We're hearing a lot popping up on this..anyone(reading the press reporters), know, they are being recruited in Iran and Syria??

Should we go to them next??
The world could afford to lose a few more STUPID people!

The reports have shown and told how Iran has RECRUITED THOUSANDS OF SUICIDE killers and some that are refusing were threatened their families would be harmed..ahhh good old fear/threat tactics always make one give in....

Let's flush these recruiters out!!!!!

Watching this war in Iraq being fought, I sometimes wonder why we even have an airforce anymore.

Watching this war in Iraq being fought, I sometimes wonder why we even have an airforce anymore.

Yeah, let's do the saturation bombing that won us the war in Vietnam!
So much for the "pro-life" position, eh?

Yeah, I'm expecting Bush to say any day now, "We had to destroy Iraq to save it."

Without meaning to sound harsh, I'd like to remind you of a Lou Reed lyric from Perfect Day:

"You're going to reap just what you sow,
Reap, Reap, Reap, just what you sow."

I think 9-11 was in retaliation to years of one-sided US support for the actions of Israel. Bush's actions against Afghanistan & Iraq have inflamed the simmering hatred of creeping Westernisation in the Middle East. The US government has been instrumental in opening a cataclysmic can of worms that endangers the whole world, but Western non-muslims particularly. Thanks, GWB, and your bum-pal Bliar, guess I won't be going to Indonesia for my holiday this year...

We're hearing a lot popping up on this..anyone(reading the press reporters), know, they are being recruited in Iran and Syria??

Of course that's what you hear, The Bush terrorist machine wants to invade those places next.
Just the same as when you heard that Iraq was involved in 911 and had WMDs

Lies put about by the REAL murdering scum who run your country!
Shame on the US!

I think 9-11 was in retaliation to years of one-sided US support for the actions of Israel. Bush's actions against Afghanistan & Iraq have inflamed the simmering hatred of creeping Westernisation in the Middle East. The US government has been instrumental in opening a cataclysmic can of worms that endangers the whole world, but Western non-muslims particularly. Thanks, GWB, and your bum-pal Bliar, guess I won't be going to Indonesia for my holiday this year...


Lies put about by the REAL murdering scum who run your country!
Shame on the US!

Can you two tell me your screennames at DU?

Sheesh.

Can you two tell me your screennames at DU?

Sheesh.


DU?  What are you refering to?

As to the rest of Goodsin and Taoist's posts, they were right on.  The foriegn policy of the United States under both Repug and Dem admins has been one of imperialism, arrogance, and hubris.  THEY have wafed war against defensless peasants, overthrown democratic governments, supported some of the worst human rights violaters, and condoned, or at least remained silent, of some of the most hedious acts of genocide in human history, and that INCLUDES the holocost, of which our leaders at the time had little to say and did less to stop it.  In fact, those people who tryed to stop the fascists in Spain (the Abraham Linclon Brigade) we labled "pre-mature anti-fascists" and were hounded by the FBI after they returned.  And all this

AND MUCH MORE

in my name?  To quote Cyreno, "No thank you, again I thank you, but NO THANKYOU".  You might want to look up the lines that preceed this quote.  Very instructive.

Without meaning to sound harsh, I'd like to remind you of a Lou Reed lyric from Perfect Day:

"You're going to reap just what you sow,
Reap, Reap, Reap, just what you sow."

I think 9-11 was in retaliation to years of one-sided US support for the actions of Israel. Bush's actions against Afghanistan & Iraq have inflamed the simmering hatred of creeping Westernisation in the Middle East. The US government has been instrumental in opening a cataclysmic can of worms that endangers the whole world, but Western non-muslims particularly. Thanks, GWB, and your bum-pal Bliar, guess I won't be going to Indonesia for my holiday this year...

Speaking in deadpan:
unless 9/11 was an inside job.

Can you two tell me your screennames at DU?

Sheesh.

Don't know what DU is, GWBush2004. Obviously I don't expect you to agree with my rant, as you seem to be quite a staunch supporter of the current US government. I feel sorry that ordinary citizens in your country & ours are in more danger now from Arab terrorism than ever before, and feel that the US (and to a lesser extent, the UK) government's actions are responsible for that escalation. My comment about 'reaping what you sow' may have been inaccurate; the ordinary citizens are reaping what our governments are sowing with their agendas. That 'harvest' is fear, which is surely far more widespread (and justified) than ever before.

Speaking in deadpan:
unless 9/11 was an inside job.

A subject that has crossed my mind, but I have not raised due to understandable 'sensitivity' on the issue. It's not uncommon for US presidents to pick a fight with another country to try to validate their leadership skills (they seem to have little interest in doing it in any other way, such as helping the world, unless it benefits the US). It would not be unknown for governments engaged in political skulduggery to provoke incidents in order to validate a pre-planned response. That's all I'm going to say on the subject for now, as no-one really wants to ponder the possibility that their own government would do that just to further their own devious ends.

So what do you call getting rid of a terrible life threatening dictator(Saddam),giving women freedom in their own country, making a way for democracy in another country so they don't have ,to fear a dictator...and where are those people who said 'it couldn't be done?'

Don't know what DU is, GWBush2004.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=1726149&mesg_id=1726149&page=

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=1726149&mesg_id=1726149&page=


Sorry, but my inquisitivness does not extend to reading a long conservative rant on another message board that could have been answered with 1 sentance, or 2.  The question was a simple one, and desrerved a simple answer.  What does DU mean?

Sorry, but my inquisitivness does not extend to reading a long conservative rant on another message board that could have been answered with 1 sentance, or 2.  The question was a simple one, and desrerved a simple answer.  What does DU mean?


That link is NOT conservative.  Read it and see what DU is, the link takes you to DU itself.

DU= Democratic Underground.

That link is NOT conservative.  Read it and see what DU is, the link takes you to DU itself.

DU= Democratic Underground.

Oh, I thought you meant Delta Upsilon.  I was like, dude, I didn't even pledge!

Here was me thinking depleted uranium.. or possibly Debate Unlimited (where I know Taoist's been around, but I've not seen goodsin ... say, goodsin, is that as in "good/sin" or "goods/in"?)

I saw an amusing headline in the paper today:

DON'T PANIC I'M ISLAMIC

This time through I did read the first post of the Dem/Und re Reagan's death.  Guess what?  I'm glad the murdering SOB has bit the dust too.  And what's more, I rejoiced when Tricky Dicky, another murdering scum bought the farm, and Henry the K departs from us (after a LONG and painful illness, I hope) I'm going to throw a party.  Disrespectful?  Maybe, but the bast**ds deserve to taste as much pain as they caused to be inflicted.

Here was me thinking depleted uranium.. or possibly Debate Unlimited (where I know Taoist's been around, but I've not seen goodsin ... say, goodsin, is that as in "good/sin" or "goods/in"?)

It's both, Philbo. Goods in from when I used to work at a warehouse (my surname's Woods). And I sin, but I'm basically a good person, so...

I don't know about Debate Unlimited, sounds like there are a lot of people involved, could be a mass-debate... ;D. Never been there myself, though. I go to other messageboards, but tend to have debates here, because they can generally be carried out in an adult manner. If I started debates on other sites, I'm sure I could never keep up with them...

GWB2004, I may have some 'off the wall' views, but I'm not a fully signed up radical. I may also appear to be a supporter of Islam extremism, but this is also erroneous. Extreme actions bring extreme results- I daresay the suicide bombers feel more justified in their actions than Bush did when he started the latest US campaign of overseas violence- they act for Allah, he for his power. Which is nobler, killing several people by your own sacrifice in an act you believe to be driven by your god, or killing hundreds of people by sending other people to do your dirty work, in a move borne of self-aggrandisement & greed?

No god is worth killing FOR..if god wants the people dead let IT take them out..
did we topple a dictator YES, did we liberate women YES, did we create a democracy YES how many GOOD things came from our sacrifices compared to irrational 'killing for religion'?

No god is worth killing FOR..if god wants the people dead let IT take them out..
did we topple a dictator YES, did we liberate women YES, did we create a democracy YES how many GOOD things came from our sacrifices compared to irrational 'killing for religion'?


Did you topple a dictator? - Yes, the dictator you helped to power 25 years ago, a dictator you supplied with boiological weapons.

Did you liberate women? - Hardly, Women (and men) now leave their houses in fear of their lives from the ongoing war.  Saddam's Iraq was not a muslim state and women were not oppressed.  I have to assume this little gem of misinformation came from Fox!

Did you create democracy? - No! There will be no democracy in Iraqi until the US leaves.  The US has installed a puppet government to pretend its actions are legitimate.

Are the "insurgents" killing for religion? - No, they are fighting a guerrilla war against a brutal enemy who has invaded their country and replaced the government with its own.
This is what the Germans did to France in the 1940s...Would you suggest that the French resistance/Marquis were religious nuts killing for god? Was the Vichy government legitimate?

The US has sacrificed a few soldiers and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis for its own gains.  Not much of a sacrifice as human life has no value to the current US regime.

Of course let's not forget Hiroshima, we killed so MORE would NOT be killed.

And the stories of  the raping of Iraqi women were just the 'bad ones who deserved it'..

How is anyone to know the dictator we helped (for whatever reason at the time) was going to cause worries for US? We didn't, then again we did give fighter just recently to Pakistan to probably come after us..and we let Mexico send their people here(another issue).

It's not ALL going to fall into place but that's some of what Iraq got from this..If they don't want us, let them tell us and we'll be happy to leave -unless we promised them to rebuild the place or they're afraid?

And UDA AND Koosa were Boy Scouts. ???

Of course let's not forget Hiroshima, we killed so MORE would NOT be killed.

And the stories of  the raping of Iraqi women were just the 'bad ones who deserved it'..

How is anyone to know the dictator we helped (for whatever reason at the time) was going to cause worries for US? We didn't, then again we did give fighter just recently to Pakistan to probably come after us..and we let Mexico send their people here(another issue).

It's not ALL going to fall into place but that's some of what Iraq got from this..If they don't want us, let them tell us and we'll be happy to leave -unless we promised them to rebuild the place or they're afraid?

And UDA AND Koosa were Boy Scouts. ???


You might be able to justify Hiroshima with that argument, but what about Nagasaki?  Fact is that our foriegn policy has been based not on what we claim to be our "values" but on what we precieve to be our interests, and mostly short term interests.  That has led us to support some of the most brutal dictators, and the most repressive regimes in history (as Franco), to our shame.  It has allowed us to sanction genocide (as in East Timor), and create the cercumstances leading to it (as in Cambodia).  It has allowed us to overthrow truely democratic governments and see them replaced by brutal dictatorships (as in Chile).  We have arranged the assasination of leaders we didn't like (as Patrice Lemumba) and tried to assasinate others (as Castro).  In short, we have treated the world as our chess board, defending pawns when we saw use in them, and sacrificing them when that looked right.  So please, read some history and stop trying to make our foreign policy look either altruistice or value based.  It has been or is either.

Of course let's not forget Hiroshima, we killed so MORE would NOT be killed.

How on earth do you figure that?

Japan was already beaten at that point in the war, they were no longer a real threat.
Hiroshima/Nagasaki was to force a surrender so that the US could force its will upon Japan (the whole reason for the war in the first place)
Also, It let the world know the the US had awsome weapons that it wouldn't hesistate to use if provoked.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were instances of the US using WMDs against innocent civilians, I find it distasteful (but not surprising) that you attempt to justify this act, even though the accusation of similar (but less horrific) acts led the US to invade Iraq. - One rule for you, another for the rest of us?

How on earth do you figure that?

Japan was already beaten at that point in the war, they were no longer a real threat.
Hiroshima/Nagasaki was to force a surrender so that the US could force its will upon Japan (the whole reason for the war in the first place)
Also, It let the world know the the US had awsome weapons that it wouldn't hesistate to use if provoked.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were instances of the US using WMDs against innocent civilians, I find it distasteful (but not surprising) that you attempt to justify this act, even though the accusation of similar (but less horrific) acts led the US to invade Iraq. - One rule for you, another for the rest of us?



Thats about the size of it.  :\'(  :\'(  :\'(

The MORE killed I'm referring to is US. If we didn't make it known what they were dealing with how many of US would have been killed..it was a bad situation and Yes, it seems policies and 'friendships' have been made with some bad people, so let's go after them when the talk starts , so they know our feelings!

If someone knew how bad Franco was, why didn't anyone care to oragnize to have voices heard.

Just like today when we dicuss(on a different subject), coalvs. nuclear..GOOD scientists are putting forth evidence from YEARS ago how good nukes were/are adn yet it is still being debated..so with dictators, if someone KNOWS the guy is bad to deal with GET WORD OUT.

Instead they complain and no one gets off their butts to take it to the top.
Then maybe that's the politics of it.

When Bush still treats the visiting Vincente Fox like 'bring it on we love you all' whenwe ALL know there's a problem, SOMEONE has to get word out and stir things up to get reseults.

As far as the US assasinating those they don't like tribes did that ever since caveman days, how do WE stop them..we DO have the policy in which we agree  NOT to assasinate other leaders because THEY CAN KILL OURS TOO....   

The MORE killed I'm referring to is US. If we didn't make it known what they were dealing with how many of US would have been killed..it was a bad situation and Yes, it seems policies and 'friendships' have been made with some bad people, so let's go after them when the talk starts , so they know our feelings!

If someone knew how bad Franco was, why didn't anyone care to oragnize to have voices heard.

Just like today when we dicuss(on a different subject), coalvs. nuclear..GOOD scientists are putting forth evidence from YEARS ago how good nukes were/are adn yet it is still being debated..so with dictators, if someone KNOWS the guy is bad to deal with GET WORD OUT.

Instead they complain and no one gets off their butts to take it to the top.
Then maybe that's the politics of it.

When Bush still treats the visiting Vincente Fox like 'bring it on we love you all' whenwe ALL know there's a problem, SOMEONE has to get word out and stir things up to get reseults.

As far as the US assasinating those they don't like tribes did that ever since caveman days, how do WE stop them..we DO have the policy in which we agree  NOT to assasinate other leaders because THEY CAN KILL OURS TOO....   


Beyond the first sentance, I'm not sure what this rant is getting at.  But as to the first sentance, the Japanese were already making overtures to surrender BEFORE Hiroshima, through the Soviets, who had not yet declared war on Japan.  Nagasaki (3 days after Hiroshima) was simple brutality.

Actuall, a substantial number of people DID organize against Franco, and some went to Spain to fight for the Republic (have you never heard of the Abraham Linclon Brigade?).  They were persecuted as "premature anti-Fascists" and hounded by the FBI.

Get word out?  Every time anyone suggests that our foreign policy is supporting the wrong guy, conservatives defend the choice.  The word is ALWAYS out there.  The media and conservatives just don't want to hear it.

No one has ever documented even an attempted assasination of an American leader by agents of a foreign power, yet we have mad attempts, at least 2 successful, to assasinate foreign leaders.  Patrice Lamumba was one and Vietnamese President Thiu was another.  We were also responsible for the murder of Salvador Allende (or his suicide).  There are more, no doubt.  Read the reports of the 1975 Senate Select Committee on Government Operations with Respect to Intelligance (the Church Committee).

Did you topple a dictator? - Yes, the dictator you helped to power 25 years ago, a dictator you supplied with boiological weapons.

Did you liberate women? - Hardly, Women (and men) now leave their houses in fear of their lives from the ongoing war.  Saddam's Iraq was not a muslim state and women were not oppressed.  I have to assume this little gem of misinformation came from Fox!

Did you create democracy? - No! There will be no democracy in Iraqi until the US leaves.  The US has installed a puppet government to pretend its actions are legitimate.

Are the "insurgents" killing for religion? - No, they are fighting a guerrilla war against a brutal enemy who has invaded their country and replaced the government with its own.
This is what the Germans did to France in the 1940s...Would you suggest that the French resistance/Marquis were religious nuts killing for god? Was the Vichy government legitimate?

The US has sacrificed a few soldiers and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis for its own gains.  Not much of a sacrifice as human life has no value to the current US regime.



We are killing bastard cowards who..if you saw the footage of the HUNDREDS of buried bodies unearthed...were put there by these chicken****s

They only want AMERICANS TO DIE..let alone wreak havoc throughout their country..so we are there to also help liberate them... IF YOU THINK THAT IS WRONG, YOU NEED TO EXAMINE YOUR THINKING!

You must be following the press that reports 'they don't want us' and let them handle themselves!
That is BULL...Germany and Japan in WWII was said to not have wanted us and where are they today!

We've heard that trip before..but we're ther to help spread freedom! 

We are killing bastard cowards who..if you saw the footage of the HUNDREDS of buried bodies unearthed...were put there by these chicken****s

They only want AMERICANS TO DIE..let alone wreak havoc throughout their country..so we are there to also help liberate them... IF YOU THINK THAT IS WRONG, YOU NEED TO EXAMINE YOUR THINKING!

You must be following the press that reports 'they don't want us' and let them handle themselves!
That is BULL...Germany and Japan in WWII was said to not have wanted us and where are they today!

We've heard that trip before..but we're ther to help spread freedom! 


We all know that Saddam was a bad man.  Lets agree on that.  But Toaist's point, an correctly, was that he was a bad man WE put in power - thanks Ron.  And you, like Lil' Georgie, are  confusing who our enemies are.  It was/is Al quida that wants Americans to die.  Saddam wanted to be a local bully on the block, our local bully.  Fact is, he was GIVEN PERMISSION to invade Kiwait by our ambassador to Iraq.  he must have sh1t his pants when he lerned the Big Georgie disapproved.  So it is you who need to "re-examine your thinking".

During the 1960's & '70's Castro learned that you can't export revolution.  By the same token, you can't expoort democracy. 

And I wonder, just what "freedom" are we trying to "spread"?

Thinking goes, we supported Saddam, He turned and did terrible things...are WE supposed to let him continue?
That's rational thinking..He 'teased us' and waved off the sanctions 14 TIMES to let inspectors in!
No more BULL with him!..The UN who oversaw it is mostly made up of European countries who..guess what... DON'T SUPPORT US!

Who does the Iraq ambassador take orders from if GB went nuts?!
Was it miscommunications?

And for those other leaders which were supposedly assinated by the US when there is an agreement to not kill political leaders..ALL BETS ARE OFF IF IT WAS DONE WHEN WE WERE AT WAR.

If that was the case...nothing was wrong.

Another wrong image  in this country is with the irrespectables who wear a CHE shirt or have banners with him to flaunt around like some defiant protester..Some Mexicans brought this up when on a talk show, how if those (a lot of more younger teens) ever came near them, they would RRRRIIPPP it right off their backs ...a terrible Guerilla he was!

Thinking goes, we supported Saddam, He turned and did terrible things...are WE supposed to let him continue?
That's rational thinking..He 'teased us' and waved off the sanctions 14 TIMES to let inspectors in!
No more BULL with him!..The UN who oversaw it is mostly made up of European countries who..guess what... DON'T SUPPORT US!

Who does the Iraq ambassador take orders from if GB went nuts?!
Was it miscommunications?

And for those other leaders which were supposedly assinated by the US when there is an agreement to not kill political leaders..ALL BETS ARE OFF IF IT WAS DONE WHEN WE WERE AT WAR.

If that was the case...nothing was wrong.

Another wrong image  in this country is with the irrespectables who wear a CHE shirt or have banners with him to flaunt around like some defiant protester..Some Mexicans brought this up when on a talk show, how if those (a lot of more younger teens) ever came near them, they would RRRRIIPPP it right off their backs ...a terrible Guerilla he was!


Yes, he did terrible things, like making war on Iran during the 1980's (Reagan's watch) with WMD and intelligence that WE supplied him.

I don't think it was miscommunication.  Our Ambassador to Iraq told Saddam that we would not object to a "rectification of boarders".  I have studied some (not these) diplomatic dispatches, and I can tell you that ambassadors dom't make a move without permission from the State Department, not if they value their career they don't. 

We were never at war with an African nation (Patrice Lumumba), we were never at war with Cuba (Castro) and we certainly were not at war with Chile at any time in our history.  We found those leaders unexceptable, and so tried, and in 2 cases succeded, in disposing of them.  Will you not read some history - even just what Google leads you to, before you show your utter...

Certainly Che is anathma to the powers that be, but, as that horrid spy and traitor Nathan Hale proclaimed that he was only sorry he had only one life to give for his cause, Che was willing to sacrifice his life for his cause.  In many ways Che was a fool, a Don Quijote, but so are many who fight for a cause, and they need not ask your permission, nor mine, to fight for it.  Which, of course, still gives both us the right to either praise or condemn those causes.  And of course Mexicans who are positioned enough to get interviewed on... you didn't specify...would hate Che, and everything he stood for, like social justice, economic equality, paticipatory democracy.  Of course all that sounds horrible to the "rich and well born" to use Alex. Hamilton's words.  To me, it all sounds pretty good.

As it stands and is reported for now....:


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CBS 
Non-Iraqis Behind Suicide Attacks

Officials Say Majority Of Attackers Saudis, Other Arabs

Jun 30, 2005 9:22 pm US/Pacific
BAGHDAD (AP) The vast majority of suicide attackers in Iraq are thought to be foreigners -- mostly Saudis and other Gulf Arabs -- and the trend has become more pronounced this year with North Africans also streaming in to carry out deadly missions, U.S. and Iraqi officials say.

The bombers are recruited from Sunni communities, smuggled into Iraq from Syria after receiving religious indoctrination, and then quickly bundled into cars or strapped with explosive vests and sent to their deaths, the officials told The Associated Press. The young men are not so much fighters as human bombs -- a relatively small but deadly component of the Iraqi insurgency.

"The foreign fighters are the ones that most often are behind the wheel of suicide car bombs, or most often behind any suicide situation," said U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Don Alston, spokesman for the Multinational Force in Iraq.

Officials have long believed that non-Iraqis infiltrating the country through its porous borders with Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia were behind most suicide missions, and the wave of bloody strikes in recent months has confirmed that thinking.

Authorities have found little evidence that Iraqis have been behind the near-daily stream of suicide attacks over the past six months, U.S. and Iraqi intelligence officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity.

There have been a few exceptions.

On election day Jan. 30, a mentally handicapped Iraqi boy, wearing a suicide vest, attacked a polling station. An attack on a U.S. military mess hall in the northern city of Mosul in December that killed 22 also was believed to have been carried out by an Iraqi, as was a deadly June 11 attack on the heavily guarded Baghdad headquarters of the Interior Ministry's feared Wolf Brigade.

Since 2003, less than 10 percent of more than 500 suicide attacks have been carried out by Iraqis, according to one defense official. So far this year, there have been at least 213 suicide attacks -- 172 by vehicle and 41 by bombers on foot -- according to an AP count.

Another U.S. official said American authorities believe Iraqis are beginning to look at suicide bombers as a liability. "Just as there is no shortage of people willing to do this, nor is there any shortage of targets, and they tend to be police," the official said.

The trend doesn't mean Iraqis aren't part of the bloody insurgency: On the contrary, Iraqi insurgents are thought to be responsible for much of the violence and fighting in the country, although most of those are non-suicide attacks.

"I still think 80 percent of the insurgency, the day to day activity, is Iraqi -- the roadside bombings, mortars, direct weapons fire, rifle fire, automatic weapons fire," said Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East expert with the Congressional Research Service, which advises U.S. lawmakers.

But he added: "The foreign fighters attract the headlines with the suicide bombings, no question."

The key role of foreign fighters in suicide attacks is one reason many senior military officials, including the top U.S. general in the Middle East, tend to view the war in Iraq as slowly developing into an international struggle against militant Islam.

The military brass say Islamic extremists like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his al-Qaida in Iraq organization are determined to start a civil war in Iraq by attacking Iraqi security forces and members of the country's Shiite majority.

"It's not about one man. It's about his network," the top general in the region, U.S. Gen. John Abizaid, said recently. "His network exists inside Iraq. It's connected to al-Qaida. It's got facilitation nodes in Syria. It brings foreign fighters in from Saudi Arabia and from North Africa."

One Iraqi official, Sabah Kadhim, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said the suicide attackers' main aim "is to keep the country in chaos."

They have managed to do just that.

In all, there have been more than 484 car bombings since Iraq regained sovereignty from the United States one year ago, and the pace of attacks has escalated since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's government took over two months ago after January's historic elections. Those attacks alone, mostly car bombs and suicide attacks, have killed more than 1,370 people since April 28 -- and more than 2,170 since June of last year, according to an AP count.

A suicide bomber was responsible for the single deadliest act since the fall of Saddam Hussein two years ago -- a Feb. 28 attack against a medical clinic in Hillah, south of Baghdad, that killed 125 people. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attack by a man driving a pickup truck.

Another Interior Ministry official, Lt. Col. Ahmed al-Azawi, said some suicide bombers are as young as 15 -- and he insisted that none were Iraqis.

The foreign militants are believed to come into the country for only a short time before they are sent on a suicide operation, said one senior U.S. military intelligence official in Iraq, who asked not to be named for security reasons.

"They are brought in, there is a lot of indoctrination that is forced on them here and they are moved very rapidly into a mission to deliver the bomb to commit suicide," the official said.

A U.S. official in Washington shared that assessment.

Overall, the number of foreign fighters coming into the country seems to be on the rise, compared to six months ago, Abizaid said. "There's probably about 1,000 foreign fighters and about somewhere less than 10,000 committed insurgents in the field," he said.

Of the 10,000 people being detained in Iraq, about 400 are foreigners, the U.S. military says.

The majority of foreign bombers in Iraq are believed to come from countries in the Persian Gulf, mainly Saudi Arabia and Yemen as well as Jordan, U.S. officials say. They say many are transported to Syria and then smuggled into Iraq, mostly overland through Qaim -- a frontier city in Iraq's western desert.

U.S. Marines taking part in a major operation around Qaim on June 20 found foreign passports and one roundtrip air ticket from Tripoli, Libya, to Damascus, Syria. They also found two passports from Sudan, two from Saudi Arabia, two from Libya, two from Algeria and one from Tunisia.

Up to 20 percent of the bombers might be from Algeria, according to forensic investigations after attacks, senior U.S. military officials have said on condition they not be named for security reasons. Another 5 percent each might be from Morocco and Tunisia, the officials said.

"We've also seen an influx of suicide bombers from North Africa, specifically Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco," Abizaid said.

Robert Baer, a CIA officer from 1976 to 1997 who spent the much of his career in the Middle East, recently returned to the region for a month to study suicide bombers as part of an investigation for Britain's Channel 4. His trip included a 10-day visit to predominantly Shiite Iran.

Baer said Sunni Arabs who take carry out suicide attacks feel Shiites are attacking Sunnis in Iraq. "They look at the war in Iraq as an attack on Sunni Islam, not Iraq, not Saddam," he said.

In interviews while visiting prisons, terror groups and government officials, he was told that there are so many suicide bombers coming out of the Persian Gulf states that the loose networks that deploy jihadist martyrs -- many run through mosques -- are turning away potential attackers.

He said the mentality is: "They have taken what is ours and they will take more if we don't stop them."



can't rewrite or redistribute this...uhoh...Copywrite2005