colleagues and I sent a fresh recruit of more than 200 suicide bombers
through the border of our Syrian allies."
Posted on 06/11/2008 6:49:19 AM PDT by Dawnsblood
The United States is seeing a sharp drop in the number of foreigners entering Iraq to become al Qaeda suicide bombers, according to intelligence and Bush administration sources.
An administration official and a military adviser to Iraqi commanders attribute the decline to a fairly new phenomenon: Al Qaeda's call for mass killings in the name of Islam is losing some of its appeal with young Arabs in North Africa and Saudi Arabia, where most of the bombers originate.
The decline also parallels the battlefield losses al Qaeda has suffered in the past 12 months in Iraq's Anbar province and the greater Baghdad region. This has made it more difficult for al Qaeda in Iraq to facilitate the secret movement of foreigners from the Syrian border to safe houses where they are trained and assigned a target.
"There has been a sharp decline in the amount of suicide bombers coming into Iraq," said a senior intelligence official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "It's harder for suicide bombers to get into the country. The al Qaeda in Iraq is a shadow of what it once was. And Iraq is a more hostile area for suicide bombers to operate."
The senior official said al Qaeda suicide attacks averaged 50 per month last year, but are as low as 20 a month now.
"They are still cause for concern," the official said.
According to the latest Pentagon report on stability in Iraq, the number of all attacks in Iraq dropped from 1,500 a week in February 2007 to 450 a week in February 2008.
Last year, U.S. military officials say, Sunni Arab Iraqis in large numbers began rejecting al Qaeda's harsh ways and started aiding allied troops in ridding terrorists from their neighborhoods.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I wonder how Pelosi is handling this. She might develop some new wrinkles.
Strong horse, weak horse.
Defeatocrats are deeply saddened!
Maybe the reenlistment bonus is too low.
We’re seeing the bottom of the swamp.
Hasn't this always been true?
Reid with his two sock puppets.
That’s a great tag line. I’m going to steal it.
Doesn’t the US have an Obomber they can send?
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