From the Boston Globe:
Iraq is currently detaining 99 foreign fighters, the majority of whom are Syrians, Iraq's human rights minister said Monday.
Bakhtiyar Amin said the detainees include 26 Syrians, 14 Saudis, 14 Iranians, 12 Egyptians, nine Sudanese, five Palestinians, five Yemenis, five Jordanians, five Tunisians, one Lebanese, one Moroccan, one Turk and one Afghan.
Matt's Chat
Here's a bit that we were discussing earlier:U.S. officials have long blamed the violence on foreign fighters who crossed into Iraq to wreak havoc. But military officials and analysts said recently the fighters are mainly Sunni Iraqis, angry at the defeat of their patron, Saddam Hussein.The question I have is: who is organizing these guys? My guess is the foreigners. Not to say that the Baathists don't have the ability, I just don't think they have the kind of experience that the foreigners would/could...
Mark's Remarks
See, people see this influx of foreign terrorists as a negative. Ultimately, to me, it is a positive. Better to have them gathering in one place (Iraq) where we can take them out than to have the all over the place planning and one day have to take them on in the streets of Cincinnati, of London, of New York (again), etc.And, the more Iraqis see that these terrorists are foreigners, the more likely they will take up arms against them as well, to protect their own sovereignty and national spirit.
These foreign terrorists are being organized by al Queda sympathizers in Iraq (you know those ones that supposedly don't exist, even though we have Mr. Zaqawi and Co. that were there before the war) and through websites, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was some encoded messages being passed on al Jazzeera. We have to get more proactive and get on the ball, and we cannot waver. We are winning, but we have to keep up the pressure. If we fall prey to the fatigue disease, we will lose what we have gained and lose the ground we have made up.
