West Point study: 41% of al Qaeda fighters from Saudi Arabia

[babylonsister]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071220/wl_nm/iraq_saudi_fighters_dc


By Kristin Roberts Wed Dec 19, 7:42 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most al Qaeda fighters in Iraq are from Saudi Arabia and Libya and many are university-aged students, said a study released on Wednesday by researchers at the U.S. Army's West Point military academy.

The study was based on 606 personnel records collected by al Qaeda in Iraq and captured by coalition troops in October. It includes data on fighters who entered Iraq, largely through Syria, between August 2006 and August 2007.

The researchers at West Point's Combating Terrorism Center found that 41 percent of the fighters were Saudi nationals.

Libyan nationals accounted for the second largest group entering Iraq in that time period with about 19 percent of the total, followed by Syrians and Yemenis each at 8 percent, Algerians with 7 percent and Moroccans at 6 percent.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071220/wl_nm/iraq_saudi_fighters_dc

[hobbit709]

1. Are we surprised?

That seems to be a common thread among them-which country they're from.

[mqbush]

2. al Q

And 15 of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were Saudis. But Bush has to hold hands with the king because of all that oil. Amazing how oil makes its own reality.

[Ganja Ninja]

3. Did they study where most of the money al Qaeda uses comes

from? Bet a whole lot more than 41% comes from the Saudi's

[DCKit]

4. Do they hate us for our freedoms, or U.S. because we prop up an illegitimate, secular monarchy...

that uses religious stormtroopers to control behavior, imprisons and tortures dissenters and keeps much of their populace in poverty while embezzling the national wealth for the sole benefit of the royal family? Nah, it's got to be the freedoms.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. I think that was reported earlier in the year as well.