Reuven Paz, JC Brisard Weigh in on Iraq's Foreign Fighters

By Evan Kohlmann

My blog posts last week on Iraq's foreign fighters have generated very positive and thoughtful responses from other colleagues in this field, including Dr. Reuven Paz and Jean-Charles Brisard.  Dr. Paz is the author of an academic report earlier this year on foreign fighters in Iraq and JCB is, of course, the author of Zarqawi: The New Face of Al-Qaeda.  For the benefit of researchers and others interested in the foreign fighters phemonenon, I'm posting both of their comments below.  In the meantime, despite efforts to downplay their role in the Iraqi insurgency, Al-Qaida supporters have announced the deaths of two more "mythical" Saudi Arabian nationals hailing from Riyadh who were reportedly killed in recent clashes with U.S. forces near the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

Dr. Reuven Paz:

"I read your comments on the WP and Cordesman as to the numbers of foreign insurgents in Iraq, posted in 23 November in your blog. I agree with you, but would like to add one more element... We should look not only at the numbers but also at the quality of the Saudis' contribution to the insurgency, at least to the Islamist one. They bring with them more radicalism. Saudis were among those who influenced Zarqawi to adopt Takfiri ideas, and significally increase the massive attacks (which remind us of Algeria) against Shi'is, Sufis, and Muslim "infidel" Sunnis. It led to the harsh and open criticism against him by his spiritual mentor Abu Muhammad al-Maqdesi the Jordanian/ Palestinian, and to the public criticism of the Syrian Sheikh Abu Baseer, who resides in exile in London,  and is still one of the leading teachers of the most radical Salafism in our generation. These elements are very important too in understanding the Saudi radical contribution to the insurgency in Iraq, which is very dangerous to the Saudi government too. The affect of the "Iraq veterans" and "returnees from Iraq" will be more threatening than that of the "Afghan alumni."  Furthermore, they wrote  that "the paper concludes, that they were �radicalized almost exclusively by the Coalition invasion.� I agree with that, and I think that the U.S. administration is not yet aware of the huge effect of the invasion to Iraq upon large segments of the Arab world. (Wait and see what is going to happen when Saddam's trial starts. They are going to view him in human eyes as persecuted by the U.S., rather than his past horrible image). But, we should also remember that in October 2004, about a year ago, 26 senior Saudi clerics signed a statement, which could be interpreted by ignorant yet zealout youngsters as a Fatwa, in support of Jihad against "the occupiers = the Americans" in Iraq. No one in the Saudi government reacted to the declaration publically.  To sum up, we should look at the involvement of Saudis in Iraq not only through numbers, but also through their significant influence as Salafi radicals, even though they misinterpret some of the basics of Islam (but they don't think so, or don't know that out of ignorance of true Islam, or out of running after slogans of Jihad which are easy to adapt to)."

Jean Charles Brisard:

"You're right to challenge the WP assessment on foreign fighters. According to the latest figures I've obtained from a European intel agency, as of September 2005, 150 European fighters had been located, arrested or killed in Iraq... 90% of the terrorist attacks in Iraq were carried out or led by foreign fighters.  Adding to that the fact that the CIA, as quoted in my Zarqawi book, assesses that Iraq is the scene of a major shift from charities and various religious organizations previously identified for their support to terrorist networks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, it's an obvious mistake to downplay the foreign influence and presence in the Iraqi insurgency."

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