The UK’s The Guardian reports that 41% of foreign jihadis in Iraq are coming from Saudi Arabia, with the next largest contingents from Libya and Yemen. The article notes that the numbers are down from the past as Saudi anti-terror efforts are taking effect. Another Guardian article from yesterday reports that there are 25,000 militants in US custody in Iraq, of whom 305 are Saudi, i.e., 0.122%.

Saudis make up 41% of foreign fighters in Iraq
Ian Black, Middle East editor

· US raid on insurgent camp finds treasure trove of data
· Bombings and border crossings fall after seizure

More than 40% of the foreign fighters who entered Iraq to join the insurgency in the past year were citizens of Saudi Arabia, America’s key partner in the Middle East, according to detailed information seized from a camp used by them. Documents and computers found by the US army at Sinjar, on the Iraqi-Syrian border, revealed that the other single largest group came from Libya, which is now being rehabilitated as a reliable western ally.

… Saudi Arabia, former home of Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers, has cracked down hard on al-Qaida in recent years. Saudi intelligence works closely with its US counterparts, but there have long been suspicions that the country’s most dangerous jihadis have gone to Iraq. “The border with Iraq is much more carefully controlled than it was 18 months ago,” said one British official. The Saudis also run extensive programmes “re-educating” and rehabilitating fighters who have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan to see “the error of their ways”.
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