Coalition Forces in Iraq Still Finding Foreign Aid For Terrorists in Recent Captures

By Andrew Cochran

Captures in Iraq in recent days highlight the continued prevalence of foreign fighters and funding for Al Qaeda and other terrorists from Iraq's "neighbors" in the Muslim world. Today, according to a Defense Department press release, coalition forces captured a suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq emir in Baghdad, three "suspected foreign terrorist facilitators" in operations near Samarra, and eight more in "a foreign fighter safe house" west of Mahmudiyah. DoD announced on February 25 that Iraqi Ninewa Special Weapons and Tactics Team arrested "a suspected member of a foreign fighter smuggling network" who is "believed to be part of a network facilitating the movement of foreign fighters, arms and money into Iraq" that support insurgent attacks targeting Iraqi civilians and Iraqi Security Forces. And another raid in Mosul led to the discovery of "a large amount of Egyptian and Syrian money and false passports and identification cards." Last week, Iraqi police captured Issa Abdul-Razzaq Ahmed, who had traveled to neighbouring countries, especially Syria and the UAE, to collect funds for militant operations in Iraq. Ahmed was one of the most wanted Al Qaeda-connected terrorists in Iraq.

Evan Kohlmann has posted here often, most recently on February 24, on the presence of foreign fighters in the Iraq jihad. The Iraq Study Group report (a.k.a. Baker-Hamilton report) on Iraq, released in December, slammed Gulf states for doing little to stop funding for the insurgency: "Funding for the Sunni insurgency comes from private individuals within Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, even as those governments help facilitate U.S. military operations in Iraq by providing basing and overflight rights and by cooperating on intelligence issues." Will the U.S. push Gulf states to do more to stop this funding, just as it apparently pushing Pakistan to pursue terrorists in Waziristan? Or are we trying to stem Sunni-based terrorism by Al Qaeda and others in Iraq while fomenting a Sunni-vs.-Iran war elsewhere? That kind of "complicated" foreign policy move isn't something at which the U.S. has excelled, especially in the Middle East (remember Iran-Contra?).

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