What is the profile of the average foreign fighter entering Iraq to fight the nascent Iraqi government and US forces? As Saudis make up the majority of those entering Iraq (about 55%) it is instructive to look at the history of the Saudi Islamists killed in Iraq. Evan Kohlmann has profiled some of the Saudis that have entered Iraq to fight against the US military. The Saudis can be roughly classified into two categories: the uninitiated and the veteran jihadis.
The uninitiated have no practical experience or training in terrorist activities, but are highly motivated to fight, while the veterans are those who have fought for al Qaeda or other Islamists movements in the past, and are continuing their craftwork in Iraq.
The Uninitiated
These men have no prior experience with al Qaeda, but certainly fit the profile of those who have volunteered for jihad in the past. Many were indoctrinated in radical Islam or had idealistic notions about a struggle between Islam and the infidel, and were motivated to fight the West prior to the invasion of Iraq. A good number of these men would likely have entered the service of al Qaeda even if the United States had not invaded Iraq, just as in the past those like them volunteered to fight in Afghanistan, Philippines, Bosnia, Somalia, Chechnya, Kashmir and other jihadi combat theaters.
* Al-Qiblan, born in 1981, was from the conservative town of Buraidah in Saudi Arabia. In 2002, he began to gradually grow more fundamentalist in his religion and mix with the “young men of jihad.” Al-Qiblan grew progressively more interested in the concept of jihad and the prospect of traveling to the “battlefields of honor and dignity.”
* Bandar al-Badri was a 19-year old According to his family and friends, he was “obsessed with jihad and only talked only jihad.” He used to frequently discuss with his parents the ongoing jihads in Afghanistan and Iraq and his mother eventually encouraged him, replying, “if you want to go, then go.”
* Ahmed al-Ghamdi developed progressively conservative religious beliefs, growing a beard and strictly following the rulings of prominent Salafist clerics.
* Abu Nour al-Najdi was a wealthy businessman with a family and children in Saudi Arabia. However, “eager to meet his creator” , he nevertheless decided to travel to Iraq seeking “combat [and] jihad ” His comrades commented that Abu Nour “loved to kill the Americans and to take his revenge.”
* Abu Anas was born an orphan and was raised by his grandfather, who “taught him the values of goodness and righteousness. He was taught to love paradise and to be courageous and persistent. He was schooled in the verses of the Jihad, O’ what a wonderful education!”
The Veterans
These are the fighters from past and present conflicts in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Bosnia and other Islamist hot spots. They are dangerous and experienced terrorists who have gone to ground in Saudi Arabia and have been flushed out of hiding to fight in Iraq.
* Majed, 28-years old, had been a longtime supporter of the mujahideen and Al-Qaida. Since 2000, he had made multiple unsuccessful attempts to travel to an ongoing jihad. When the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, he attempted to join the Taliban by leaving through Syria; however, this effort also failed.
* Fahd al-Dughailibi Al-Otaibi was the nephew of most wanted Saudi Al-Qaida suspect and terrorist ideologue Sultan Bjad Sadoun al-Otaibi.
* Faris al-Bodaywi came from a very wealthy family in Saudi Arabia; he is the cousin of the foreign mujahideen commander Nayif al-Bodaywi in Chechnya.
* Zakariya al-Salmi According to his wife, he was an experienced mujahid and was originally a member of Al-Qaida’s network in Saudi Arabia-at least “until Allah guided him to travel to Iraq.”
* Saleh al-Fahaid was a 23-year old Saudi national In 1999, al-Fahaid traveled to Afghanistan in search of jihad, attending Al-Qaida’s Al-Farooq camp for “commando” training and fighting alongside the Taliban until the occupation of Kabul in late 2001. Afterwards, he traveled with other mujahideen to the city of Kandahar, and eventually returned back to Saudi Arabia. Staying only briefly in the Kingdom, al-Fahaid moved on-first to Sudan and then to Iraq
* Badr al-Sharari (a.k.a. Abu Rahaf al-Joufi), a 27-year old Saudi national with a young daughter, first experienced jihad in Afghanistan, where he went after 9/11 seeking to “fight the Americans” -staying there for approximately six months.
* Hadi al-Qahtani was a young Saudi national who had grown up “fooling around and not paying to” politics or religion. However, his life reportedly shifted direction “after the holy attack that demolished the foolish infidel Americans and caused many young men to awaken from their deep sleep. The actions of those 19 heroes [i.e. the 9/11 hijackers] changed the course of our Islamic nation and also awakened the entire nation, making it swell with pride ”
* Shaykh Abdallah al-Rashood completed a degree in Shariah (Islamic Law) at the Al-Imam University in Riyadh before becoming a professor there in Shariah. In the mid-1990s, al-Rashood joined the ranks of other younger, extreme Salafist clerics in the Kingdom and quit his official post at the University. More recently, al-Rashood has served as the spiritual leader of Al-Qaida’s Committee in Saudi Arabia-issuing, among other things, several fatwahs denouncing the Saudi regime as “apostate” and “illegitimate.”
Many of the leaders and fighters killed have cultivated their skills and connection over the course of a decade or more, and are not easily replaced. The invasion and reconstruction of Iraq and the actions of regional governments have drawn them out into the open. Despite the myriad of problems with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, they have killed and captured a large share of hard core al Qaeda fighters.
In the end, the most committed and violent members of al Qaeda must be killed or captured. Leaving aside the geopolitical importance of establishing democracy in the heart of the Middle East, bringing the war to the Muslim world to expose the horrific nature of al Qaeda, the need to remove Saddam and other reasons, Iraq is as good a place as any to confront al Qaeda at this point in time. Waiting for them is the fist US military – not to be confused with the Russians or any other third world military they have confronted in the past.
