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An unpalatable truth for Bush: most foreign insurgents in
Iraq are Saudis
By Peter Symonds
17 July 2007
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An article in Sundays Los Angeles Times detailing
the national origins of foreign insurgents in Iraq has punctured
a large hole in the Bush administrations relentless propaganda
against Iran. For months, the White House has been demonising
Tehran for meddling in Iraq by establishing networks
to arm, train and finance anti-US insurgents. Most foreign fighters,
however, come, not from Iran, but Saudi Arabia, a close American
ally, with which the Bush administration in particular has intimate
ties.
According to military statistics provided to the Los Angeles
Times, about 45 percent of the hundreds of foreign militants
involved in attacks on US troops and Iraqi civilians and security
forces are from Saudi Arabia. Another 15 percent are from Syria
and Lebanon and 10 percent from North Africa. Nearly half the
135 foreigners currently held in US detention facilities in Iraq
are Saudis.
A senior American military officer told the newspaper that
Saudis are believed to have carried out more suicide bombings
in Iraq than those of any other nationality. He estimated that
half of all Saudi jihadists come to Iraq as suicide bombers, who
in the past six months have been responsible for killing and maiming
at least 4,000 Iraqis.
As the Los Angeles Times explained: The situation
has left the US military [and one could add, the Bush administration]
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 US forces, Iraqi civilians and the Shiite-led
government in Baghdad.
Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman General Mansour Turki insisted
that Saudi Arabia was doing everything possible to halt the flow
of Saudi fighters, arms and money to Sunni insurgent groups in
Iraq. Blaming the Iraqi government for not providing information,
he said: We have no idea who these people are... If we get
good feedback from the Iraqi government about Saudis arrested
in Iraq, probably we can help.
The senior US officer, however, dismissed the response, saying:
Are the Saudis using all means possible? Of course not...
It needs to be addressed by the government of Iraq head on. They
have every right to stand up to a country like Saudi Arabia and
say, Hey, you are killing thousands of people by allowing
your young jihadists to come here and associate themselves with
an illegal worldwide network called Al Qaeda.
As for the Bush administration, it maintains a studied silence
on the issue while continuing its campaign against Iranian
interference in Iraq. While the US dismisses Tehrans
denials of involvement out of hand, Riyadhs claims to be
stopping Saudi support for Iraqi insurgents are tacitly accepted
as good coin. The White House and the State Department refused
to comment to the Los Angeles Times.
The figures are not new. On June 20, MSNBC.com posted an analysis
of articles on Islamist websites celebrating the deaths of foreign
fighters in Iraq over the past two years. Of more than 400 militants
who had died in Iraq, 55 percent came from Saudi Arabia, 13 percent
from Syria, 9 percent from North Africa and 3 percent from Europe.
The US military confirmed to MSNBC.com that Saudi Arabia and Syria
were the leading sources of insurgents.
Iraqi National Security Adviser Muwafaq al-Rubaie told the
media last weekend that more than 160 Saudis had been tried in
Iraqi courts and hundreds were awaiting trial. Al-Rubaie headed
a high-level Iraqi delegation to Saudi Arabia last week to discuss
the issue. He declared that both sides had agreed to condemn inflammatory
fatwas or religious edicts inciting sectarian violence
between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq.
US policy
If US foreign policy were at all consistent, the White House
and the Pentagon would be condemning Riyadh and demanding action
to halt the flow of Saudi fighters. Stories would be appearing
in the American media exposing autocratic Saudi rule, its repression
of women and savage application of Sharia law. Grave fears would
have been raised by the State Department over the announcement
last year that Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States were launching
a civilian nuclear program. The most strident US militarists would
be demanding regime change and Bush would be declaring that all
options were on the tableincluding the bombing of
Riyadh.
That none of this is happening, or is likely to happen, again
demonstrates that the US accusations against Tehran are simply
pretexts used to justify possible military action against Iran.
The threats against Iran are not motivated by concerns about the
lives of US troops but the Bush administrations ambitions
to establish American dominance over the Middle East and its huge
energy reserves. Far from publicly remonstrating with Riyadh,
the White House has in recent months been seeking to line up Saudi
Arabia and other moderate Arab states, including Egypt
and Jordan, in an anti-Iranian alliance.
The US invasion of Iraq has profoundly destabilised the region,
inflaming rivalries and sectarian tensions. Saudi Arabia, which
reluctantly supported the US invasion of Iraq, regarded the Saddam
Hussein regime as a bulwark against Iran, its traditional rival
in the Persian Gulf. Riyadh is deeply hostile to the Shiite-dominated
government in Baghdad, which it regards as little more than a
proxy for Iran. Saudi King Abdullah and other top officials have
pointedly snubbed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on several occasions
to demonstrate their hostility.
Saudi rivalry with Iran intersects with the intense hostility
of the Wahhabist religious establishment in Saudi Arabia against
the Shiite sect and close traditional ties with Sunni tribal groups
in Iraq. Last November, in the wake of the Democratic victory
in mid-term US elections, King Abdullah reportedly told Vice President
Dick Cheney that his regime would be compelled to intervene in
Iraq on the side of Sunni insurgent groups against the Maliki
government if US troops were pulled out.
In a prominent comment in the Washington Post on November
29, Saudi security adviser Nawaf Obaid warned of Saudi intervention,
noting: Over the past year, a chorus of voices has called
for Saudi Arabia to protect the Sunni community in Iraq and thwart
Iranian influence there. Senior Iraqi tribal and religious figures,
along with the leaders of Egypt, Jordan and other Arab and Muslim
countries, have petitioned the Saudi leadership to provide Iraqi
Sunnis with weapons and financial support. Moreover, domestic
pressure to intervene is intense. Major Saudi tribal confederations,
which have extremely close historical and communal ties with their
counterparts in Iraq, are demanding action. They are supported
by a new generation of Saudi royals in strategic government positions
who are eager to see the kingdom play a more muscular role in
the region.
While the Saudi monarchy publicly disowned Obaid, his comments
reflect the sentiments of a significant segment of the ruling
elite. The regime has largely turned a blind eye to the agitation
of Saudi religious fanatics for a holy war against Shiites in
Iraq. Last December, 38 Saudi religious scholars posted an edict
to rally support for the Iraqi Sunni minority, claiming that the
crusaders [the US] and the Safavis [Iran]
were conspiring together to destroy Iraq and contain Sunni influence
throughout the region. Despite Al Qaedas opposition to the
Saudi regime, there is undoubtedly considerable sympathy in Saudi
ruling circles for its murderous attacks on ordinary Iraqi Shiites.
The Saudi monarchy cannot afford to alienate the Bush administration
by openly supporting Sunni insurgents in Iraq. Moreover, the more
cautious elements are undoubtedly fearful that Saudi fighters
returning from Iraq could strengthen the internal political opposition
to the monarchy and further destabilise the country. After all,
Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda were the creation of the 1980s holy
war jointly backed by the CIA, Saudi and Pakistani intelligence
against the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan.
At the same time, Saudi claims that it is not involved in Iraq
are simply not credible. Its huge intelligence apparatus is almost
certainly very active in Iraq and may well be providing support
to Saudi jihadists in a proxy war against Shiite and Iranian influence.
In comments to the Los Angeles Times, Iraqi Shiite legislator
Sami Askari, one of Malikis advisers, accused Saudi officials
of deliberately sowing chaos in Baghdad and funding groups causing
unrest in the countrys Shiite south.
The danger that the sectarian war in Iraq will spark a broader
regional confrontation underscores the reckless and incoherent
character of US foreign policy. Having ousted Saddam Hussein and
installed a puppet government dominated by Shiite parties with
strong links to Iran, the Bush administration is attempting to
marshal support from autocratic Sunni regimes like
Saudi Arabia in its confrontation with Iran. Incapable of resolving
these contradictions, the Bush administration simply maintains
a stony silence on Saudi activities in Iraq.
Last week, the Saudi taboo reached absurd proportions when
US military spokesman Brigadier General Kevin Bergner gave a press
conference on the rising toll of destruction caused by suicide
bombers. He pointed out that most suicide bombers were foreigners,
as Sunni extremist groups were not able to recruit Iraqis to indiscriminately
slaughter their fellow countrymen. Like President Bush, Bergner
repeatedly invoked the role of Al Qaeda to justify the continued
US occupation. To illustrate his argument, he provided details
of a particular suicide bomber from a middle class family, recruited
at a mosque, and sent into Iraq via Syria. Bergner omitted to
state his nationality, claiming he had not received clearance.
According to the military source of the Los Angeles Times,
the man was a Saudi citizen, like many of the suicide bombers
entering Iraq.
See Also:
US forces kill Iraqi civilians every
day
[17 July 2007]
US Senate unanimously passes threatening
measure against Iran
[14 July 2007]
New US accusations against Iran
[3 July 2007]
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