Posted on 01/24/2008 12:20:01 PM PST by forkinsocket
Muhammad Ayn-al-Nas, a 26-year-old Moroccan, started his journey in Casablanca. After flying to Turkey and then to Damascus, he reached his destination in a small Iraqi border town on Jan. 31, 2007. He was an economics student back home, he told the al-Qaeda clerk who interviewed him on arrival. Asked what sort of work he hoped to do in Iraq, Nas replied: "Martyr."
Algerian Watsef Mussab, 29, who arrived in Iraq via Saudi Arabia and Syria, said he had come for combat. He complained that the Syrian smugglers who brought him to the border took his money, but he contributed what he had left to the insurgent cause -- a watch, a ring and an MP3 player.
Hanni al-Sagheer, a computer technician from Yemen and aspiring suicide volunteer, gave the clerk his home telephone number and also that of his brother.
Their stories are among the individual records of 606 foreign fighters who entered Iraq between August 2006 and August 2007. The cache of documents was discovered last fall by U.S. forces in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar.
Some include pictures -- bearded men in a turban or kaffiyeh, some smiling and some scowling -- in addition to names and aliases, home countries, birthdays and dates of entry into Iraq. Many list their occupations at home, whether plumber, laborer, policeman, lawyer, soldier or teacher. There is a "massage specialist," a "weapons merchant," a few "unemployed" and many students.
The youngest was 16 when he crossed into Iraq; the oldest was 54. Most expressed interest in a suicide mission.
The records are "one of the deepest reservoirs of information we've ever obtained of the network going into Iraq," according to a U.S. official closely familiar with intelligence on the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
“he reached his destination in a small Iraqi border town”
Bush doesn’t do borders. Never has, never will.
“Light footprint” policy deflected threats to money streams to Star Wars Part Deux and other big ticket boondoggles. As Star Wars lobbyist Rummy said, you go in with the “army you have.” Unspoken corollary- don’t change if it effects the money streams.
Next boondoggle stop, “virtual border fence.”
Yes, Nancy Peolsi... you too can gain access to this valuable demographic!
Why don’t these guys join the “Queen’s Own McKamikaze Highlanders”. There is no time to lose.
Every grunt in Al- Anbar could have told them this. Number one son, a Marine grunt in Fallujah and Ramadi, in 2004 and 2005, helped capture many of these guys. They came in from Syria with papers on them identifying them by point of entry, name, country of origin and purpose of visit, “jihad”.
As usual, our MSM is only 3-4 years behind.
In journalism school, do they suck your brains out and replace it with papier mache??
Hmm...I don't see anything about medical and dental benefits in here, but aside from that it isn't a bad package. Throw in a 401K and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan and I might have to think about it.
The Comments section is priceless. The usual flock of "it's all Bush's fault" drones is spamming the board with the usual screaming accusations. As a result virtually no discussion on the actual topic is being done. Business as usual.
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