IRAQ AS THE ARAB WORLD’S DUMPING GROUND FOR ITINERANT SALAFIS
The Jamestown Foundation has a data-rich report on the Salafist segment of the Iraqi insurgency, including the following points:
Iraqis make up only 8 % of Salafist insurgents who are overwhelmingly Saudis from the Nejd; specifically the Shammari, Otaibi, Shahri and Motairi tribes. Syrians are around 10 %, the next largest figure. Egyptians have vanished from the Salafist-Jihadi ranks since the semi-legalization of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Roughly 20 % of the Jihadis have a college degree. 50 % have less than a high school education.
45 % of the suicide bombers are Nejd Saudis.
Pressure by state security agencies in Arab countries are causing local Salafist extremists to migrate to Iraq. North Africans are a rising contingent.
Jihadis with prior experience in Afghanistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, Bosnia number less than 5 %
Moreover the focus of these foreign fighters is increasingly ideological ( anti-democracy) and takfiri – with Shiites and elected officials being their preferred targets. From CENTCOM:
” On 30 November, a 44:35 minute audio message purportedly orated by Abu Hamza al-Baghdad, the head of the Shari’a Committee of AQI was issued. The speech, titled: “The Election is the Way of the Criminals,” expounds upon the group’s belief that the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections and democracy, in general, seek to deify man and denounce Islamic Shari’a, as politicians become the “highest authority and there is no other authority above them.” Further, al-Baghdadi argues that elections serve the American’s purpose to extinguish the jihad spirit within the mujahideen – that it will resolve the differences between the coalition and Iraq administrations and the insurgents- and “make your dreams come true.” The speech elaborates upon a multi-point denouncement of democracy’s purpose vis-à-vis Islam and principles as set out in the Qur’an, and additionally, states that those who participate and elect the men to “partner with Allah” will be considered infidels, as “they are the ones who are providing the mandate to the representatives to make the laws.” Also, the speech cites historic examples of America’s alleged tampering in foreign elections for their own interests, such as Italy in 1947, where the United States sought the “success of the Christian Democrats over the Communist Party.” The audio concludes with a message addressing the mujahideen to remain steadfast in their jihad and to “draw your swords of dignity.”
The Jihadis are apparently avid online readers of Left-wing revisionist historians.
