Creating Flies

As if the insanity of "flypaper" wasn't readily apparent, new studies show that the vast majority of the foreigners entering Iraq to fight against the U.S. were only radicalized by the war itself:

(I)nterrogations of nearly 300 Saudis captured trying to sneak into Iraq and case studies of more than three dozen others who blew themselves up in suicide attacks show that most were heeding calls to drive infidels out of Arab land, according to a study by Saudi investigator Nawaf Obaid...

An analysis of 154 foreign fighters compiled by a leading terrorism researcher found that despite the presence of some senior al-Qaida operatives, "the vast majority of non-Iraqi Arabs killed in Iraq have never taken part in any terrorist activity prior to their arrival in Iraq."

Note also that the two studies were both by U.S. allies - one by the Saudi government, one by an Israeli think tank. These are sources with a strong motivation to present accurate conclusions, not to make the Bush administration look bad.

But then, the truth does the latter job perfectly well on its own.

(Via the Suburban Guerrilla.)