The LA Times portrays the typical foreign fighter in Iraq as “young, lonely and struggling to make a mark”:
(Most) militants were single men in their late teens and early 20s recruited by Al Qaeda in Iraq, a largely homegrown Sunni Arab militant group that the U.S. military says is led by foreigners. They typically come from large, lower-income families in which they struggled to be noticed…
Most described their upbringing as religious but not extremist… Many said their fathers were harsh and often abusive. Most reported little or no previous military experience. Before they were recruited, many worked as taxi drivers, construction workers and in other low-paying jobs. Others were students.
Their recruiters preyed on their desire for recognition, acceptance and friendship…
So, low status runaways from a shame culture that could not provide them with the means for self-improvement. The article goes on to say that while the foreign fighters are caressed and coddled while in transit to Iraq, many are abused by their handlers once in country.
Meanwhile, the home team thinks things are finally looking up:
More than 50% of Iraqis think their lives are good, more than at any time in the last three years, a survey says.
The poll for the BBC, ABC, ARD and NHK of more than 2,000 people also suggests that a majority believe that security in their area has improved since 2007.
And while most Iraqis still believe US troops are making things worse, the number who want the Americans to pull out immediately has fallen.
It’s nothing like over of course: There’s a crying need for basic services, which hopefully ought to have a chance of being serviced now that there’s a kind of security in place. ‘Splodeydopes continue their butchery, the Shia majority ill trusts their former Sunni overlords, themselves now mostly quiescent but perhaps not fully reconciled to their diminished national stature. Which, put it like that, reminds me strangely of the Democratic Party’s presidential race. Shoot, reminds me of the irreconcilables in the Republican Party as well, for that matter. No one is satisfied.
We’ve given them democracy, and they might never forgive us for it.
Update: Great Newsweek article on the “referees” – company grade officers and their men making a difference at the local level.
This story also puts to rest the post-9/11 portrait of the Arab extremist as middle- to upper-class and well educated. I guess the “thinking idealists” have realized the cause is failing….
The only thing I am concerned about is how to make the typical enemy foreign fighter dead.
Spent a day with a U-Boat crew today ( AC-130U). Very refreshing.
Luckily, most AQI insurgents are making a mark.
When a JDAM or a .50 cal or a “60″ hits you, it usually leaves some kind of blood stain somewhere.
What concerns me is that these “typical foreign fighters” aren’t all that different from our disenfranchised youth. That yearning for friendship and acceptance is what makes them vulnerable to radical groups who will use them as pawns, sometimes in very destructive ways. Think ANSWER and ELF.
I think about the tripe my daughter’s absorbing at school and hope to hell I can change her mind about what she’s learning from the brainless history teacher’s obvious leftist agenda.
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the – Web Reconnaissance for 03/18/2008 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.