US: Foreign fighters flee Iraq

Hot Air ^ | March 21, 2008 7:18 am | Ed Morrissey

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Foreign fighters have become disillusioned with jihad in Iraq and have begun to exit the theater, US military officials reported yesterday. These fighters comprise al-Qaeda in Iraq’s best resource for suicide bombers, and their loss gives them much less operational capability. AQI leadership has not yet given up the fight, but prospects for replacements look grim:

A growing number of foreign fighters are leaving or attempting to flee Iraq as U.S. and Iraqi forces have weakened al-Qaeda and forced its members from former strongholds, U.S. military officials say.

[KarlInOhio]

Front page of the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times and the lead story in ABCNNBCBS, right? < /extreme sarcasm>

[denydenydeny]

But...but....the New York Times told me that we were “manufacturing terrorists” by being in Iraq. They wouldn’t lie.

[Steely Tom]

Bush has wrecked the Iraqi economy too. Unemployment among the important insurgent terrorist sector is up sharply. Economists warn that the actual extent of the damage may be worse than the raw numbers indicate. Many terrorists have actually given up looking for work, and are therefore not counted in the unemployment totals.

[elhombrelibre]

Great post about the disillusioned al Qaeda in Iraq ping.

[Polybius]

Foreign fighters have become disillusioned with jihad in Iraq and have begun to exit the theater,

It looks bad for the enemy.

They are down to their last Hope for victory.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Al Queda is going to have a recruitment problem if the real facts get back to the families...

[golfisnr1]

Are you trying to take the place of Scrappleface?

[PapaBear3625]

Is it that they've become discouraged with Iraq, or that they see better opportunities elsewhere (like Pakistan or Europe)?

It would be great if they were just quitting the terrorist business, going home, and opening falafel stands. Not so great if they are just re-deploying elsewhere

[trane250]

This is either very good news or part of the war party’s disinformation campaign to convince us that staying the course has finally paid off.

[FreeReign]

This is either very good news or part of the war party’s disinformation campaign to convince us that staying the course has finally paid off

What?

[Post Toasties]

Looks like either Mo'Ham-Mud's piggy magnetism is weakening among nutcases, or they've nearly been exterminated.

[Yo-Yo]

And where are they fleeing to? Maybe Syria?

Well isn't that special.

[elhombrelibre]

I agree; it will break the illusion that Osama has tried to spread that Islamism is the strong horse that he and his terrorist are riding to an inevitable Allah-sponsored victory. In a bigger way, this is like when Reagan took Grenada from the communist. They'd always believed that what they took stayed taken. After Grenada, he foiled their efforts in Afghanistan, and the rest was a break up like an egg against the frying pan. Success in Iraq empowers ordinary Iraqis as a self-ruling people who don't want or need foreign religious fanatics like al Qaeda coming there to slaughter their innocent citizens for some hypothetical Islamic theory. The disillusion with mindless killing and so-called jihad will set in for the boys back at the Madrassas in due time. The enemy has but one hope now. And that is a Democrat Party victory.

[Doctor Raoul]

A whole bunch of al-Qaeda showed up last week at the AFL-CIO’s National Labor College for “Winter Soldier 2”.

[Allegra]

A growing number of foreign fighters are leaving or attempting to flee Iraq as U.S. and Iraqi forces have weakened al-Qaeda and forced its members from former strongholds, U.S. military officials say.

Yep. Stay in Iraq and die, AQ-scum.

Wonder where they're going to go?

[Allegra]

This is either very good news or part of the war party’s disinformation campaign to convince us that staying the course has finally paid off.

The war party??

Things in Baghdad have improved so much that I feel safer here than I would in some parts of Philadelphia, Detriot or DC, etc.

The situation in Anbar Province (Fallujah, Ramadi, Habbaniyah, et al) is that there is no situation and the biggest problem there is bored Marines.

Shall I go on?

[reagan_fanatic]

Please don’t tell Nancy Pelosi about this. According to her, we’re losing.

[elhombrelibre]

If they're smart, they won't tell you where they're going. You might just chase them down.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The recruitment agency is busy right now working up glorious plans for the next travel destination for the young ones....