The truth about Iraqi insurgents

If you listened to the Bush administration you would think that the insurgency in Iraq was the result of Syria and Iran letting insurgents flood across their borders. In fact much of the US effort in Iraq has been along the Syrian border in recent weeks. A report by US think tank says only '4 to 10' percent of insurgents are foreigners.

The US and Iraqi governments have vastly overstated the number of foreign fighters in Iraq, and most of them don't come from Saudi Arabia, according to a new report from the Washington-based Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS). According to a piece in The Guardian, this means the US and Iraq "feed the myth" that foreign fighters are the backbone of the insurgency. While the foreign fighters may stoke the insurgency flames, they make up only about 4 to 10 percent of the estimated 30,000 insurgents.
The CSIS study also disputes media reports that Saudis are the largest group of foreign fighters. CSIS says "Algerians are the largest group (20 percent), followed by Syrians (18 percent), Yemenis (17 percent), Sudanese (15 percent), Egyptians (13 percent), Saudis (12 percent) and those from other states (5 percent)." CSIS gathered the information for its study from intelligence sources in the Gulf region.

They are not Saddam Hussein loyalists either.

The Associated Press reports that CSIS believes most of the insurgents are not "Saddam Hussein loyalists" but members of Sunni Arab Iraqi tribes. They do not want to see Mr. Hussein return to power, but they are "wary of a Shiite-led government."

In other words the "insurgents" are Iraqi's fighting the occupation of their country by a foreign power. As the Iraqi's see it the United States troops are the terrorists.

Bring our troops home now.