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153returnees from Iraq\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd is present. Up till now, the militancy has spilled over to Jordan, with the suicide bombings that targeted the tourist hotels, and the attacks on Eilat and US warships in 3aqaba Gulf.
\n(I am not monitoring the situation in Saudi, but if any of you dear readers are, please inform us if the recent spate of attacks in the kingdom involved an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Iraqi link.\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd)
\nThis new report on Egyptian jihadis in Iraq, as well as the presence of an Egyptian on top of Iraq’s Al-Qa3da now, means there will be more “cooperation” between the US and our Egyptian Mukhabarrat… i.e., it’s an additional incentive to forget “democracy” issues when it comes to bilateral relations, since “counterterrorism” (a terrorism produced ironically by the lack of democracy in the first place) tops everybody’s agendas.
\nMost foreign fighters in Iraq come from Egypt: US military<\/strong>
\nThu Jun 29, 11:53 AM ET
\nThe US military has said that it has several hundred foreign fighters in custody in Iraq and that most of them come from Egypt, followed by Syria, Sudan and Saudi Arabia.
\n“We have several hundred foreign fighters in captivity at this point of time and the greatest number come out of Egypt,” spokesman Major General William Caldwell told reporters Thursday.
\n“The top four countries are — the first is Egypt, followed by Syria, then Sudan and Saudi Arabia.”
\nThe US military has already claimed that the new Al-Qaeda in Iraq chief is Egyptian Abu Ayub al-Masri<\/a>, saying he took over from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, killed in an US air strike on June 7.
\nThe military believes Masri is the same person as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, named by an Al-Qaeda-led coalition as Zarqawi’s successor.
\nCaldwell said the US military tries to identify the nationalities of these fighters primarily through “passport verification.”
\n“We try hard to identify them when we capture them because at some point of time these people will be facing Iraqi civil authorities and court and when they do we want to be able to ascertain that they are here illegally and not at the request of the government of Iraq,” Caldwell said.
\nCaldwell also said at least “57 foreign fighters were killed by Iraqi and US forces in the month of June” in a series of nation-wide operations.
\nAnd in the week ended June 28 about 587 suspected insurgents have been detained, he added.
\nMeanwhile, Masri remains the “number one target”, Caldwell said.
\n“A lot of resources are committed to finding him. We are working hard to get him. There is no question that if we take him down that will just disrupt the organisation beyond a point where it will be ineffective for a long period of time.
\nAl-Qaeda “is very disorganised right now and very disrupted right now. The reason we were able to pick up and track some of the middle-level people is because their system is so disrupted and that has given us the opportunities to find them, track them and go get them.”<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[6,26,70,226],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}