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Ho Chi Saddam Train? Nope./Iraq in the War on Terror
Austin Bay Blog ^ | 06/08/2005 | Austin Bay

Posted on 06/08/2005 10:41:17 AM PDT by Moose Dung

Ho Chi Saddam Trail? Nope./Iraq in the War on Terror

As I suggested Sunday, reflecting on John Burns’ coverage of Syrian-backed Saddam-Zarqawi infilitration routes, Balkan smuggling rings are a more appropriate comparison than “Ho Chi Minh Trail.” But the NY Times has to impose its Vietnam template. Burns’ report still provided a lot of useful detail.

Now the Washington Post has published an article on a Syrian smuggler . It provides a different perspective on the infiltration network– and I think it also illustrates that the Ho Chi Minh trail comparison was inappropriate.

The article is written and reported by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, with Aleppo, Syria as the dateline:

When the Americans led the invasion of Iraq, the men of Abu Ibrahim’s family gathered in the courtyard of their shared home in the far north of Syria. Ten slips of paper were folded into a plastic bag, and they drew lots. The five who opened a paper marked with ink would go to Iraq and fight. The other five would stay behind.

Abu Ibrahim drew a blank. But remaining in Syria did not mean staying clear of the war. For more than two years, by his own detailed account, the slightly built, shabbily dressed 32-year-old father of four has worked diligently to shuttle other young Arab men into Iraq, stocking the insurgency that has killed hundreds of U.S. troops and thousands of Iraqis.

The stream of fighters – most of them Syrians, but lately many of them Saudis...has sustained and replenished the hardest core of the Iraq insurgency, and supplied many of its suicide bombers. Drawn from a number of Arab countries and nurtured by a militant interpretation of Islam, they insist they are fighting for their vision of their faith.

-- snip --

(Excerpt) Read more at austinbay.net ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: austinbay; binladen; gwot; iraq; islamofascists; saddamhussein; syria; terrorism; waronterror; zarquawi
This is one of the best summaries of the current situation in Iraq and the GWOT I've seen to date.

READ IT ALL

dung.

1 posted on 06/08/2005 10:41:18 AM PDT by Moose Dung
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