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Modern, moderate Moroccans journeying to Iraq to join the jihad. By Craig Whitlock in the Washington Post via MSNBC, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:
TETOUAN, Morocco - In the Arab world, this hilly North African city is about as far as you can get from Iraq. But for many young men here, the call to join what they view as a holy war resonates loudly across the 3,000-mile divide.About two dozen men from Tetouan and nearby towns in the Rif Mountains have traveled to Iraq in the past 18 months to volunteer as fighters or suicide bombers, according to local residents and officials. Moroccan authorities said the men were recruited by international terrorist networks affiliated with al-Qaeda that have deepened their roots in North Africa since the invasion of Iraq four years ago.
To stanch the flow, U.S. intelligence and military officials have tried to trace the fighters' steps. On the basis of DNA evidence recovered from the scenes of suicide attacks, as well as other clues, officials have confirmed that at least two bombers came from Tetouan, a city of more than 320,000 across the Strait of Gibraltar from southern Spain.
One of them, Abdelmonaim el-Amrani, a 22-year-old laborer, abandoned his wife and infant child in Tetouan to go to Iraq. On March 6, 2006, just before sunset, he drove a red Volkswagen Passat stuffed with explosives into a funeral tent in a village near Baqubah, Iraq, according to witnesses. Six people were reported killed and 27 injured. It was months before Amrani's family in Tetouan learned of his fate from Moroccan police.
Foreign fighters in Iraq account for only a small percentage of the combatants attacking U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies. U.S. military officials and independent analysts peg the number at no more than a few thousand. But as the war drags on, it continues to serve as a powerful rallying tool for radical Islamic networks around the world that have developed recruiting pipelines as far afield as Europe and Southeast Asia.
Posted by Robert at February 21, 2007 10:04 AM
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"Foreign fighters in Iraq account for only a small percentage of the combatants attacking U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies."
Really? Have we done a poll?
Funny how, discounting Sadr, the foreigners seem to be in positions of power. Zaqarwi and his replacement come to mind.
Posted by: Alex![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 21, 2007 10:27 AM
when these foreign fighters are captured, they should be executed as spies.........
Posted by: The Texican at February 21, 2007 10:41 AM
Who will take care of Abdelmonaim wife and infant child since he was such a chicken shit coward and won't be around to do it.
Posted by: uradumone at February 21, 2007 12:22 PM
Without the "roach motel" martyrdom opportunity of Iraq, would this chump have made the much shorter journey to Madrid?
Posted by: MP at February 21, 2007 12:35 PM
As far as I know the Moroccans aren't even Arabs. But they have absorbed the ideology of cruel Arab irredentism known as Islam. So these brainwashed souls will go to Iraq and do what the Arabs have programmed them for via filthy robed Jihadist preachers and the Koran and hadith
Posted by: dennisw at February 21, 2007 12:52 PM
Funny how, discounting Sadr, the foreigners seem to be in positions of power. Zaqarwi and his replacement come to mind.
Posted by: Alex at February 21, 2007 10:27 AM
For that matter, Alex, Sadr was actually born in Iran, was he not, during his father's exile?
Posted by: waterdragon52 at February 21, 2007 1:04 PM
Welcome to hell, jihadi.
Bring as many of your brothers along as you can muster.
Maybe even some of your apologists and liars like Ibrahim.
Posted by: dgene at February 21, 2007 1:23 PM
I wish we could some to leave the US....
Posted by: exsgtbrown at February 21, 2007 1:35 PM
oops... should be...could get some to leave...
Posted by: exsgtbrown at February 21, 2007 1:54 PM
Moroccans have a reputation of being fierce warriors. I communicated with a Moroccan Berber once whose dream was to go to Israel to kill Jews.
Moroccan troops did fight against the Nazis in WWII under the French.
Too bad their fierceness was not enough to defeat the Arabs that swarmed out of the Meccan hive.
Berbers did put up more resistance than many others that fell to Islam. In the end, however, they could not drive the Arabs back for good.
Unfortunately today Berber identity has often merged with that of the Arabs. Who doesn't want to be seen as belonging to the ruling elite rather than to a despised "inferior" people?
Posted by: unicorns62000 at February 21, 2007 2:05 PM
When is America going to start taxing these Muslim nations ten million dollars a head for US KILLING THEIR LUNATICS IN IRAQ WHICH IS KEEPING THEIR GOVERNMENTS IN POWER???????
Should help with war costs.
Posted by: Lame Cherry at February 21, 2007 2:55 PM
To unicorn62000,
Just as an inquiry, do the moroccans you talked to who wanted to "go to israel to kill jews" genuine berbers or arabized berbers? Just curious, as the distinction is important. Technically, all moroccans, algerians and tunisians are more berber than arab, but the majority have come to view themsekves as arab. I would imagine that any of the many moroccan and algerian terrorists operating in europe and america all see themselves as arab.
In a similar fashion, egyptians who see themselves as arab are largely descendents of coptic christians and "arab" iraqis and syrians are likewise descended from assyrian chrsitians.
What I've heard about these countires is that those who have managed to have a cultural identity outside arabism are the least likely to be anti-west and sympathize with islamic terrorists. That would naturally include copts, assyrians and berbers.
Among the berbers, it seems that those who genuinely believe in their non-arab identity, like algerian kabylies and others, saharan berbers, touaregs, moroccan riffians and berbers in Atlas mountains, are much less likely to have those views that are brought on by arabism, the blaming of all their problems on israel, sympathy with terrorists who attack Western interest, etc. I could be wrong, after all, some things, like irrational hatred of israel, are so deeply ingrained that even non-arabized muslims may have a hard time getting rid of it. But that's how it seems.
Posted by: maxwell46&2 at February 21, 2007 7:51 PM
Eventually, if it keeps up, there'll be no solution but Boooom.
Posted by: Jeff at February 21, 2007 8:43 PM
How can anyone believe Iraq is in civil war when jihadist from all over the world come to kill in Iraq. Better to fight these nuts over there than here.
Posted by: jonesport at February 24, 2007 10:45 AM
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