Report: Al-Qaida in Iraq more integrated

WEST POINT, N.Y., Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida in Iraq is more integrated with the broader organization, yet the group did not exist prior to the 2003 invasion, a U.S. Military Academy report said.

A report completed in late July by the Harmony Project with the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point analyzed the operations of al-Qaida in Iraq through documents seized by U.S-led forces in the northwest city of Sinjar from 2006 to 2007.

The report found that the majority of foreign fighters for al-Qaida in Iraq came from Saudi Arabia between August 2006 and August 2007. Foreign fighters, the report said, also contributed to roughly 70 percent of all suicide bombers in Iraq around that time.

Activity by tribal forces in Iraq, the 2007 troop surge and self-destructive strategies contributed to the overall decline of al-Qaida activity, leaving the organization largely centralized in Mosul. The organization still tries to carry out large-scale attacks in the country, but lacks the territorial command it once had.

Despite these factors, the Iraqi conflict contributed to an increased radicalization of al-Qaida supporters and bolstered its recruitment agenda, the report said. Al-Qaida in Iraq fighters are also more skilled and have more combat experience than their counterparts elsewhere.

Furthermore, the report states the organization al-Qaida in Iraq did not exist prior to the U.S. invasion of 2003 and the group has integrated more closely with the main al-Qaida organization following the death of former leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006.