The study said most were motivated by “revulsion at the idea of an Arab land being occupied by a non-Arab country.”

WASHINGTON, September 19, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The US-led invasion-turned-occupation has radicalized “almost exclusively” Saudis and recruit them to Al-Qaeda network of Osama Bin Laden, according to a detailed study based on Saudi intelligence reports.

The study by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and obtained by Reuters Sunday, September 18, said that hundreds of Saudi fighters who joined the “insurgency” in Iraq showed few signs of militancy before the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

Most were motivated by “revulsion at the idea of an Arab land being occupied by a non-Arab country,” read the study, which was conducted for the center by Middle East analyst Anthony Cordesman and Saudi security adviser Nawaf Obaid.

It said Saudi Arabia had interrogated dozens of Saudis who either returned from Iraq or were caught at the border.

“One important point was the number who insisted that they were not militants before the Iraq war,” it said.

“The vast majority of Saudi militants who entered Iraq were not terrorist sympathizers before the war, and were radicalized almost exclusively by the coalition invasion.”

Well-Educated

The study further said that many Saudi fighters were well-educated and had jobs and all of them were Sunni Muslims.

Most came from the west, south or center of Saudi Arabia, often from middle class families of prominent conservative tribes.

It said 85 percent of those interrogated were not on any watch list of known militants.

The study also said Saudis made up just 350 of the 3,000-strong foreign fighters in Iraq -- fewer than many officials have assumed.

Saudi measures to seal the border with Iraq and its detention of preachers supporting violence had helped curb Saudi and other fighters heading to Iraq, CSIS said.

Exaggerated

The study further said the number of foreign fighters in Iraq was highly exaggerated and was just one element of the violence there.

“Analysts and government officials in the US and Iraq have overstated the size of the foreign element in the Iraqi insurgency, especially that of the Saudi contingent,” it said.

It said non-Iraqi fighters made up less than 10 percent of the “insurgents'” ranks -- perhaps even half that -- the study said.

But those numbers may be inflated because Saudi fighters receive disproportionate attention, partly because of greater media coverage and partly because they are prized volunteers who bring funds with them up to $15,000, CSIS said.

Saudi Arabia , which is also fighting domestic violence by presumed supporters of Bin Laden, has come under scrutiny since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States which were carried out by mainly Saudi hijackers.

The study estimated the largest foreign contingent was made up of 600 Algerian fighters. It said about 550 Syrians, 500 Yemenis, 450 Sudanese, 400 Egyptians, 350 Saudis, and 150 fighters from other countries had crossed into Iraq to fight. (Click to read the study)