What can anybody tell me about the Iraqi Insurgents?

Question

Who are they? How are the funded? What is there goal?

Answer 1

Wow. This is a hell of a question so I will try to keep it simple. Many of the groups are either religiously affiliated (shia or sunni), some are geographically minded (kicking sunni's out of shia controlled area's etc.) and some are very small and just want to cause problems. Many are not formally affiliated with larger groups yet they claim they are to enhance their rep.

Many terrorist groups are funded by countries outside of Iraq. Iran for instance sends money and weapons to Iraqi Shiite forces in order to ensure shia domination in Iraq. If the Shia (which are the majority in Iraq and neighboring Iran can get the upper hand you now have a Shiite power block right in the middle of the middle east. Also, many groups are funded by larger parent organizations i.e. Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, with larger resources than the local groups. Lastly, many former Saddam regime loyalists and Baath party members from Syria (yes, Saddams political party goes way beyond just Iraq) are continuing to fund resistence to this day. All those millions and billions of dollars Saddams regime stole from the people are now being given back to them in the form of seed money for terrorist operations. Kidnapping oprations and extortion are great funders of terrorism also. Many European countries unlike the US will pay ransoms to get their citizens back once captured and have done so on many occasions. Also Iraqi's do kidnap Iraqi's and ransom them back and the families do pay a lot of $ for their return.

The goals of most groups in Iraq is death to infidels (westerners) and the promotion of their crazy ideas. A lot of them are just brainwashed into the whole ideology and don't truly understand what the end goal is. They are just following orders from their religious leaders.

Here is a small idea of how terrorists groups recruit and train:

Example: An al-qaeda recruiter slips across the Syrian border into Iraq with $20,000 US and goes to Fallujah. He hooks up with his contacts and finds a disgruntled unemployed Sunni youth (their everywhere) and he tells him that he will give him $200 US dollars a month (big $$$$$) to help conduct attacks on US convoys. He does a little IED training and shooting at convoys and now he is "trained". The youth is given a car (which he probably never had before) a cell phone!!(unheard of for young men) and a bigger alotment of cash ($500 a month now) and weapons. Now he is big pimpin and is a cell leader!! He now has to go out and recruit his friends and train them. It is not hard to find help because it would take him a year of constant work to make what he is making in a month being a terrorist. Plus, he is now a cell leader with a car and reputation plus a bunch of money to throw around. This same sort of criminal mindset is prevalent in inner cities and projects throughout america if you think about it. Just replace the AK-47's and IED's with drugs...... This is why you see a million young men in Iraq willing to join up. They are poor, uneducated, very little hope for a better life, terrorism is the only way to improve their lot in life. Who cares if you die, that is when it finally gets good according to Islam

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

They are not all the same. Some are Sunni Muslims who were the ruling minority under Saddam. They do not like the country now being run by the Shia majority, but still beleive in a secular Iraq. A lot were probably members of the army which Paul Bremner unwisely disbanded and kept their arms. Others are religious fanatics and want the country to become a theocracy like Iran. Some of these are Iraqis and some are outsiders.

Answer 3

Guide: Armed groups in Iraq

A wide range of armed groups are operating in Iraq, feeding into violence which has prompted fears of civil war. Much insurgent and militia activity is shadowy and difficult to trace, but here is a guide to the main players.

INSURGENT GROUPS
Al-Qaeda in Iraq
Mujahideen Shura Council
Sunni nationalists
Ansar al-Islam

SHIA MILITIAS
Mehdi Army
Badr Brigade

For more details log on to:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4268904.stm

Answer 4

must are sunni muslems loyal to saddam or adapt AL-Qaida ideas . they are so brutal so they beheade any shia they can catch .
some of them are simply criminals saddam set them loose just before the war and been used by insurgents for money