{"id":4991,"date":"2008-03-21T09:17:15","date_gmt":"2008-03-21T09:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/03\/foreign-fighters-leaving-iraq.html"},"modified":"2008-03-21T09:17:15","modified_gmt":"2008-03-21T09:17:15","slug":"foreign-fighters-leaving-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/03\/foreign-fighters-leaving-iraq.html","title":{"rendered":"Foreign fighters leaving Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"

Someone better tell them<\/a> about bin Laden’s plan to use Iraq as a base in the war against Israel:<\/p>\n

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.
\nThe trend reflects a broad disenchantment among foreign fighters, particularly since al-Qaeda has lost sanctuaries in parts of Baghdad and Anbar, a Sunni province west of the capital, U.S. military intelligence officials say.
\n“They’re being told in their countries of origin by facilitators that, ‘Hey, we’re basically winning the war against the apostates,’ ” said Brig. Gen. Michael Flynn, intelligence director for Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East. “They go there and find out it’s not quite the case.”
\nForeign militants constitute about 10% of al-Qaeda’s strength in Iraq, but Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said they make up about 90% of the suicide bombers.
\nThe departure of some fighters doesn’t mean al-Qaeda is quitting the fight, said Brig. Gen. Brian Keller, the chief intelligence officer for the U.S. command in Iraq. “We’re just starting to see more and more fissures in the morale and leadership of al-Qaeda in Iraq,” he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(via<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Someone better tell them about bin Laden’s plan to use Iraq as a base in the war against Israel: 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. The trend reflects a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[399],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-2"],"yoast_head":"\nForeign fighters leaving Iraq - Reformed Chicks Blabbing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/03\/foreign-fighters-leaving-iraq.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Foreign fighters leaving Iraq - Reformed Chicks Blabbing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Someone better tell them about bin Laden’s plan to use Iraq as a base in the war against Israel: 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. 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